Take back the Tech - 16 Days of Activism
APC Women Network Support Programme is a global community of over 100 women from more than 35 countries in the world, actively working to network groups and organizations that treat women and gender related issues and aim to use information and communication technologies (ICTs) for positive social change.
They promote gender equality in the domain of design, development, implementation, access, use of ICT, and during process to adopt important political decisions and framework that regulate those domains. The Take Back the Tech initiative is based on collective activist energy of all those involved who decided to dedicate their efforts to these issues. The goal is to encourage all ICT users, and in particular women and girls, to take control and power over technology and to demand, during the process, the right to define, access, use and shape ICTs. Recently, it is increasingly evident that virtual internet space is not safe for women. For example, perpetrators of domestic violence often use ICTs to monitor and control their partners, with a rising number of cases of online harassment and so-called cyber-spying. This campaign invites you to occupy together, in full awareness and throuth ICT use, the digital space and to understand, once and for all, that we do have the potential to transform the existing relations of power and achieve the vision of freedom and equality for all. There is a multitude of approaches to implementation of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence by women involved in the work of APC WNSP:
Violence against women is any violation of physical, psychological and/or emotional health and well-being, and is caused by the relationships based on inequality of men and women an almost all areas of life. Examples of violence against women include domestic violence, rape, sexual harassment, etc... WHAT is ICT? The Information and Communication Technologies are tools and platforms used to communicate and inform ourselves, for example, radio and television broadcasting, mobile telephony and the internet. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND ICTs Both violence against women and ICTs have great impact on our abilities to enjoy our human rights and fundamental freedoms. As of late, there are increasing parallels between violence against women and ICT. For example, web-sites can prove very useful support tools to women subjected to violence, since they can offer useful information and assistance. ICSs have the power to present social norms through representation of cultural and social structures and relations. Playing the role of the media, they often present and strengthen the so-called differences between men and women through acceptance of stereotypes and gender roles as real situation. Therefore, we decided to take active approach to reduce the negative phenomena in virtual/cyber sphere of society. During this year’s 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign, the Take Back the Tech! initiative aims to provide visibility to all organizations, groups, collectives and individual men and women who have planned activities over that period. We aim to build an online dossier that will be available to all, and will serve the purpose of planning of future joint activities and creation of an active network of women solidarity in Southeast Europe. Therefore, we invite you:
For additional information, to post inquiries and present ideas, don’t hesitate to write to alisa.karovic@oneworldsee.org. |
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