Blogs

South Africa recently held its first ICT conference. The who’s who of the country’s Internet start-ups, government officials and business were in attendance at the week-long he Indaba in Cape Town. The talk amongst the invited guests were how best to ensure millions of South Africans get access to the Internet. In another part of Cape Town, about 30 kilometers away, a group of young women, all members of the New Women's Movement's Young Women's Chapter, were discussing the very same issue albeit under different circumstances.

The Gender and Citizenship in the Information Society (CITIGEN) research programme, launched in 2010, aimed to explore the notion of marginalised women's citizenship as a normative project or an aspiration for equitable social membership contained in the promise of an emerging techno-social order. Six research partners from Sri Lanka, Philippines, China, Hong Kong / Taiwan, India and Bangladesh studied various aspects of the terrain.

As researchers in the CITIGEN network, our relationship with technology is deeply personal. While we may try to theorise, we do also experience it in intensely subjective ways. Sometimes, these personal experiences also shape and intersect with our political views; and sometimes, we easily lose track of how the political is omnipresent in the personal (sounding like an echo from the past??).  I was at the Asia Pacific Feminist Forum last week and it was good to connect with the many feminists from many walks of life. Kate, Philippa and I also did a CITIGEN workshop there.

Hivos (The Hague) and The Centre for Internet and Society (Bangalore) consolidate their 3 year knowledge inquiry into the field of youth, technology and change in the 4 book collective "Digital AlterNatives with a cause?". This collaboratively produced collective, edited by Nishant Shah and Fieke Jansen,asks

Binitha V. Thampi and J. Devika from the CITIGEN network attended the 2011 Women in Politics conference that was held in Dili, East Timor between 29 September – 1 October. Titled 'Amplifying the Voices of Women in Politics: The Second Asia-Pacific Conference on Women in Politics and Governance', the conference provided an opportunity for feminists from the region to collaboratively ideate on the issues and challenges that women's participation in politics has thrown up.

Dear all,

We're happy to present you the think piece written by Margarita Salas 'Gender and information society in Central America- Between the immediate and the strategic scenario'. You can access it at :
http://www.gender-is-citizenship.net/think-pieces

Please feel free to share and disseminate the paper widely. We would be happy to hear your thoughts on the think piece. Margarita is also on the group, to make clarifications and to take discussions further.

In 2008 the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) Women's Programme began a two and a half year research project looking into the role of sexuality online. The study, called Exploratory Research on Sexuality and ICTs -- or "EroTICs" -- looked at the experiences of a diversity of users, primarily women and girls of different ages, classes, sexual orientations and identities.

Anita Gurumurthy attended the UNWomen workshop on 'Leading Innovations for Gender Responsible Service Delivery' at Dar-es Salam, Tanzania (21-22 June 2011). The workshop was part of the United Nations Public Service Forum being organised by UNDESA along with other UN entities such as UNODC.

On 26-28 April 2011, IT for Change organised a Review Workshop for the CITIGEN research programme in the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi. The objectives of the workshop were:

1. Review and reflect upon the emerging insights from each research project in relation to the questions and core concepts of the programme

Of deep significance to the changing politics of state-citizen relations is the impact of digital technologies on society. The emerging public sphere complicates governance structures, claims-making processes, representation and participation as well as the very nature of deliberative democracy. These changes are gendered, and require a rethinking of women’s citizenship and rights.