Indepth

Jeanne Prinsloo, the APC's EroTICs project partner in South Africa, looks at the use of the internet by South African transgender people, and examines the internet's role in the process of transitioning from one gender identity to another. She concludes that the internet provides a critical space for trans people to access support, to rehearse their new identity, to hear marginalised narratives…

Policies, laws and development plans on emerging ICTs rarely take into account the reality of violence against women in its creation and implementation. Similarly, policies and laws on violence against women rarely take into account the dimensions of emerging ICTs. How have developments in information and communications technologies strengthened the efforts to end violence against women? How has…

GenderIT.org writer and a Research Officer at Canada`s International Development Research Centre, Kathleen Diga tracks the journey of the African Copyright…

In Congo, Sylvie Niombo explores the intersection of VAW and ICTs, where mobile phone use appears to be the primary vehicle used to perpetrate VAW using ICTs. SMS and phone calls are used by some men to harass women and girls. Male monitoring of women’s use of mobile phones leads to blurring of privacy issues and power relations between men and women are reflected by who has the resources to buy…

In the context of a country with one of the world's worst human rights records, women and girls are the victims of sexual violence perpetrated mostly by combatants from both sides. However, Sylvie Niombo finds in this paper that the intersections between violence against women and girls and ICTs in the DRC are not well established. The internet makes it possible to share experiences and receive…

Sonia Randhawa interviews FemLINK Pacific coordinator Sharon Bhagwan-Rolls to get an overview of violence against women in the Pacific Islands region and to look at how ICTs are contributing to increasing the vulnerability of women and providing new forms of harassment and harm, while at the same time grassroots initiatives such as a mobile community radio station are helping to provide women…

Jessica Umanos Sotos explores why specific law is needed in the Philippines to prosecute perpetrators of violence against women through the use of ICTs or cyberspace. She argues that national ICT institutions and private companies’ policies cannot remain blind to the violations to women’s rights perpetuated via ICTs in the context of the violation of privacy rights through the illicit production…

Les logiciels libres sont une vraie solution aux problèmes de fracture numérique qu’engendre le sous -développement. En effet, il est désormais indéniable qu’ils ont, avec l’implication des femmes et leur prise en compte comme actrices incontournables, une part importante à jouer dans la création d’un environnement favorable à un développement équitable et durable.

Le dernier rapport de 2008 de l’ONUSIDA confirme que l’Afrique subsaharienne reste la région du monde la plus sérieusement affectée par le VIH, et représente les deux tiers (671%) du total des personnes vivant avec le VIH et les trois quarts (75%) des décès dus au SIDA en 2007. Environ 1,9 million de personnes ont été nouvellement infectées par le VIH en Afrique subsaharienne.

Fatma Mint Elkory Oumrane takes a look at the progress Mauritania is making in encouraging open access to materials, its copyright regime and how these impact on women. She examines the role of women as ICT graduates and looks at how the government is helping overcome the various digital divides - and the large amount of work that remains to be done.