Resources

These case summaries are based on in-depth case studies mapping women’s experiences of technology-related VAW and their attempts to access justice either through domestic legal remedy or corporate grievance mechanisms. The original case studies from Pakistan were documented by country researchers from the project partner Bytes for All Pakistan between November 2013 and April 2014 and the summaries were prepared by Richa Kaul Padte.

These case summaries are based on in-depth case studies mapping women’s experiences of technology-related VAW and their attempts to access justice either through domestic legal remedy or corporate grievance mechanisms. The original case studies from Kenya were documented by country researchers from the project partner International Association of Women in Radio and Television (IAWRT) Kenya between November 2013 and April 2014 and the summaries were prepared by Richa Kaul Padte.

These case summaries are based on in-depth case studies mapping women’s experiences of technology-related VAW and their attempts to access justice either through domestic legal remedy or corporate grievance mechanisms. The original case studies from Colombia were documented by country researchers from the project partner Colnodo between November 2013 and April 2014 and the summaries were prepared by Richa Kaul Padte.

These case summaries are based on in-depth case studies mapping women’s experiences of technology-related VAW and their attempts to access justice either through domestic legal remedy or corporate grievance mechanisms. The original case studies from Bosnia and Herzegovina were documented by country researchers from the project partner OneWorldSEE between November 2013 and April 2014 and the summaries were prepared by Richa Kaul Padte.

The incident involving the prime minister highlights why there is growing concern over the governance and regulation of communication surveillance, and how it is being used to infringe on one’s right to privacy in Uganda. Because this case affected a high-ranking Ugandan official, the question is, how safe is the ordinary Ugandan? And from a gender activist perspective, what are the gender concerns in the emerging policy and regulatory environment? Two recent studies on internet freedoms in Uganda were conducted by Unwanted Witness and Collaboration on International ICT Policy in East and Southern Africa (CIPESA). While both studies review the communications surveillance environment in Uganda, there is no specific focus on issues of concern by gender. However, both studies did raise various concerns that are relevant to women’s use of the internet and social media.

The information society is not gender neutral – it has different implications for women and men, girls and boys, and for the relationships between them. It is therefore vital to begin reflecting more critically on how ICTs are changing the nature of gender relations in social, political, economic and cultural landscapes. On one hand is important to recognise and harness the potential of <br />increased ICT access and connectivity for transforming gender power relations and empowering women ‐ especially those who <br />are poor. As many have pointed out, connectivity increasingly marks a key difference between exclusion and opportunity and the question of ICT access is becoming central to the development agenda. On the other hand it is essential that we do not put all our faith in ICTs to ‘solve’ the problem of gender inequalities. Today, an increasing number of women have access to digital technologies. But all too often, when women use Smartphones or access the internet, the assumption is made that putting these technologies into their hands will be necessarily empowering. Without discounting any possibilities for gender transformative change in the information society, it is important to examine how techno‐social practices reproduce gender power differentials, what norms are privileged in the structures of the internet, and how the logic of techno-social spaces is contingent upon the design and production of technological architectures.

Interestingly, in this same publication there are five articles on communication, gender and women’s use of media (including the internet) to freely review and publicize their reality in a world where roles and gender expectations are being transformed at a steadily increasing pace. Communication rights exercised by women allow them to enter a world that has long been considered private and which now, through the use of new communication channels, is being exposed by their challenges to and questioning of injustice, violence and censorship. The claim for equal opportunity and gender justice is clear in women's new communication outputs, ranging from research and feature a rticles published online to lively campaigns in radio and social networks. In new media technologies women have found great tools to advance and strengthen their objective of achieving full citizenship and equality in today's society.

The Gender Dynamic Coalition meeting discussed the outcomes from key processes and discussions on internet governance leading up to the IGF 2014 – including 2013 IGF Gender Report Card findings, WSIS+10 results, and NetMundial to assess integration of gender issues and concerns. The meeting also launched the new Feminist Principles of the Internet which is a working document produced from a meeting of over 50 women’s and internet rights activists in April 2014.

Gender-based and violence against women are often used interchangeably, because most violence is perpetrated by men against women. For the purposes of this paper, we use gender-based violence (GBV). While the majority of organisations featured in this report are primarily focused on tackling violence against women, although some have also provided support and advice to a minority of male survivors of violence.