Indepth

Civil society entities, academic figures and government officials met in Sao Paulo during the first few days of July to participate in the first seminar of the preparatory process for the meeting of the Internet Governance Forum, with the aim of developing proposals to take to that forum next November. Amongst the presentations, the talk “Internet governance and issues of gender” by gender and…

Is there a direct connection between empowerment and access to information and communication technologies? Patricia Litho interrogates this question through the CEEWA ICT project case study in rural Uganda. She examines the conceptualisation of empowerment, and its relationship with infrastructure, skills, connectivity, access and participation.

Natalia Fernández-Diaz identifies the difficulties of understanding feminist concerns regarding the needs and potential benefits of emerging technologies in what is usually known as ‘Arab countries’. Locating the relationship between women and ICTs in women’s movements, Fernández-Diaz interrogates the concepts of technologists, producers, users, victims and indirect beneficiaries in this complex…

In the area of telecommunications, Ghana appears to perform relatively well in relation to its neighbours in the West-African region. How does it fare in terms of ensuring that gender concerns are taken into consideration whilst promoting ICTs for development? Emily Nyarko examines this question through a closer look at the Strategic Document for ICT and Gender in the national ICT policy agenda.

Uruguay has one of the highest rates of internet coverage in Latin America, but studies that demonstrate this fact is gender-blind. So what have been the experiences of Uruguayan women with new technologies in relation to the three basic dimensions of any digital inclusion initiative, connectivity, education and infrastructure? This article is translated from the original version written in…

Dafne Sabanes Plou is the regional coordinator for Latin America for the APC Women’s Networking Support Programme (WNSP). In mid-March she coordinated the “Building inclusive community networks” workshop in Comodoro Rivadavia, Chubut Province, Argentina, in which women interested in learning about strategic uses of information and communication technologies took part. This is an account of the…

What does it take to regulate content on the internet? The apparently unruly character and development of the internet and accompanying technologies have been argued as defeating any efforts to truly govern how content is circulated in this space. Nonetheless, censorship and regulation is real. Here, Jorge Bossio examines various categorisations of content that enables their regulation, as well…

Who decides on what we should see and not see online? Should parents decide on behalf of their children? Or should it be the church? Or the school? Are women and children better left alone? Mavic Cabrera-Balleza, Senior Programme Associate of the International Women’s Tribune Centre and a member of the GenderIt blogging team at the first Internet Governance Forum (IGF) that took place in Athens,…

As both a mirror and an extension of social relationships, the internet’s virtual space differentiates itself from traditional media by its decentralised and open architecture. This subverts power relationships between citizens, institutions, governments and markets. Confusion. Impunity. Unbounded freedom. Can and should this anthill be organised? What is the ethical reach of doing so? This…

The internet has become a critical space for ordinary citizens in Pakistan to speak their minds, and exchange information. These include women who sharpen their ICTs skills and turn to weblogs as a platform for articulation of their concerns and daily lives, and to engage in conversations sometimes blacked out as ‘taboo’. But is this relative ‘freedom’ under threat? This article presents an…