Women

Two groups of students, male and female, stand on the grass under a tree.

Sexual Harassment Limits Women’s Advancement in Tanzanian Media

This disturbing claim, and many others like it, surfaced in research commissioned by Internews in Tanzania on women’s role in media in the country. Women who aim for media careers face rampant discrimination, a lack of opportunities, and demands for transactional sex. These threats aren’t just in the workplace, but often face university students as well. “One of our goals is to empower women journalists to become editors,” said Angela Nicoara, Internews Chief of Party in Tanzania. Internews’ Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Strategy prioritizes work that transforms relationships of power and advances women’s roles in media. “But our conversations with women showed that sexual exploitation at universities, including journalism schools, and in media houses was seen as a main obstacle of being employed or promoted.” University students and lecturers reported that transactional or coerced sex between female students and male lecturers occurs with some frequency. A female student stated that she received a failing grade from a male lecturer because she had refused his sexual advances. Some universities in Tanzania have sexual harassment explicitly included in their code of conduct, while others do not. Many students and lecturers alike were not sure if their school had a sexual harassment policy and where to go to report sexual misconduct, and agreed that the problem isn’t talked about publicly. So Internews collaborated with the University of Dar es Salaam to create public service announcement videos (PSAs) that raised the topic. One video opens with the question: “How do we combat Sexual Harassment?” “First, we talk about it. The issue of sexual harassment is like a taboo. It’s been talked behind closed doors … in low voices,” says Sophia Ndibalema, Assistant Lecturer at the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at UDSM, in the PSA. The PSAs discuss different forms harassment can take, and assert that students should not stay silent about the topic. “If you experience or see sexual harassment, speak up. Someone will listen,” ends one PSA. The videos are intended as a jumping off point for further discussion and action. In June Internews will convene a roundtable at the university with students, women lawyers and women activists to discuss the next steps of a campaign. “Our goal is spark more conversation and support local CSOs that take the lead in raising awareness and changing the dynamic for women journalism students and professionals,” said Nicoara. Key Findings: Gender Discrimination and Sexual Harassment Derails Careers Excerpted from the Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Analysis Report, conducted by FHI 360 in partnership with Internews Women are less likely than men to pursue higher level journalism diplomas and degrees Women and men are segmented into different journalism career paths: Men occupy more prestigious reporting positions, while women are lower-level reporters or presenters with little decision-making power. Women’s domestic responsibilities reduce opportunities to participate in work and school Female students who live at home, and women professionals generally, are responsible for domestic tasks such cooking, cleaning, and caring for children or younger siblings. Perceptions of women and men in media affect their career success: Men are perceived as adventurous, proactive, and decisive. Women are perceived as having little self-confidence, both as media professionals and sources of information. Negative stereotypes about women journalists create gender-segregated workstreams Many people have a perception that women are not capable of reporting on “hard” news or doing “tough” assignments. Perception of danger inhibits skill-building opportunities for female journalism students Campus TV/radio studios and computer lab are dominated by male students and lecturers, and female students may fear harassment or be prohibited by their families from staying after hours to build or practice skills in these spaces. Toxic masculinity reinforces sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) throughout media and journalism . . . Internews’ work with media and civil society in Tanzania is supported by USAID and implemented in partnership with FHI 360.

Four young Afghan women look at a cell phone in one of the girl's hands.

