This think piece was written by Gabriella Razzano as part of our ‘Re-wiring India's Digitalising Economy for Women's Rights and Well-being’ project, supported by Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) and the European Union.
Digital inequality in Africa is profoundly gendered, with women facing particular exclusions and risks from the emerging datafication systems. This paper examines the digitalization of social grants in South Africa as a critical case study, revealing how women’s participation in datafied social protection systems occurs without meaningful agency or consent. Drawing on South African constitutional jurisprudence, the analysis critiques Western, individualistic notions of privacy, centered on the ‘right to be let alone’, as insufficient for addressing the collective dimensions of data subjugation experienced by South African women. It argues for a more relational understanding of data privacy that acknowledges how women’s digital inclusion is essential for accessing vital services, but also inherently risky, given structural inequalities.
The Think Piece introduces ‘beneficial visibility’ as a feminist framework for reimagining women’s control over their datafication in contexts of digital and data inequalities. Beneficial visibility emphasizes the ability to negotiate the terms and extent of digital presence based on actual benefits received and informed assessments of risks. The Think Piece argues that current legal mechanisms, including data protection laws, inadequately address the power imbalances inherent in state-driven digitalization projects. It proposes a framework for data governance based on beneficial visibility, arguing that such approaches might transform datafication from a tool of subjugation into an instrument of collective empowerment for African women.
Read the full paper here.