The other day I had an interesting discussion with Juliana Rotich about the women's movement and the activism on issues. From the talk, she is not very amused with some of the issues advanced.

Juliana reminded me one post I always wanted to write; on whether the debate about women needs to be tilted or changed, especially when it comes to tech issues. She feels that women's movement has this feeling of entitlement, especially from men.

I do also understand that for women in engineering and science courses, affirmative action did not give you the high grades, you had to work hard and measure up, which means that you are not a victim, you have earned it.

Juliana had a point, I wanted to disagree just to raise the debate a bit but we were in the middle of Ushahidi meeting so I thought I should reflect and write this post.

I have very high regard for activists on women issues; coming from a village that until about 30 years ago did not appreciate the need of women going to high school, I know that the benefits I enjoy today is a result of activism and awareness by the women of those days.

That is why I have done my share of coverage of women issues and helped where I can. That is also why I was also excited when I was asked about women's issues in internet governance.

But I did not strike a very nice cord with the women's issues advocates when I argued that some of the issues are gender neutral and it would indeed raise the debate higher if women were to take up the issues.

Take for instance the cost of domains, lack of electronic commerce growth, online content etc...these are issues that affect both men and women, but if the women took it up and said...hey we will break more boundaries if domains are cheaper or e-commerce is made easier, people will start discussing such issues, maybe even wondering why they are important to women.

My argument was that women don't have to be victims anymore; ten years ago, the story was that women don't have access to this and that, men have the power over this and that, this protocol has not been signed among many other issues.

The growth of mobile in Africa has extinguished many of those myths, women have adopted technology, whether they understand what GSM works or not, they know opportunities in mobile money, they operate call kiosks and some of then charge their phones at a fee...while still at home.

I am always inspired when I go to my village and see how mobiles have opened opportunities, with mobile money, you can sell credit, send money, pay bills at the convenience of your shamba, you just need to be shown how it works.

Women are not victims, we take opportunities when presented, and I think the activism now should be on how to identify these opportunities that women can participate in.

While at the Africa Union Summit in January, I challenged one of the women to raise the debate by challenging RASCOMSATAR-QAF, the owners of RASCOMSTAR-1 satellite to provide bandwidth to women NGOs who are paying lots of money for connectivity, which I think would make many people want in.

RASCOM-QAF, the consortium, has an engineering fellowship or some training where African engineers are trained to operate the satellites, it would make a lot of sense if the women movement was to advocate for a third of women engineers to be admitted to the program, this am sure would attract even the women who are not interested in women matters.

RASCOM is owned by 47 African countries and they even have a giant online masters course project with India which I think would benefit many of us in rural areas with no access to some of the facilities.

Anyway, I was just trying to raise some of the issues in tech that am sure many women would be interested in. And am not sure I got a lot of supporters on that, I was talking to myself.

My argument still stands, the debate needs to change, am not sure how but am getting tired of same arguments especially when tech presents such opportunities.

Ends

The other day, a women’s group asked me to outline women’s issues in Internet Governance, based on my experience. Tech issues have always sounded geeky and out of touch for many people so I thought I should be as simple and basic as possible.

This is what I wrote, and in a separate post, I will tell you why the women’s group did not take me seriously……..

During the World Summit on Information Society in 2003, delegates were highly polarized over issues of who should govern the internet and its critical resources. Opinions were divided over whether the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) which was under USA’s Department of Commerce should continue managing the internet or the role should be handed over to the ITU, an inter governmental body.

By the time the second phase of WSIS was held in Tunis in 2005, it was clear that there was need for a body, with no governmental affiliations. After discussions and negotiations, it was agreed that the Internet Governance Forum should be convened, to run from 2006-2010.

Africa has been largely represented within IGF, although most of the people have no access to affordable ICT. Given the historical imbalances, women have suffered most.

The IGF addresses issues and policies such as redelegation of African domains, investment in critical internet infrastructure such as Internet Exchange Points, Cyber security, censorship and the extent of government control among other issues.

In matters technology, women are largely absent; there are few female telecommunications engineers, either because they are not given opportunities or are left out.

But one of the major issues is the lack of capacity, most of the IG issues relate to technical jargon, which is not simplified enough for people to understand. For instance, policies on Cyber security affect what is accessible online by children, issues of pornography and what the government should do is discussed in cyber security meetings.

Apart from policies, African governments have not invested in critical infrastructure or have not given it the priority it deserves. Failure to subsidize the cost of hosting and domain names has affected the online market places that women can access and has stifled electronic commerce.

E-commerce is considered a tool for women especially in areas where women have multiple roles or are not allowed to leave their homes for businesses. With e-commerce, women can buy and sell without any challenges.

Ends

FEMNET, the African Women's Development and Communication Network, has launched a book, examining freedom of information legislation and its role in enhancing women's rights in Africa.

The book comprises case studies from Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Zambia and attempts to show how the lack of legislation on FOI has impeded women's right to demand transparency and good governance.

Written in a clear and simple language that is easily understood by those who are grounded in tech and those who are not, the book identifies ways women can benefit be demanding greater access to information from the government as well as the public sector.

Out of all the countries studied, only South Africa has enacted the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) in 2000. The Act is part of more than 800 pieces of legislation since the fall of apartheid, mainly calculated ti address inequities, imbalances and social injustices that had previously existed.

In the countries profiled, the right to freedom of information was seen more like a domain for the media to demand and not the general population. In this case, women have not lobbied hard to have the FOI laws enacted.

While identifying the slow legislative mechanisms in most countries, the book identifies ways women can compel their governments to act.

One legislative glitch which may have hindered the speedy enactment is the constitutional provision on freedom of expression. In this regard, most countries define FOI as part of the wider constitutional guarantees, yet the countries may retain other repressive pieces of legislation.

For instance, in Kenya, the FOI bill is still pending in parliament; the government claims freedom of expression is well provided in the constitution, yet it maintains the archaic Official Secrets Act, which gives government institutions the discretion to decline information requests.

The book is an important resource for organizations that want to deepen their knowledge in advocacy and the nexus between women's rights, FOI and development.