Product Description

Many of the books in this section are concerned with the new information and communication technologies (ICTs) and their role in development. Of particular interest in this regard is Gender and the Information Revolution in Africa. Another new title, Changing Lenses, looks at media policies and media monitoring, while Women's Voices on Fire documents how that radio service has provided a space for women's voices.

Bringing together anthropologists, communications experts, development workers, media analysts and women's movement activists, this collection examines the type of cyberculture women are creating -- and the barriers they face. It puts forward concrete proposals for increasing women's engagement with the new communications technologies.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1580583 in Books
• Published on: 1999-06-19
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

From Publishers Weekly
A provocative exploration of the emerging trends in women's activities on the Internet, primarily in the Third and Fourth Worlds, this anthology brings together the voices of anthropologists, communications experts, media analysts and women's rights activists who are uninhibited about using techno-speak and the occasionally impenetrable language of social science. An outgrowth of the Women on the Net (WoN) project, originally organized by the Society of International Development where Harcourt is a program director, the collection begins with a particularly analytical section on the different cybercultures women are creating on the Net and their inherent dangers and advantages. Gillian Youngs considers whether we are entering a new phase of feminist politics "characterized by the possibilities of geographical, social and cultural transcendence," while Sohail Inayatullah and Ivana Milojevic remind us that "far more is required for cultural pluralism than a fast modem" and caution that "by promoting, enhancing and cementing current ways of communicating the Internet silences billions of people." The second section provides examples of how women's groups have used information and communication technologies (ICTs) for global networking, for advocacy and for lobbying policymakers. In the final section, WoN's members consider more specific applications: Laura Agustin considers how ICTs could empower migrant sex workers, while others explore the possibilities they offer for indigenous cultures, isolated rural women and the silent women of the Arab world, among others. (Aug.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

About the Author
Wendy Harcourt is Director of Gender and Development at the Society for International Development (SID).

Customer Reviews

Interesting and informative
This book was fascinating, even though I got lost in some of the technical jargon more than once, and some of the articles were more interesting than others. I have to confess enjoying the stories more than the discussions of theory, and, in some of the articles, had very little idea what the authors were talking about.

However, the production of the book itself was a clear example of women all over the world coming together, communicating, and creating a society.

This book showed me that the world of the Internet is no longer the province of the male alone, and the Net is finally beginning to understand and appreciate women's influence in a large way. This will, the writers of this book hope, lead to a better understanding of women all over the world and the problems they face. Truly the women in this book are "thinking internetly and acting locally."