Re-Wiring Women's Rights Debates in the Digital Age

The course Re-wiring Women's Rights Debates in the Digital Age was organised in New Delhi between 13-15 September 2014, by IT for Change in partnership with Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan and ANANDI, with funding support from IDRC, Canada and UN Women Fund for Gender Equality. The course brought together women's rights advocates – research scholars and practitioners, in a dialogic space, with opportunities to interact with policy makers, leading scholars, women's rights organisations and change-makers.

The key thematic areas of the course are:
(a) Recasting women's rights in the age of networks
(b) Understanding data-centred governance systems
(c) Harnessing the digital opportunity for women's empowerment

The course brought together women's rights advocates – research scholars and practitioners, in a dialogic space.

Day 1

Session 1: Living in a Networked World What does it mean for Women's Rights?

A conversation with

Rohini Lakshane, Centre for Internet and Society

Dhruv Arora, GotStared.at

Sowmya Kidambi, Director of the Society for Social Audit, Government of Andhra Pradesh

Host: Anita Anand, feminist scholar-practitioner

Session 2:Reflections on Technology and Transformation 

Naurthi ji, Grassroots leader of MKSS

Nikhil Dey, MKSS

Day 2

Session 3: Fundas for Thought: A Tour of Technology and Society 

Roshini Suparna Diwakar, IT for Change

Session 4: Women's Citizenship in the Age of Networks

Panel discussion with

Aaditeshwar Seth, Gram Vaani

Laxmi Sharma and Poorvi Bhargava, Khabar Lahariya

Kruti Laheru, Kutch Mahila Vikas Sanghathan

Chair: Sarada Muraleedharan, Department of Panchayati Raj

Session 5: Why Should we care about Technology Architectures?

Lecture by

Prabir Purkayastha, Society for Knowledge Commons

Chair and discussant: Anita Gurumurthy, IT for Change

Session 6: New Dimensions of the State-Citizen Relationship

Panel discussion with 

Sumandro Chattapadhyay, Sarai, CSDS

Satyarupa Shekhar, Transparent Chennai

Chair and discussant: Parminder Jeet Singh, IT for Change

Session 7: Challenges to Gender Justice in the Era of Media Convergence 

Lecture by

Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Journalist and Documentary Film-maker

Chair and discussant: Anuradha Raman, Journalist, with Outlook

Session 8: Synthesis by 

Rohini Lakshane, Centre for Internet and Society

Jahnvi Andharia, ANANDI

Nandini Chami, IT for Change

Session 9: Group Exercise to take stock - Ethical Concerns and Dilemmas for Women's Rights and Citizenship in the Digital Age, Presentations and Discussions

Day 3

Session 10: How Can Women Meaningfully Appropriate Digital Technologies? New Directions for 'Digital Literacy' 

Panel discussion with 

Venu Arora, Ideosync Media Combine

Kamayani Bali Mahabal, lawyer and activist

Stalin K, Director, Video Volunteers

Chair and discussant: Sejal Dand, Right to Food Campaign

Session 11: Re-wiring Women's Rights in the Digital Age: Key Questions for Policy and Practice

Lecture by

Anita Gurumurthy, IT for Change

Session 12: Group Work: New strategies and directions for women's organisations and New legal, policy and programmatic directions for state institutions

Session 13: Group Presentations

Responses from Policy Makers and the UN

Sulochana Vasudevan, National Mission for Empowerment of Women

Officials from Department of Electronics and Information Technology

Kaushal Kishore, Department of Telecommunications

Subhalakshmi Nandi, UN Women

Read more about the course at: www.itforchange.net/ITfC_Course_Re-wiring_womens_rights/index.php?title=Agenda

Focus Areas
wiki