What is the issue?
In 2004, a multi-media messaging (MMS) clip of two teenage students engaged in a private sexual act was circulated and eventually put on sale by a third-party in a popular auction site.
In New Mexico, the Domestic Violence Virtual Trial helps judges and court staff learn about issues and challenges in VAW cases, and compare rulings with colleagues.
In 2001, a man was charged with murdering his wife after he intercepted her email and learnt that she planned to leave him.
Survivors of domestic violence search for support online and use untraceable, donated cell phones to ensure secure communication.
Best-selling video game, "Grand Theft Auto:San Andreas" encourages their millions of players to treat female sex workers as objects of aggression and murder.
In South Africa, women survivors of violence gain skills in digital storytelling to share their experiences and courage.
What is Violence against women?
Violence against women (VAW) is any act of volence that results in harm and that disproportionately affects women. Violence against women is often about the unequal power relations between men and women. It comes out as domestic violence, rape and sexual harassment.
The United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women defines VAW as "any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life".
VAW was recognised as a violation of fundamental human rights in 1993, less than two decades ago, officially through the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women by the United Nations General Assembly. Women's movements across the world are continuously bringing to light new dimensions and different forms of VAW.
What are ICTs?
ICTs, or information communication technologies, are tools and platforms that we use for communication and information ativities. Examples include radio, mobile telephones, television broadcasts, personal computers and the internet.
Sometimes we contrast old and new ICTs. Old relates to analogue formats like conventional radio and TV, and new refers to digital formats likes email, web pages, and mp3s that can be carried as bits of data along telephone lines and via wireless radio links. These distinctions can get blurred as the technologies appear to converge together.
Our interest in ICTs comes from the way that their use can affect expressions of, and responses to, violence against women. The evolution of new ICTs has led to a massive increase in the number of people who have access to them. This in turn raises important questions about how ICTs can be used and abused in the area of violence against women.
VAW & ICTs
Both ICTs and violence can affect how much we are able to enjoy our human rights. The connection between the two can be seen in the way that technology gives us both
- support websites
useful places for women in violent relationships to get information and help - spyware and GPS tracking devices
tools used by abusers to track and control their partner's mobility. - Representation
Conventional mass media has traditionally been used very powerfully to promote stereotypes that encourage men and women to conform to particular ways of relating to each other. Images and ideas distributed by mass media, of what normal means, can play an important role in discouraging tolerance of diversity. - Communication
New ICTs are characterised by their speed, reach and ease of use. As communication tools they overcome distance and time between people.
In this way ICTs can allow survivors of violence to speedily get information and support. At the same time misinformed use of ICTs can also make people more vulnerable, as their actions online can be monitored and traced. Important support strategies by organisations using ICTs can be compromised by ICTs through weak points around privacy, misrepresentation and lack of technical understanding.
Other examples of how ICTs can impact on power relations:
Now with the increased diversity of content producers made possible by new ICTs on the internet, we have a vast array of different representations that affect gender relations in complex ways. Assessing their impact on social and cultural norms has become much less easy to define.
On the other hand, organisations have used ICTs to network over great distances and mobilise immediate action on urgent situations of violence against women. By examining how ICTs have been used, women's movements can build stronger links with a better understanding of their potential and risks.
More information and examples on how VAW & ICTs are interconnected, including case studies, can be read through the Association for Progressive Communication's Women's Networking Support Programme's research papers here.