In Study of Social Media in Afghanistan, Women Report Mixed Feelings

Wedding invitations in Afghanistan don’t bear the names of the women invited – they are only invited under the name of their husbands, or male relatives. In markets, women’s names are not spoken. Even on burial tombs, a woman may be referred to only as the wife or daughter of a man, not by her own name. With the hashtag #whereismyname, Tahmina Arian and a group of friends – young, newly graduated Afghan women – rallied attention to this common practice last summer on Facebook and Twitter, starting a conversation in the country and protesting the Afghan custom of erasing women's names. Social media is still in its infancy in Afghanistan, with a small and mostly homogenous user base of educated, relatively wealthy, predominately male users and only hundreds of Afghanistan-based public Facebook pages and Twitter accounts. But while small, it holds opportunity for engagement and expression. Without any trappings of traditional power or social capital, the group of young women started a public debate they would otherwise have no means to convene, without the platform offered by social media. These opportunities are among the findings revealed in a new report, Social Media in Afghanistan: Users and Engagement, prepared by Altai Consulting for Internews. By mapping Afghan influencers online and surveying users about their comfort with, reasons for, and use of social media, the report paints a picture and offers a deep repository of data on the changing nature of social media in Afghanistan and how it may shape public discourse in the future. Women’s Rights and Social Engagement Tahmina and the women behind #whereismyname are new to protests, but activists with years of experience have found similar power in expanding their advocacy online. Wazhma Frogh, a women’s rights activist, member of the High Peace Council, and the director of the Research Institute for Women, Peace and Security, uses Twitter not only to bring to light women’s rights issues in Afghanistan, but to share her views on other current events in the country with her 97,000 followers. She started using Twitter during 2013’s Open Jirga, when citizens could use their Facebook and Twitter platforms to submit questions for the televised debates. Wazhma said that in 2013 political representation was still scant on Twitter, but since then she notes that all relevant political stakeholders in Afghanistan have grown accustomed to using Twitter, an observation backed up in the report, which identifies Twitter as a more “official” channel dominated by politicians and media accounts. For Wazhma, this means that her words carry weight and legitimacy; other members of the peace council are aware of the reach of her voice on social media. It can be difficult to enumerate how social campaigns affect change directly, but they can create conversations that with momentum can translate to real life interactions. Indicative of the nascent relationship between online and traditional media in Afghanistan, Wazhma can point to TV and radio interviews that have resulted because of topics she’s posted about online. Harassment and Violence Online At the same time, the opportunities for women’s engagement online run parallel to a harsh reality for women in Afghanistan – intense harassment is prevalent for women, shapes their interactions online and offline, and shows little sign of abatement. Social media users in Afghanistan routinely make derogatory, discriminatory or even violent comments in reaction to certain content. Tahmina of the #whereismyname campaign receives lurid messages from strangers constantly and has been groped in the street. Wazhma regularly receives threats. They aren’t the only women to experience online harassment – it is so prevalent that women in universities do not share their real names in class, as they do not want men to harass them or find them again online, where social media is routinely used to question a woman’s integrity and respectability. And for the majority of women who are more private users of social media, using the platforms not for advocacy but for simple social interactions and information gathering, fears of public shaming or harassment, along with norms of Afghan society, shape their use. Indeed, almost 20% of female respondents declare being Friends only with same-sex relatives on Facebook – and 35% of female respondents declare only being Friends with relatives on Facebook. This reflects the well-documented wariness of Afghan women to interact with individuals beyond their direct family on social media, as they are targets of harassment. On the other hand, 67% of men declare being friends with a mixed-gender group of people that include both friends and family. The study’s findings suggest Afghan women have a complicated relationship with social media – they see the dangers, but also there is freedom for them on social media that simply isn’t available elsewhere. Social media is perceived to have had an overall positive effect on social issues by all private users surveyed, but perhaps surprisingly, women are more likely to perceive a positive effect than men. When it comes to privacy, 69% think it has had a positive effect on privacy, and again women are more likely to think so. This may be counterintuitive, as women are wary of having their information available online and feel vulnerable to harassment, but it also means there is an avenue for individuals to interact with people without the scrutiny of one’s family, for example. A Wider Snapshot of Social Media in Afghanistan Beyond gender dynamics, Social Media in Afghanistan: Users and Engagement is an unprecedented current examination of the development and influence of social media on open expression and social change in Afghan society. Findings, which can be explored more deeply in the report and accompanying data, include: Social media users are homogenous and concentrated on Facebook Users are predominantly young, urban and educated. Internet access remains the main barrier to social media access. 95% of social media users have a Facebook account. More than 80% of social media users access their accounts solely through their smartphone. Social media is filled with current affairs, but users would rather engage with entertainment and sports topics Media organizations have invested in social media enthusiastically as a new platform for their content, dominating the pages found online along with government, politics, and elections-related pages. The content that garners the most audience engagement, however, relates to sports, entertainment or national pride Social media is an extension of one’s private network first and a source of information second Interaction is primarily with existing family and friends, limiting direct engagement with individuals and ideas outside of established social networks. Awareness of content related to current affairs is high; mobilization through social media is much lower Mobilizing users through social media for a specific cause faces many hurdles, but the practice of reporting wrongdoing through social media is common and is the most direct impact social media has on Afghan society. For example, 62% surveyed believe social media has had a positive effect on corruption, which is frequently reported on social media. . . . Social Media in Afghanistan: Users and Engagement was produced by Altai Consulting for Internews, with support from Counterpart International under the USAID-funded Afghan Civic Engagement Program (ACEP). Laura Lindamood is Internews Director of Communications.

A woman sits with her hands covering her face.

In the DRC, Advocating an End to Impunity in Gender-Based Violence Cases

In the conflict-torn Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a big step was taken in the fight against impunity in sexual violence cases during the United Nations campaign, “16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence.” The two main women’s media organizations in DRC teamed up with Internews to conduct forums and talk shows with the goal of improving reporting on the issue and bringing the debate to the public’s attention. The issue of impunity was brought to the forefront by the arrest of eighteen members of the “Army of Jesus” (l’Armée de Jésus), a militia led by Frédéric Batumike, a member of the South Kivu provincial Parliament. They are accused of abducting and raping at least 46 young girls, aged 8 months to 12 years old, around Kavumu from 2013 to 2016. Kavumu is a small city located near Bukavu, South Kivu’s capital city. Most of the victims were taken to Panzi hospital, a unique health facility in Bukavu renowned for the treatment of survivors of sexual violence and complex gynecological injuries, but at least two died from their injuries. The militants believe that the blood from the sexual assaults of virgins give them supernatural protection from bullets during conflicts. The arrests were a turning point as these crimes are often not prosecuted. The trial opened in a military court on November 9. Threats against witnesses have been reported. Batumike’s lawyers also tried to deny competence to the military court. Although the Congolese central government has become more involved in ending impunity for sexual violence, their efforts are often not supported by actions of public institutions. Kavumu’s trial is therefore monitored by human rights and women’s rights associations and the international community. NGOs such as Trial, Physicians for Human Rights and Panzi Foundation are advocating internationally on this case for ending impunity for sexual abuse. With Internews support, women journalists, members of the Association des Femmes de Médias du Sud Kivu (AFEM), reported how Kavumu’s citizens were dealing with the trial and the work of local associations and community based organizations to prevent sexual violence. With partner organizations, Internews held forums to discuss the issue of impunity in addressing sexual violence.On November 25, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, AFEM leaders participated in a forum, organized in Kavumu, by Freedom House, the Carter Center and the American Bar Association. Citizens of Kavumu were able to discuss the threats and opportunities of the trial with the prosecutor, police senior officials and members of the South Kivu government. Internews recorded the debate and with AFEM produced a radio program – Café Presse – that is available on the Internews DRC radio program exchange tool. It is being broadcast during the 16 days of activism campaign on six main South Kivu radio stations. In Kinshasa, two other talk shows on women’s rights will be produced in collaboration with Union Congolaise des Femmes de Médias (Congolese Union of Women Media Professionals - UCOFEM). On December 10, International Human Rights Day and the end date of the “16 days of Activism” campaign to eliminate violence against women, Internews will close with the production of a talk show with Louise Mushobekwa, DRC’s minister of Human Rights, human rights defenders and women activists. The show will be broadcast nationwide. These activities were funded by the Swiss cooperation and USAID.

