Central Asia

The pandemic has amplified our need for a safe and secure internet, but can we have one now without surveillance and censorship. Read here to know what happened at the original epicentre of the COVID-19 virus and what measures of internet censorship were deemed necessary by the Chinese government to bring the pandemic under control.

The internet has not fulfilled many of the optimistic expectations of the role it would play in democracy and development, and has, in fact, become a ground for denial of rights and voice of marginalised groups and people. But the making of a feminist internet presents the possibility of giving shape to an internet that is built on diversity and recognition of rights, especially those of women…

Shadi Amin, an Iranian queer feminist and writer, became the victim of an online defamation campaign that left her with no recourse. The allegations of rape, abuse, bullying and money laundering wrecked Amin's life and in this interview with Shreya Ila Anasuya, Amin describes the ways in which the attack took place and what happened after.

Beyond saying that we as activists and feminists need self-care, how do we reach this space within ourselves? Here is one person's journey.

The emerging sub-field of research around gender and digital technology is united in its understanding that gender biases and stereotypes are embedded in technology, and that this reproduces the existing problems around gender parity, gender-based violence, discrimination and exclusion on the internet. This report is a mapping of the research around gender and digital technology in the decade…

Set against Tajikistan’s political and social structure, this article highlights how TFGBV exists as a continuum with offline violence, reinforcing patriarchal values and established gender norms that have power over women and are used to control them.

Gulbakhor reflected on the challenges in navigating a research on TFGBV in Tajikistan, where domestic violence and marital rape are not criminalised, reinforced by a culture of silence and spaces for women to be heard is almost non-existence.