online VAW

IT for Change is engaged in a project that addresses gender-based hate speech in the online public sphere. Supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada, the project responds to the current reality in India where women are not only speaking up against patriarchy, but also claiming public-political space despite…

IT for Change's Nandini Chami appeared on BBC Newshour on the 31st birthday of the World Wide Web to talk about the scale of online gender-based violence and the ways in which the web seems to be failing women and girls. The highlights of the discussion were as follows:

Anita Gurumurthy was invited to participate in the Conference for Promotion of Policing Standards (COPPS) 2018 hosted by the Bureau of Police Research and Development and the Indian Police Foundation at BPR&D Conference Hall, New Delhi in May. The conference focused on the future of policing in the digital age. Anita made a presentation on…

Drawing from IT for Change’s work, this submission provides an overview of legislative and judicial developments in India with respect to online violence against women. It offers an analysis of the government’s…

Unmasking the web

“#MeToo” – the spontaneous and unstructured campaign, exposed the underbelly of sexual harassment. This campaign would not have had the results it did were it not for the Internet. However, this very same domain with its limitless reach becomes one of the most vicious weapons in perpetrating violence. Sexual harassment…

It’s the end of an era for online activism. We have lost our safe, small, intimate spaces of digital publishing to corporate giants, state-run troll armies, and idiotic online commentary. We must recognize that the politics and policing of this space have shifted under our fingertips and that we must re-strategize how we are going to play the…

First published in LSE’s Women Peace and Security blog, this article discusses the need for a feminist jurisprudence on violence against women. Laws on online VAW draw from foundational ideas that have informed interpretations of gender-based (in) justice, recognizing the immersion of human society in digital experiences. There is a presence of…

IT for Change contributed to the 'Call for submission on online violence against women' by the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, Ms. Dubravka Šimonović as part of the Online Freedom for All = No Unfreedom for Women - Project on Technology-Mediated Violence Against Women.

The paper provides a state of play of the legislative,…

The annual conference of the Majlis Legal Centre - Negotiating Spaces - chose to analyse the various facets, impacts and internal contradictions of on-line spaces, through a gender lens. Anita made a presentation on ‘What's happening today to women's rights and citizenship?’, focusing on the network- data complex and its…

World-over, technology-mediated violence against women is growing to be a serious social problem. Women’s full and free participation in digital spaces presupposes a safe online environment, but going online seem to be fraught with the risk of violence for women. Governments, especially in countries in the global South, are yet to bring their…