‘The Goal is to Intimidate Us’

Filipina journalist Maria Ressa was wrapping up a day’s reporting early this year when she opened Facebook and saw the chilling post: “I want Maria Ressa to be raped repeatedly to death, I would be so happy if that happens when martial law is declared, it would bring joy to my heart.” For Ressa, a former CNN war correspondent who has been the target of a vicious campaign of online harassment since President Rodrigo Duterte began consolidating power in 2016, the threat was nothing new. After a series of stories the Manila-based journalist wrote about government corruption on Rappler, the online news site she heads, Nessa said she was getting as many as 90 hate messages an hour, most specifically targeting her as a woman. What was new was what happened next. Marshalling her talents as an online journalist, Ressa was able to track down the threats. They were coming from a 22-year-old university student using a fake account to harass Ressa. The man was forced to call her and apologize, and he is facing disciplinary action by the university. It was a rare victory for a woman reporter facing harassment. Across the world, powerful cultural stigmas and a lack of faith that authorities will act upon complaints keep women journalists from reporting sexual intimidation and assault. While numerous international groups have reported individual instances of sexual assault directed against women journalists over the years, the sort of methodological research that quantifies other types of attacks against the press, such as murders and imprisonments, is non-existent when it comes to violence against women. “It’s atrocious,” Ressa said. “It’s something I wouldn’t have thought possible, but this sort of open hatred of women, these threats, are climbing. Sexism and misogyny have escalated in the past year, and women journalists asking hard questions are targeted. The goal is to intimidate us. The goal is to stop us from asking hard questions. And yet women are afraid of reporting assaults. They fear being perceived as vulnerable or denied future assignments. And they fear, quite reasonably, not being taken seriously.” A journalist, training with Internews in 2007, interviews players at a mall video arcade. Women reporters consistently report harassment is part of their jobs, but little women-specific training exists. Photo by Josh Josh Estey for InternewsWhile threats to women reporters in Southeast Asia are as difficult to quantify as anywhere else in the world, women working in the region say they seem to come from everywhere, grim and terrifying. There is the groping at a press scrum, hands on your body so fast you cannot push away. There are the men spitting on you, calling you loose as you work to report a story on the streets. At a military base, you are singled out for harassment, jeers, sexual taunts while the male reporters around you do their work freely. Back in the newsroom, your own editor suggests you sleep with him - or face professional recrimination. “It is an emerging problem, or awareness of it is emerging, and as more women get into the newsrooms the problem increases” said Eva Danayanti, Executive Director of the Alliance of Independent Journalists in Jakarta, Indonesia. The reports like those above come into Danayanti from women journalists on a regular basis. But fearful of professional and personal reprisal, the women rarely use their names. In two instances within the past year, women journalists were physically harassed by military police, Danayanti said. In one instance, a woman reporter covering a governor’s race was threatened with rape by a politician’s supporters. And, Danayanti said, online threats against women journalists in Jakarta are common. “Male journalists are harassed physically, but the whole thing takes on a terribly abusive, sexual aspect against women journalists,” Danayanti said. With local and gubernatorial elections slated for 2018, and the presidential election the next year, “we expect this to only increase.” As sexual aggression against women in the region emerges as a persistent problem, and raises compelling press freedom and security concerns, Internews is seeking concrete means to ramp up awareness of the threats, empower women journalists in the field to combat them and minimize their incidence and impact. Rowan Reid, project manager for Internews said women journalists face harassment in the countries he works in at every step in their reporting. They may be harassed by drivers, by security officials, by cameramen, sometimes by their own editors and colleagues, he said. They are sometimes groped by men around them while they are standing in a crowded press conference. Online harassment of the sort Ressa experienced is pervasive, Rowan says. And sexual harassment of women investigative journalists is accepted behavior by authorities seeking to stop their questions. “Definitely I think it impedes women’s ability to work in their environments,” Reid said. “The point is, this shouldn’t be standard. Our standard should be, if it’s not an issue affecting men, why should it be an issue affecting women?” The two-year project for mid-level investigative journalists led by Reid is not, in its current form, a sufficient answer. It focuses on training for journalists across the board. It has no specific component - or funding - to empower women journalists to protect themselves from harassment, but Reid says the issue is persistent and merits much more support. “No one is focusing on the specific security issues women face,” Reid said. “We want to do it at Internews, but we need more funding to really get it in the pipeline.” Reid envisions a program that would convene a regional network of trainers to teach women reporters how to protect their digital profiles from trolls, and that would give them tools to protect themselves from physical harassment on the job. “If you’re going to cover security issues specific to women you have to cover that with women and women only,” Reid said. “I wouldn’t even bother considering incorporating it into mixed gender training. You also want to cover some issues that are really quite sensitive. It needs to be a different approach, an approach that is really tailored to the sensitivities of each culture and each environment.” “But in the end, this is a really frightening, frustrating issue. You can train as much as you want. But if men are going to continue to harass women, I’m not getting to the men. So you feel powerless to really stop it.” . . . Brian Hanley is Internews Regional Director for Asia Programs (Banner photo: Women reporters face aggressive online harassment and physical assault in many countries. Photo by Josh Josh Estey for Internews)

