Information Society Watch

1999, Radhika Gajjala and Annapurna Mamidipudi, Gender and Development

Cyberfeminists share the belief that women should take control of and appropriate the use of internet technologies in an attempt to empower themselves. In this article, the authors make conceptual links between 'old' and 'new' technologies within contexts of globalisation, third-world development, and the empowerment of women. They wish to question the idea of 'progress' and 'development' as the inevitable results of science and technology, and develop a critique of the top-down approach to technology transfer from the Northern to the Southern hemisphere. There are two questions of central importance: First, will women in the South be able (allowed) to use new technologies under conditions that are contextually empowering to them, because they are defined by women themselves? Second, within which Internet-based contexts can women from the South truly be heard? The paper explores how women define the conditions under which they interact online, to enable them to form coalitions and collaborate, aiming to transform social, cultural, and political structures (Adapted from authors).

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