This document discusses information and communication technologies (ICTs) from a gender perspective. It argues that ICT infrastructure is not just a tool but a structural element of the global political economy and basis for production and communication. However, digital networks primarily benefit developed economies and the private sector commodifies user data and drives innovation through pornography. While mobile technologies are touted as benefiting women, they do not replace the need for universal public access and infrastructure. True empowerment requires recognizing access to ICTs as a basic capability and human right that can promote social justice when approached with a gender agenda focusing on public access, ownership and literacy.
4. Not just a tool but a regime
● Network society as 'destiny'; ICTs
constitute a structural element in global
geo-politics and international political
economy
● Basis of production and communication
● Hard infrastructure and a reconstitutive
ingredient of all soft infrastructures – gov,
economy, society, culture
5. Digital networks meet contemporary capitalism
Convergences between
● the space of economic discourse (being the
global news media)
● and the discourse of economic space (economic
globalisation in the network society)
“The brutally condensed dimensions of 'time' in
contemporary financialized global capitalism and its
inter-networked information flows was in fact the
critical issue in the financial crisis of the late 2000s.”
6. Pol economy perspective
● Web 2.0 – Privately owned 'commons'; social
media platforms are profit-oriented sites that
commodify user data
● Women equal men as consumers online - even
as they fall behind as producers of online tech
● Largest commercial enterprise on the net –
directed at men; innovation driven by and for the
pervasiveness of the porn industry
● Global work flows in the information economy
built on the flexible labour of women of the South.
7. Global development discourse
● The politics of broadband
– Internet interconnection costs favour developed
economies – traffic travels to the US and back
– Eco growth imaginaries – more delocalization of
wealth, employment and production
● Erasure of public ownership and universal access
– Rhetoric of 'affordable' ICTs/ broadband rather than
universal access
– Essentialising market led access as 'public' access
– In the meanwhile development support to telecentres is
not only withdrawn but the discourse declares it a
failure
8. “While private sector companies develop and
disseminate the innovations that advance societies,
governments play a critical role by creating an
overall vision for how technology can accelerate
national development. National policy is crucial for
setting an open and competitive playing field where
the best ideas prosper. Market-based structures and
incentives allow for innovation to flourish and benefit
all stakeholders.”
Planning for Progress – Why broadband plans matter, CISCO
and ITU, July 2013
10. Global development discourse
● Rhetoric of mobiles for africa and women's
entrepreneurship
– Obfuscates the need for public infrastructure;
– Hobson's choice for women.
– Mobile society as a sop in place for membership in the
network society
● Unprecedented opportunity for informed and active
citizenship for women and access to public services
reduced to e-government, e-health etc.
11. This is today’s America in full splendor: What cannot be
accomplished through controversial legislation will be
accomplished through privatization, only with far less
oversight and public control. From privately-run healthcare
providers to privately-run prisons to privately-run militias
dispatched to war zones, this is the public-private partnership
model on which much of American infrastructure operates
these days. Communications is no exception.
Decentralization is liberating only if there’s no powerful actor
that can rip off the benefits after the network has been put in
place. If such an actor exists – like NSA in this case –
decentralization is a mere shibboleth. Those in power get
more of what they want quicker – and pay less for the
privilege.
Information Consumerism The Price of Hypocrisy. Evgeny
Morozov. July 2013
12. An infrastructure for social justice
● Development as freedom - access to ICTs
is a foundational capability
– An infrastructure of individual freedoms
and collective rights
– A precondition for participation and
citizenship
– Potentially, a game changer for gender
justice
13. “The Internet has become a key means by which
individuals can exercise their right to freedom of opinion
and expression, as guaranteed by Article 19 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights”. By
acting as a catalyst for individuals to exercise their right
to freedom of opinion and expression, the Internet
facilitates the realization of a range of other human
rights”
Frank La Rue, Special Rapporteur on Human
Rights, 2011
14.
15. Private, social and institutional
access
● For women, effective use of ICTs is an opportunity
for renegotiating historical injustice.
● Eco and pol rights
– Costa Rica, South Africa
– Chinese women activists, Iranian bloggers
– Migrant women domestic workers
● ICT development Index – absence of gender
disaggregated data
16.
17. Gender and Citizenship agenda for
ICTs
● Universal public access
● Public spectrum – community radio
● Community networks
● Public content – Video will be 90 percent of all
consumer Internet Protocol traffic and 64 percent of
mobile traffic
● From the technical layer to use – digital
literacy in embedded contexts