A group of Sri Lankan women stand outside a building

Raising Our Voices for Us

Sri Lankan disability activist Manique Gunaratne has a dream — to unite women with disabilities and “change attitudes from sympathy to empathy, dependence to independence, hidden to open, and exclusion to inclusion.” Manique believes this can be achieved by empowering women with disabilities through training in technology, hoping that as women get out in the work force and are more visible, other changes may follow. She says that a woman with a disability who has no access to technology is “triple handicapped.” “With technology, we can fight for our right to life and our right to information,” Manique said at a Women, Tech and Change Social Media Meetup organized by Internews in Colombo in August. Five women — Manique Gunaratne, Savindri Talgodapitiya, Tehani Ariyaratne, Iromi Perera and Menike Deshapriya — presented on Women, Tech and Change at an Internews forum.Manique has been working on her dream since 2001 in her role as Manager of the Specialized Training and Disability Resource Center at the Employers’ Federation of Ceylon where she focuses on using technology to get people with disabilities, particularly women, into meaningful employment. “Twenty years ago, ICT was a luxury confined to Colombo. Today it’s a necessity which should reach the grass roots level, especially for visually impaired persons to be equally capable as sighted persons,” she says. While mobile use is high in Sri Lanka (126% in 2017), Internet penetration is still limited (16.4% households had access in 2016, according to the Department of Census and Statistics). Computer literacy is 38.5% for urban populations and 26% for rural. 29% of men and 26% of women are computer literate. Manique GunaratneManique started losing her sight in her 20s due to retinitis pigmentosa. Determined to be financially and professionally independent, she mastered Braille and using a white cane and took up the study of information technology both nationally and internationally. This was despite the efforts of her family to “protect” her by keeping her confined at home. Her family was fairly typical of Sri Lankans’ attitudes toward people with disabilities where, according to Manique, disabled women face a lot of discrimination including lack of access to education, no vocational training and the lowest income level of any other group. People with disabilities in Sri Lanka sometimes face stigma due to religious beliefs that disability is punishment for wrong-doing in a previous life or is an omen of bad luck (DFAT). A 2003 World Bank report found that 39% of disabled Sri Lankans had never attended school and only 33% attended public events with members of their family. Disability prevalence in Sri Lanka is identified at 12.9% but is probably underreported (the internationally accepted figure is 15%) – three decades of war and the 2004 tsunami resulted in significant rates of physical and psychiatric disability. Despite this, there is not much information in the news media about disabilities, says Manique, and information in general is not available in accessible formats. Sri Lanka ratified the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on 8 February 2016, which means they are bound to enact “enabling legislation” that will protect the rights of people with disabilities. However, to date Sri Lanka’s disability rights law has been re-drafted five times and is yet to be passed in Parliament. In 2015, disabled Sri Lankans lambasted all the leading political parties for not recognizing disability rights in their political platforms. “For the past 20 years we have had laws but the implementation process and environment has been very weak. In 2006 a draft bill was introduced to parliament. For 10 years it has been getting postponed because of the insensitivity of politicians. We want to raise our voice in Parliament. We see no other option,” said Gampaha District Group Leader Prasanna Kuruupu. (Daily FT) As Vice Chairperson of the South Asian Disability Forum, a founding member of the South Asian Women with Disabilities Network, a member of Asia Pacific Women with Disabilities United, and the spearhead of “Raising our voices for us,” a national campaign for women with disabilities, Manique advocates for policy change at the national level as well as inclusive economic development (development programs aimed at women have traditionally excluded women with disabilities). Manique Gunaratne (right) of The Employers’ Federation of Ceylon Network on Disability (EFC) and Sagarika Wickramasekara, President of Internet Society spoke on “Women Internet Governance Forum” on a radio program at the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, June 2017. Credit EFC.Technology has made great strides in getting people with all types of disabilities connected online. Screen readers, speech to text devices and magnification can help blind people access the Internet, eye-tracking can help even a severely physically disabled person navigate a web page or use a smart phone. Captioning gives Deaf people access to audio material. These advances have been a game changer for people with disabilities in terms of participating in civic life. Training disabled women in technology is not just a way to expand employment opportunities. Disabled women can use the Internet to get information about their human rights as well as use social media to promote rights and conduct advocacy campaigns. They can go online to start a business. It’s a way to take part in social life. At the Employers’ Federation of Ceylon, ICT Training Centre for Persons with Disabilities, since 2009, Manique has conducted courses in a wide range of areas in the ICT field to persons with all types of disabilities from all over Sri Lanka. The training center also connect trainees online. It is fully equipped with devices and software specially designed for persons with disabilities. In 2014, the center received CISCO Academy status. To reach those in rural areas and areas outside of Colombo, Manique has set up online training and uses mobile labs to reach remote geographical locations. Some of the students in these areas have “not even seen a computer.” She also trains people with disabilities in these locations as trainers. Manique says, “So I learned technology but then I thought, ‘me coming forward is not enough – it’s not about me, it’s about we.’” (Banner photo: The Employers’ Federation of Ceylon trained eight visually impaired persons in Information & Communication skills for 6 months with the support of the International Labour Organisation. Credit EFC)

