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.

On 25 November 2011, Take Back The Tech! campaign has launched an interactive map based that allows internet users to share their stories, local news and personal experiences of gender-based violence they faced online or through the use of mobile phone technologies. As of 7 December, it has recorded 103 stories from across the globe, with the majority of stories coming from Africa, Latin America and Asia. Sonia Randhawa is drawning on the data collected through the mapping platform and looking at some trends these data reveal to us about the technology-related violence against women.

If we want to tackle the problem of gender-based violence online, we need to develop a strong evidence base, argues Grady Johnson in this article. At the risk of revisiting old traumas, we need to women to document the scope of the problem, so that the gravity of the situation can no longer be denied. Most of all, we need good numbers if we hope to make good policies.