HRW Day 5: Gender in the Digital Realm (Report)

Gender in the Digital Realm 
with Purnima Singh 

Human Rights Week, Day 5

Workshop: Gender in the Digital Realm

Speaker: Purnima Singh from Feminism in India ( FII )

Date: 14 January 2021

Time: 5-6:30pm

Moderator: Disha Waingankar

"Cyber Security isn't just a matter of IT. It should be an essential part of fundamental and human rights."

Goal 5 of United Nation's Sustainable Development Goal is 'Gender Equality'. Gender Equality should not just be on ground but online too.

The speaker for this workshop was Ms. Purnima Singh who is a content strategist at Feminism in India (FII) which is an award winning digital intersectionalist media organization. She has worked extensively on sexual and reproductive rights, climate change, digital rights etc. 

No one has escaped from the web of internet and social media. It has become a much more integral part of our daily life as the lockdown forced us to carry most of our work in the digital space. The topic 'Gender in the Digital Realm' looked at various different aspects, problem, issues and solutions to make the digital space more safer for the marginalized. Originally, the aim of the internet was to provide an equal platform to every individual to express themselves. It was supposed to be a democratic and neutral public space as opposed to the current reality. 

Digital divide : Although internet access seems to be widespread, it isn't the same case in rural India. The digital ecosystem is not very big in rural parts of India that is 25% as opposed to 90% in urban areas. As many as 400 million people still do not have access to the internet. Digital accessibility is also influenced by other factors like disability, gender, etc. Persons with disabilities might not find online platforms user friendly or easy to navigate. Gender dynamics at home also plays a very big role, for eg: in a patriarchal society it is more likely for a male to gain access to a smartphone earlier than his female counterpart. Penetration of internet or smartphones is highly influenced by gender dynamics at primary institution like a family.

Online violence : As mentioned earlier, how one experiences the digital space is influenced by various factors like gender, disability, caste, race, ethnicity etc. 

Gender based violence - Feminism in India in collaboration with freedom house has done a research on online gender based violence, #digitalHifaazat where they had surveyed over 500 women and interviewed 10 respondents. From the research it was found that the topics which mostly invited violence were, 1) feminism, 2) politics, 3) religion. This online violence includes mass harassment, trolling, bullying, hate or derogatory comments on one's gender or physical appearance with the aim at public defamation. This brings us to the question why don't people report? As per the research, majorly because online platforms do not take these complaints seriously and do a very little help to curb such activities, lack of digital literacy among the police are some of the reasons why people feel it embarrassing to share their experience. 

What are the forms of online harassment?

Identity theft or digital impersonation, image based abuse which includes morphing images or revenge porn, online stalking, doxxing (non consensually sharing ones private information like contact or address details), voyeurism (sharing private moments without consent). 

Who are mostly targeted?

Journalists, activists working for the issues of marginalized communities and whoever tries to address problems are mostly targeted. This forces one to self-sensor themselves inspite of the internet claiming to be an open space. Indeed it is but it's not a safe space. Harassment due to online mode of learning has also affected many students. Cases like the one in NMIMS where student's private data like contact and emails have been shared to third party organizations leading to online stalking and other forms of harassment. 

Privacy is a fundamental right and hence an important feminist issue. We must be able to control our information and to whom it should be available. Many apps require permissions, sometimes for very unnecessary things, for eg: why should a single player gamin app require access to our contacts or location or the camera? One must be alert and aware while ticking conditions like these and question their necessity. Another example could be menstrual cycle tracking apps which helps one to track their ovulation cycle or even if they are taking birth control pills. In this case we are talking about our health data something which should be kept private or personal. What if this data is shared with third party apps? In addition, if one observes the design the app icons it's very categorizing, quintessential or stereotypical graphics, example - pink coloured theme to suggest that it is a feminist app.

The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act or MTP Act (1971) is being suggested with certain amendments. One of which states that "person authorized by law" can get access to abortion data of a woman. Here, the phrase person authorized by law is a very vague term and this endangers a woman's privacy. 

Recently, the Madhya Pradesh government announced that they plan to register every single working women with local police station so that their safety can be checked and maintained.

Surveillance is often seen as the solution to curb violence against women. They suppress a woman's privacy by having curfew, track or restrict their movements etc. Apps like Aadhar and Aarogya Setu have also blazed up some conversations on privacy.

With everyday growing concerns of privacy, data breach, surveillance and weak laws, PSA via this workshop has attempted to come up with possible solutions :- 

- The most important solution to online safety is awareness.

- To educate oneself about online safety, taking out time to read the privacy policies of apps or shfiting to applications with better options.

- With the latest changes introduced by WhatsApp one can sift to other communication apps like Signal or Telegram.

- Browsers like Mozilla Firefox have add-on features to protect your privacy. 

- Have strong passwords with at least 15 characters.

- Avoid using personal information like birthdate, your name or your pet's name etc.

- You can even create passphrases like : icEdTe@isGooDduring$umm€r

- Enable Goolge alerts or similar features, so you're notified if someone tries enter your account from another device. 

- Try keeping your Bluetooth, WiFi and location off to avoid your phone from being hacked. 

- Enable 2FA (2 factor authentication)

And last but not the least, make digital space safer by occupying it.

Occupying a space develops a sense of community. Collective action, online GVV ( giving voice to values) , structural remedies in law and order are also necessary to create safer digital spaces. It's time we change the definition of violence to include online violence too which can traumatize a person leading to mental or psychological problems.

FII has carried out projects and online campaigns to provide women a space to express. Online campaigns like HAIYYA where unmarried women could share their experiences while seeking help from doctors on their reproductive and sexual health under the hashtag #mygynecstory. Edit-a-thon, a project which involves putting or adding information via html or visual editory about lesser known topics related to women for eg: women freedom fighters, queens, first women pilots etc. Projects like these can also be taken up by a team of minimum 3-4 students and help increase women's representation. Khabar Lahariya is a news platform which is run by rural and marginalized women highlighting the problems which are not shown in mainstream media. 

Having online campaigns and activities or pages catering to the needs of people form across the gender spectrum will ensure a free and democratic digital space.

Questions were raised about 'toxic feminism' and the definition of 'feminism'. A question was raised about the loophole in the me too movement where any anonymous person can blame another person of sexual violence without registering a formal legal complaint in the police station, sometimes fake cases of rape or abuse are also reported, wouldn't that be a breach of online safe space?

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Email id of the resource person - purnima@feminisminindia.com

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Report drafted by PSA's Secretary Disha Waingankar from TYBA Political Science.