Milady interviews a man in a business suit

Facing Digital Threats to Independent Media

Milady Cruz had a dream. She wished for a compassionate approach to journalism in her country. Her two decades of experience in radio and print media steered her to create Diario El Periodista, an outlet committed to principled and accountable reporting in El Salvador. Milady launched Diario in 2014. “Nobody told me how to start a business.” Milady recounted. “I had to learn on my own.” In the years since, she’s been proud of Diario’s coverage, particularly in reporting on vulnerable communities and profiling and featuring young entrepreneurs who have found success. However, she never imagined the hard lessons she would encounter along the way. “As a journalist, you assume you are in control,” she said. “You are not. You are vulnerable. You are exposed to threats, especially when you are investigating sensitive topics.” With El Salvador's high crime rate, journalists are subject to threats and intimidation for reporting on gangs and narcotics trafficking. El Salvador's constitution provides for freedom of speech and press, and the government generally respects these rights. However, some journalists report receiving threats from people they believed to be government officials after reporting on violence in the country. They note that these experiences can negatively affect journalists' willingness to report on the security situation. In addition, in this digital age, media also face the threat of hacking. In June of last year, the Diario’s website, its Twitter account and Milady’s personal email account were hacked. She lost a year’s worth of reporting. Yet, she did not abandon her dream. “We had to continue writing stories that transcended our challenges,” she said. Photo credit: Ovidio Sanic LariosMilady used her life savings to restore the website and rebuild Diario. In November 2016, she participated in a USAID-supported Internews regional bootcamp in Guatemala, where she learned the basics of digital and physical security from leading regional experts and expanded her data and investigative journalism skills. She attended sessions on data analysis, data journalism, investigative methods, encrypted messaging and mobile security, and with the 28-strong fellowship cohort—from her country as well as Guatemala and Honduras—she built her network. “I had to wait 19 years to learn how to protect my work and myself properly,” Milady said. The project enhances freedom of expression in the Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras by empowering local journalists to develop high-quality investigative reporting. It also provides them with the tools and skills to conduct investigations safely and avoid censorship, security threats and retaliation. The two-day digital security training session helped her identify the challenges faced by fellow journalists in the region. “I’ve had the opportunity to meet other journalists and learn that they face similar obstacles,” she said. “I’m not merely a journalist,” Milady said. “I’m a mother. I wish to develop professionally and personally. I want my kids to grow ethically informed.” “I ended 2016 on a high note,” said Milady, trying to hold back her tears. “I returned home invigorated and excited to confront the challenges. More so now that I have new friends that will support me.” This story was also published in 2030, a blog from USAID.

#KeepItCivil while Supporting Women, Free Speech, and Access to the Internet

When she was a young, single woman in law school, Mishi Choudhary’s father took her to meet an important and well-known lawyer, hoping he would inspire her. Instead, the lawyer told her she should not decide on her career path until she found out what her future husband would be doing. “It was a very dampening thing for a youngster… I did not know who I was going to marry, and [the idea] that an imaginary person was going to decide the course of my life was not very encouraging.” Suffice it to say, Mishi did not take the lawyer’s advice. Today, as a technology lawyer and online civil liberties activist, the founder of the Software Freedom Law Centre in India and the Legal Director of the NYC-based Software Freedom Law Center, Mishi represents the rights of Internet users and free software developers. An accomplished litigant, she is currently the only lawyer in the world to simultaneously appear on briefs in the US and Indian Supreme Courts in the same term. Mishi Choudhary is a partner with Internews’ Internet Policy Partnership Project (IP3). In this video, she speaks alongside IP3 partners from DRC and Colombia in a panel discussion, Internet Shutdowns and the Silencing of Dissent. Learning about Access at an Early Age Mishi was born in Delhi. Her father is a pharmaceutical manufacturer in India, considered “pharmacy to the world.” A common topic of discussion in the household was keeping the cost of drugs low to provide access for people in Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America. As a child, her father encouraged her to study Political Science and Law. “I loved every minute of what I was doing — it just opened my brain and my horizons to a very different world. I started in commercial litigation and was a criminal defense attorney for a while.” But after a while, Mishi felt drawn to a larger purpose and started looking for a way to use words to “make justice in the world.” “Coming from India where resources are limited and sharing is a big part of our culture…no matter which part of India you belong to, a big part of it is how you share knowledge in order to amplify and increase it for everybody else. And every day, stopping people from sharing knowledge with manufactured property rights of copyright didn’t gel with my upbringing