Gender and ICT Policy Advocacy

GenderIT.org is an online policy monitor for gender and ICT issues, where ICT policy is examined from the perspective of key areas of concern in women’s movements, such as economic empowerment and violence against women. It responds to the need to have examples of national policy, gender-sensitive language, tools for lobbying, and an understanding of the impact of poor or positive policy all within easy access, a need expressed by ICT advocates and policy makers alike. Gender and ICT advocates need to defend and promote the internet as an accessible and secure global communications medium for all of civil society. We must be part of the process that governs the way that information will be disseminated in the future – to encourage the free flow of communication between all nations and peoples.

But understanding ICT policy is not an easy task. Both policy and technology have long been seen as the terrain of experts, and for many of us it’s easier to leave them in “expert hands” and focus on other priority work of our organisations, such as the defense of women’s rights. One of the principal objectives of the Gender and ICT Policy Monitor is to help make the connections between women’s rights, gender and ICTs.

GenderIT.org’s “Feminist Talk“ provides insightful coverage of the Internet Governance Forum in Egypt, examining questions of censorship, freedom of expression, and protection of children’s rights.

Open Net Initiative-Asia: Gender Research Framework on Censorship & Surveillance Practices

APC and the women’s programme are taking a closer look at internet censorship and surveillance practices from a gender perspective in order to understand the potential impact of such practices on women’s rights and realities.The project also examines how gender considerations affect the development of research methodologies.

How do gender considerations influence factors in the political, economic and social spheres where censorship and surveillance occur?

APC WNSP member, Heike Jensen, the Centre for Independent Journalism in Malaysia and staff member Jac sm Kee have teamed up to develop a gender research framework for examining freedom of expression, security and privacy for ONI project partners in Asia, as well as future research initiatives that are looking into the area of online surveillance.

ONI-Asia is part of a larger Open Net Initiative project, a collaborative initiative that aims to investigate, expose and analyse internet filtering and surveillance practices in an un-biased way.

EroTICS – Exploratory Research on Information and Communication Technologies and Sexuality

The internet is becoming an important space for the expression, construction and subversion of emerging and hegemonic discourses. In particular, it is a critical avenue for the articulation and negotiation of issues that have been prohibited, restricted or to some extent regulated in the “offline” public life.

In response, some govenrments, ICT corporations, and conservative forces argue for content regulation on the internet, calling for “protection” – notably of women and children – of the unknown dangers of the internet, a threat to safety and security, one that needs to be monitored and controlled.

As one consequence, the power to regulate information flows and access to content is claimed by social – and presumably benevolent institutions – whether governmental, inter-governmental, the private sector or other organised bodies – rather than left to the choice of or self-regulation by the affected user.

Such a call supports the need for cross-country research on the engagement with and use of various online platforms by sexual health and rights workers, parents, policy makers, advocates and other key actors, and the different understandings of ”harm” that shape their engagement with and experiences of these digital spaces. It is not only a question of what “harmful content” is, but what constitutes harm in virtual spaces in general. For example current content regulation practices that seek to prevent exposure to pornographic or other harmful content do not necessarily lead to lesser harm but inadvertently deny/limit freedom of expression or access to vital information on sexuality or health such as AIDS or safe sex.

In order to build on our recommendation to the Internet Governance Forum in the 2007 debate, which pointed out the importance of involving diverse voices of end-users from different political, social and civil contexts to better reflect the complexity of perceptions of “harmful content” and what that might mean for internet content regulation internet, the APC WNSP began an exploratory study on sexuality rights and the internet in 2009 with support from the Ford Foundation.

Through this research, the complexity and socio-political investment by and impact on different stakeholders in the debates and practices surrounding content regulation, sexualities, sexual health and sexual rights can be better understood. It will also yield critical insight on key policy questions concerning the growing role of the internet in people’s lives and how one might seek to reinforce the informed use and self-regulation in the use of the internet.

Further information on EroTICs.