Gender and ICTs

With about 10 days left for the deadline on pre-proposals for the Gender and Citizenship in the Information Society Program, we are rather hopeful that there will be in the next few days, a steady email flow of applications. Indeed, the past month after the launch of the Program has been exciting. We have had discussions with many organisations and scholars and feel rather affirmed by their interest in the Program. Having the Project advisors come on board was the first pat on the back; the issue of gender and citizenship in its indisputably organic link with the digital space that we all inhabit is an area that southern feminist scholarship needs to immediately look at.

On July 9th, 2010 IT for Change will deliver two lectures at the Fifth Summer School on Philosophy for the Social Sciences and Humanities, at Manipal Centre for Philosophy & Humanities, Manipal University. Anita Gurumurthy brings the gender perspective to analyse the Information Society in her talk 'Fat-free ice cream, alcohol-free beer and feminism without women - How to make sense of gender discourse in the information society?'.

Talk on "Locating Gender Politics in the New Techno-Industrial Complex” by Dr. Lisa McLaughlin, Associate Professor in Media Studies and Women’s Studies, Miami University-Ohio, USA Date: Jul 23, 2010 (Friday) Time: 4 p.m. Place: CIS - The Centre for Internet and Society No.

IT for Change's new research project entitled, "Women's Enterprise and Information Technology" with Dr. Lisa McLaughlin from Miami University-Ohio, will explore ICT policies and practices that seek to integrate women entrepreneurs, especially from the informal and small business sectors, into formal and global markets. Data collection is currently underway in three sites located in three Indian states: Karnataka (AWAKE), Gujarat (SEWA) and Kerala (Kudumbashree).