and values. Then I discovered free and open source software and freeculture.” Combining Law & Technology Alongside law, Mishi also educated herself in computer programming as a hobby. While studying at Columbia University, she began to see a path to integrate the two. She was inspired by the Free Software Foundation, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the Center for Democracy & Technology. “India is a very big country for software development but we had no legal services or advocacy organization that was even trying to pause and think about our actions and their impact on human society. So I decided, I’m going to do this and to have an EFF in India.” In 2009, Mishi founded the Software Freedom Law Centre in India, a donor-supported legal services organization that brings together lawyers, policy analysts, technologists, and students to protect freedom in the digital world. While Mishi has been successful as a lawyer, it hasn’t been without its challenges, particularly with regard to sexism in the workplace. “Misogyny is an Everyday Business” Subtle sexism is an ongoing issue, from being cut off when speaking at a conference, “mansplained” on social media, or being second-guessed by male lawyers whom she supervises. There is also the assumption that, as a woman, she doesn’t know how technology works. All this has made Mishi determined to provide a workplace that encourages women lawyers to participate fully and to stay in the workforce even when the demands of family life increase. “We have very good maternity and paternity leave policies. In my US office I saw my own boss encourage our brilliant business manager to bring her baby to work for almost a year every day. People would take turns babysitting if she was on a call. And the idea was that she should not be forced out of work. That really inspired me. We had one lawyer who had three kids and she wanted to leave early so we said, ok leave at four, which is unheard of in a law office, but she would work from home after her kids had gone to bed and she had spent time with them.” Mishi encourages the young women lawyers who work for her to present at conferences even when they feel unsure of themselves, telling them it’s ok if you “screw it up” because it prepares you for the big speech you may give someday. She wants women’s voices to be heard at the conferences and on the Internet. Silencing Through Cyberbullying Mishi also confronts much less subtle forms of sexism, including overt harassment. Just last month, 20-year-old student activist Gurmehar Kaur in India posted a photo and message in response to a right-wing student group which had vandalized Ramjas College to protest an invited speaker. Because she expressed an opinion online, Gurmehar received rape and death threats on social media from thousands of individuals. Mishi, among others, came to the defense of Guremhar. “Our hashtag and call for this project has been #keepitcivil. You can have different points of view. But you don’t have to start calling out and abusing each other’s parents and mother and daughter and then call out their caste or color of skin. All this is irrelevant.” Despite her call for civility, Mishi woke up the next morning to a barrage of hateful messages ranging from personal to professional. “And as a person, it’s not very easy. It can shake you to the core…especially if somebody starts doxing, or saying ‘ok we’ll come and get you and rape you, throw acid on your face. This is what we will do to you.’” Mishi notes that online harassment happens to both men and women but women are particularly targeted and silenced with rape and death threats. In December 2016, her organization released a report called Online Harassment: A Form of Censorship that compiles findings from a year of research into the issue and offers recommendations for individual users, platforms like Facebook and Twitter, and law enforcement agencies. Getting the Rest of the World Online Despite the perils of online harassment, Mishi sees great potential in the Internet for education and expression. For those who lack access to the internet today, particularly the poor, Mishi seeks avenues for them to come online as not only consumers of data but also producers. But they need to be able to access the Internet without sacrificing their privacy and data, she says. “A lot of big companies like Facebook want to offer internet access in guise of philanthropic measures such as ‘free basics,’ in return for data. What I’m observing is that there’s an increasing way of slicing the Internet. Only some people own it and privacy becomes the luxury of the first world. If privacy is important to Mark [Zuckerberg], then it should be equally protected for that person in India in a village who can barely afford a very cheap feature phone. We are very smart people in this world. We should be able to figure out how not to give up data and privacy and still have all the benefit. That’s the kind of access we want for everybody.” Follow Mishi Choudhary on Twitter Mishi Choudhary is a partner with Internews’ Internet Policy Partnership Project (IP3). Through IP3, Internews works to create strong policy enabling environments to support internet freedoms in countries by providing direct legal, policy, advocacy, and financial support to leading human rights defenders and civil society organizations. Since 1999, Internews has been dedicated to furthering digital rights and human rights online, and has worked extensively to support internet freedom communities to promote regulations to unhindered access to ICT services worldwide. Through its Global Technology Programs, Internews has developed the capacity of a cadre of internet freedom advocates across four continents in more than 30 countries worldwide.

