Through a feminist lens that brings together economic justice and gender justice concerns, this paper traces the key elements of the right to access, right to knowledge and right to development in the network society context. It highlights how this three-pronged approach to scoping the “right to communicate” can serve as a guiding framework for feminist analysis and action at the intersections of gender, digital technologies and development. It also demonstrates how the prevailing discourse on women’s human rights needs to move beyond the online-offline binary to discern the rights violations occurring in the hybrid contexts of techno-mediated life, in the unfreedoms wrought by data, digitalisation and networks.
This paper chalks out strategic directions for feminist advocacy in relation to information and communications technologies (ICTs), at different scales and spaces – global, national and local. Specific agendas for advocacy in relation to critical global forums and national governments are sketched out along with the work needed for feminist movement building.
See also: A history of feminist engagement with development and digital technologies