Feminism, development and online activism in the digital age

• In Event: Movimientos sociales de mujeres y feminismos

Abstract

Gender equality and sexual and reproductive rights have implications for democracy, whilst the potential offered by new technologies for change is intertwined with media democratization. The UN Commission on the Status of Women in 2003 underlined the importance of the participation and access of women to communication technologies and use of these for empowerment. The relationship between women and new technologies has been an important area of research for feminist sociologists and others working with cultural studies (i.e. Harcourt, 2013; Gill, 2012; Sassen, 2002), as well as for scholars within the GAD (Gender and Development) empowerment approach (Gajjala et al, 1999). A significant body of international scholarship on gender and the Internet has also developed in the last decades throughout the world (i.e. Haraway, 1991, 2000; Plant, 1995; Harcourt, 2000), including research in Brazil (i.e. Ferreira, 2015; Natansohn, 2013; Matos, 2017).

Funded by GCRF, this research seeks to assess how new communication technologies can be used to create awareness around sexual and reproductive rights in the post-1990 context, enabling women to influence policy at the global and local levels whilst advocating for human rights. It investigates a selected sample of NGOs who work in the North and South, and who focus mainly on a series of issues around reproductive and sexual health, seeking to gain insights on how networked communications are being used by various NGOs and women’s movements transnationally, further exploring their online communication activities and the role of NGOs in development and use of ICTs for social change.

Author

• Carolina O Matos, City University London