Amina Azimi is interviewed as part of her work with Afghan Landmine Survivors’ Organization.

Amina Azimi — Raising the Voices of the Disabled in Afghanistan

Amina Azimi was a young girl when she lost her right leg from a rocket propelled grenade that landed near her home in Kabul. Her family took good care of her but didn’t want her to leave the house as they feared for her safety, and Amina was frustrated by the inactivity. Eventually, her mother helped her return to school but the teachers wouldn’t let her play with the other children. Amina Azimi, founder of Women with Disabilities Advocacy Committee, lost her right leg from a rocket propelled grenade that crashed near her home. (Credit: UNDP Afghanistan)In the community, people would say things like, “Death is better than being in this situation.” “When this happened to me and I became disabled, my hopes were almost gone by looking at myself and other people’s negative reactions,” Amina said in a recent interview. “I had to let my hopes go — I could not do what I had been planning to accomplish.” Amina’s reaction was not surprising considering the condition for people with disabilities in Afghanistan, one of the poorest countries in the world and difficult even for non-disabled people. There are an estimated 1.5 million people with disabilities in Afghanistan. The 2006 National Disability Survey in Afghanistan (NDSA) reported that, based on an estimated population of 25 million people, there are more than 800,000 persons with severe disabilities in Afghanistan, of whom approximately 17% are war disabled. On average, one household in every five has a family member with a disability. Although Afghanistan has ratified the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities and has its own law — Law on Rights and Privileges of Persons with Disabilities, in practice, people with disabilities are often discriminated against in education and employment, as well as socially. Mohitullah, an economics student from Nangarhar University who was born without hands and some of his toes, is learning to use a computer. (Credit: Internews)NDSA found that 53% of men with disabilities over the age of 15 years are unemployed compared to 25% of non-disabled men. (The unemployment rate for women is very high — 95%). The NDSA also found that almost 73% of persons with disabilities above 6 years of age did not receive any education versus 51% for people without disability. When Amina went to look for work, she was asked, ‘Why are you seeking work, when those who are without disabilities are jobless?” She finally did find a job working as a secretary for Nafeesa Sultani, a woman with a disability who focuses on disabled women’s issues, especially employment, and is now the representative in the Afghanistan Parliament for people with disabilities. Amina works with women with disabilities to help them with job skills. In 2012, she won an N-Peace Award for her work with Women with Disabilities Advocacy Committee (WAAC) and Afghan Landmine Survivors’ Organization. (Credit: N-Peace)In 2007, Amina started the Women with Disabilities Advocacy Committee, where she worked as peer counselor and provided counseling to hundreds of women and girls with disabilities, most of whom had remained hidden in their homes for years. In 2011, she created Empowering Women with Disabilities (EWD), which provides training to women and girls with disabilities and their families. Reaching out to others through radio Amina Azimi was a presenter and journalist for Qahir-e-Qahraman. (Credit: Carmen Gentile/USA Today)In 2011, only 32% of the total adult population and 18% of women in Afghanistan could read and write. With the Internet penetration at 21%, radio is the medium through which most people get news and information. During her time working with Sultani, Amina became involved as a presenter for a radio program, Qahir-e-Qahraman (“Qahir the Champion”), on disability issues started by UNDP’s National Programme for Action on Disability and later supported by the UN Mine Action Center for Afghanistan and Internews. “The main focus of all the programs was to inform the public that people with disabilities are not weak,” said Amina of Qahir-e-Qahraman. “They are active members of society and should be treated like everyone else. Disability is not weakness.” Amina talks with a young disabled man as part of her work advocating for the rights of people with disabilities in Afghanistan. (Credit: N-Peace)The program often featured disabled people who were working or had their own businesses to serve as role models for the disabled listeners. “We always received good feedback from the listeners,” said Amina. “I talked to one woman who said that before listening to the program, she didn’t know that the Ministry of Martyrs and Disabled existed. She was happy that there was a place she could go to get assistance.” Eventually, the program became part of Internews’ radio program production network Salam Watandar. Internews trained Amina in journalism skills and with two other disabled journalists, the team produced close to 300 weekly programs. The programs focused on news, drama and advice by and for people with disabilities and were produced and aired nationwide. “It is the voice of the disabled community,” senior producer Haji Nader told Internews in 2011. He had lost an arm in a rocket explosion 30 years ago while fighting the Soviets as a member of the Mujahedin. “We receive dozens of phone calls every week from people around the country thanking us for the information we give them.” Haji Nader (R), a disabled journalist, was the senior producer of Qahir-e-Qahraman. (credit: Internews)One caller, Majid from Ghazni province, lost both legs in a mine explosion two years before. For more than a year following surgery at a local hospital, Majid stayed inside his house in his village, sinking into depression. He rarely left his home during the first year after the accident because he was afraid people would mock him. Then he heard Qahir-I Qahraman on Radio Ghaznawian, one of more than 40 local stations that air Salam Watandar’s national programming. Over the following weeks, Majid listened to several more shows and learned about local disabled people learning new skills at a training and employment center set up by the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan. Majid visited the center and enrolled in a tailoring class. After completing the course, he took a job as an assistant tailor at a local tailoring shop. Soon he opened his own shop, earning 800 to 1000 Afghanis a day, the equivalent of $16 to $20, well above the national per capita income. “After I announced my personal mobile number on the show a couple of months ago, Majid immediately called to thank me and my colleagues for changing his life,” Haji Nader said. “Six years ago, the disabled community decided that we should be given a chance to tell our story. And that’s what we’ll keep doing,” Haji said in a 2011 interview with USA Today. Looking ahead Unfortunately, funding for the radio program was cut. For awhile, the journalists produced the show with their own time and expense but currently the program is no longer on the air. Amina would like to get back into journalism and to provide information for people with disabilities, especially those in rural areas. “I would like to go to far-away provinces to meet with disabled people who have been isolated to inform them of their rights and what services are available to them.” Today, she is waiting for the security situation to improve in Afghanistan and for funding to become available to produce more radio programming. Amina now works as the project manager for the Afghan Landmine Survivors’ Organization (ALSO), spending her time supporting disabled people who survived injury from remnants of conflict, such as landmines and cluster munitions. She continues to work with other women with disabilities both in Afghanistan and internationally, particularly in other Asian countries. As for her personal journey, Amina says, “Looking back I see a big difference. I’m happy and proud of all my accomplishments.” Internews began working in Afghanistan in 2002, when the country’s independent media was virtually nonexistent. Today, Afghan media institutions are empowering civil society, exposing corruption, and inspiring a new generation of journalists to use information as a vehicle for change. Thanks to my Internews colleague Ajmal Ajmal for his help translating Amina’s interview. Learn more about the women journalists that Internews works with around the world and Internews’ new five-year initiative, Women’s Voices, Powering Change. (Banner photo: Amina Azimi is interviewed as part of her work with Afghan Landmine Survivors’ Organization. (Credit: ALSO)) (This story was originally posted on Medium.)

Men are painting on the outside wall of a building. In large letters below them, are the words “#Alerta Machitroll.”

