Access to knowledge and gender - the latest edition from GenderIT
The latest edition of GenderIT looks at the question of access to knowledge focussing on Africa. Over the last century, copyright and patents legislation have penetrated into most countries. Strengthened by international trade agreements, and often pressure from the United States, this has had the impact of both shrinking the amount of knowledge that is freely available, and of legislating what is and is not ‘knowledge’. This has been happening at a time when it is becoming easier and cheaper to copy and transmit information.
Access to knowledge issues tend to focus on the legal terrain of copyright and patent law, and related movements such as the CopyLeft movement, the Creative Commons and the free and open source software movement. Questions raised in this issue will be how the expansion of copyright and patent law – geographical, in terms of duration and in terms of what is covered – have been addressed by women’s movements, and how the commons movement has, or has not, engaged with women’s concerns on control of and access to knowledge, including traditional knowledge. Other issues include gender disparity in terms of access to knowledge, the gender-blind nature of legislation on access to knowledge, and lack of access to decision-making on access to knowledge issues both at the local and international level, in both governmental and non-governmental arenas.
For the full editorial by Sonia Randhawa, visit http://www.genderit.org/en/index.shtml?apc=f—e—1&x=96225
New articles on access to knowledge on GenderIT include:
Do copyrights and patents limit access to HIV/AIDS knowledge and treatment in Africa? http://www.genderit.org/en/index.shtml?apc=a—e96217-1
University women struggle for knowledge access in Africa http://www.genderit.org/en/index.shtml?apc=—-e—1&x=96220
Challenges of communal copyright: Traditional and indigenous knowledge http://www.genderit.org/en/index.shtml?apc=a—e96221-1
Access to knowledge in emergency situations: Looking at the situation in Jordan and in the Democratic Republic of Congo http://www.genderit.org/en/index.shtml?apc=a—e96222-1
Source: GenderIT.org