Online Violence Against Women: A Global Issue

Carolina Botero Cabrera is a researcher, lawyer, lecturer, writer and consultant on issues related to law and technology, as well as a columnist for El Espectador. (Photo Credit: Karisma)Meet Carolina Botero Cabrera, a Colombian lawyer leading Karisma, a civil society organization (CSO) that fights for internet freedom and gender equity in Colombia. Carolina writes a short opinion editorial in the El Espectador journal that is published every Friday. But like so many other women with a public profile in Colombia, she has been facing harassment online. In the comments section of the publication, people were calling her offensive words and told her she was not as good a lawyer as her husband. At first, Carolina ignored these comments by not answering them. Ultimately, she found herself avoiding them altogether. Neither of these approaches satisfied her activist instincts. She said, “I realized I was censoring myself by ignoring this behavior and alienating myself from the public debate. This is very ironic since I work for an organization that’s fighting against this very thing.” Self-censorship online Karisma recently published its Web Foundation report, which found crucial evidence that high profile women journalists and thought leaders are censoring themselves in the online space. Karisma published this report on women and how they are censoring themselves online.Carolina said: “We held workshops in which we spoke to several Colombian female journalists. We found that many decided to leave online media altogether, especially those who were engaged in really sensitive issues, such as mining, bribes and corruption. They simply decided to erase their online profiles because the harassment they were being subjected to was so nasty.” Thanks to the rise of internet use and social media engagement, more people than ever before have freedom to air their views and have access to information in Colombia. While the positives associated with this are manifold, one of the adverse effects is that it has also led to an increase in online violence against women (OVAW). A backdrop of violence In this Latin American country of 47 million people, one woman is killed every two days. If you consider these shocking figures in the context of challenges in Colombia’s society, it is not surprising that so many women are shying away from the online space. As Carolina explained, “We have a patriarchal society where family violence is prevalent. Furthermore, Colombia’s civil war has been raging for generations now and violence against women has been an important piece of it, including the use of sexual violence to silence women journalists. One example is the case of Colombian journalist Jineth Bedoya Lima, who was kidnapped, tortured and raped by paramilitaries because of her journalistic work.” First Lady Michelle Obama, left; and Hillary Rodham Clinton, right; and pose for a photo with 2012 International Women of Courage (IWOC) Award Winner Jineth Bedoya Lima of Colombia, who was kidnapped, tortured and raped by paramilitaries because of her journalistic work. (State Department photo/ Public Domain)Despite these horrors, it seems that peace could be on the horizon in Colombia. In September 2015, President Juan Manuel Santos and the FARC leader Rodrigo Londño announced a breakthrough in the peace talks. They have agreed to finalize a deal by March 2016 and that the FARC would lay down its arms two months later. With the end of the civil war potentially in the cards, can Colombian women finally feel safe enough to engage in the online community? When asked this question, Carolina replied: “The vulnerability of journalists increases when there are armed groups around. So yes, we hope there will be a better media landscape for all when the civil war is over, including female journalists.” A global issue While OVAW is prevalent in Colombia, it is a global issue that knows no boundaries, cutting across borders, race and culture. Ironically, while the growth of mobile information and communications technologies (ICTs) and social media have presented ways of tackling violence against women and girls, these very same platforms are also being used as tools to inflict violence on women and girls across the world Depending on the country you live in, online violence can threaten women’s lives. For example, the Washington Post recently reported that a woman in Afghanistan had her Facebook account hacked and the ‘troll’ then posted fake updates boasting about drug use and illicit behavior. In Afghanistan, this sort of online activity can get a woman killed. A journalist in Maimana, Afghanistan conducts an interview for her radio program. Women journalists in Afghanistan have had their Facebook accounts hacked, which can threaten their lives. (Credit: knottleslie/CC)The UN says that the sheer volume of cyber violence against women and girls has severe social and economic implications with threats of rape, death and stalking putting stress on financial resources, due to legal fees, online protection services and missed wages. Furthermore, there are significant direct and indirect costs for societies with the increased need for health care, judicial and social services. On top of all of this, freedom of speech and human rights are threatened. In a recent column for Index on Censorship, Dunja Mijatovic, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, discussed the plight of one female journalist she knows. This journalist’s details were shared on dating websites, she received death threats via Skype and her email account was hacked. This journalist, Dunja said, is just one of many who have had to question their profession because of these online attacks. The Global Media Monitoring Project 2015 showed that women are under-represented in the news.With only 26% of the people featured in news stories published online currently women, it is very possible that cyber violence will drive more and more female journalists and thought leaders to ‘go dark’ online. Just imagine what that will do not only to women’s rights but also to the quality of the news we consume. What next? As a group that puts internet freedom at the heart of everything it does, Karisma’s main mission in Colombia at the moment is not only to work out how to stop OVAW but also to ensure that the internet’s reputation as a tool for freedom of expression is maintained. Carolina says that one of the most damaging side effects of this push against cyber harassment is that it has been provoking women to ask for immediate remedies such as strict content controls and forbidding online anonymity. She said: “When we started looking at this issue, we told the former freedom of expression rapporteur of the UN, Frank La Rue, about this and he said that the situation could be characterized as freedom of expression against freedom of expression. This is one of Karisma’s main concerns.” The findings of Karisma’s Web Foundation project have shed a great deal of light on the issue, including how female journalists are turning away from airing their views online. Furthermore, in December 2015, Karisma’s campaign to raise awareness about violence against women was launched, promoting the idea of a visible tool for reporting violence online. But Carolina says that despite all of this activity, Karisma is still very much at the “understanding phase” of this issue. Machitroll Alert is an initiative from the Karisma Foundation that supports women expressing themselves freely online as a key to ending violence and promoting respect. (Photo credit: Karisma) There is no doubt that the challenges Karisma and other groups like it face are huge. The organization clearly recognizes that the introduction of concrete policies to safeguard women online are still a long way off, particularly given the importance of balancing such policies with protecting freedom of expression. Carolina noted: “If fighting violence against women is difficult in Colombia, trying to do it online is even harder.” All around the world, groups like Karisma are working hard to understand the intricacies of OVAW so that they can begin to introduce policies that will tackle the issue head on. It would be a tragedy if more women were driven away from publishing stories and comments online because of the threat of violence. After all, when women’s voices are heard, the information we all consume improves. Internews partners with Karisma as part of its Internet Policy Programs, which support the creation of strong enabling environments to support internet freedom by providing direct legal, policy, advocacy, and financial support to leading human rights defenders and civil society organizations. Learn more about the women journalists that Internews works with around the world and Internews’ new five-year initiative, Women’s Voices, Powering Change. (This story was originally posted on Medium.)

Key Issue: Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment

Towards a Gender Transformative Organization

When women's voices are heard, when women produce the news, the information we all consume improves.

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