Cyberfeminism: A Study of the Role of Women in Digital World
Abstract:-
Internet and digital technologies plays an important role in society today.It has positive and negative effects on the world and it impacts daily lives.The internet and cell phones are some of the examples.Young people are fascinated by this digital world.Digital platforms give a new dimension.Facebook, Instagram,Twitter, blogs, Apps for chat have become an integral part of the life of millions of Indians.But one notable thing is that Women are less interested in the digital world and the main thing is that they are afraid to use technology. Why? This article explores the answer to that question. Why women are afraid to explore themselves on digital platforms. According to the NFHS-5 report only 33.3% of women in India had access to the Internet as opposed to 57.1% of men. So in India less women are on digital platforms. This article focuses on the reason for hesitation of using digital platforms by Indian women and their role on various digital platforms. A group of women called VNX Matrix got together and talked about a new type of consciousness called Cyberfeminism and also known as "online feminism" which are flourishing today. This article focuses on the role of women on digital platforms with the basic tenants and theory of Cyberfeminism.
Keywords:-
Cyberfeminism, technology, internet, digital platforms, feminist movements, online Misogyny, cyberattacks, techno-fear , social media,feminist theory
Introduction:-
As technology becomes more advanced, women are becoming more liberated and they are getting more and more interested in technology. The information and communication technology allows women to escape the boundaries and raise the voice against injustice. This connection between women and technology gave a new kind of idea known as Cyberfeminism. Cyberfeminism takes feminism as its starting point, and turns its focus upon contemporary technologies, exploring the intersection between gender identity, culture and technology. The development of women’s use of cyberfeminism has felt like a movement. It’s been full of supportive acts and discussions.
What is Cyberfeminism?
“And with a vengeance, girls got digital and used the language of the new techno-culture to create their own conceptual vanguard" (VNS Matrix).
Definitions of cyberfeminism are hard to synthesize. Cyberfeminism is a term coined in 1994 by Sadie Plant, director of the Cybernetic Culture Research Unit at the University of Warwick in Britain, to describe the work of feminists interested in theorizing, critiquing, and exploiting the Internet, cyberspace, and new-media technologies in general. The term and movement grew out of “third-wave” feminism, the contemporary feminist movement that follows the “second-wave” feminism of the 1970s, which focused on equal rights for women, and which itself followed the “first-wave” feminism of the early 20th century, which concentrated on woman suffrage.
Cyberfeminism was the work of Donna Haraway, a professor in the History of Consciousness program at the University of California at Santa Cruz. In her groundbreaking essay “A Manifesto for Cyborgs,” she argues for a socialist, feminist cyborg that challenges the singular identities and “grids of control” that work to contain women and other marginalized groups. Haraway agreed that women needed to become more technologically proficient, better able to engage with the “informatics of domination” and challenge these systems. And she is right. Women should try to connect themselves with technology and become an integral part of the internet.
But Haraway also and importantly argued that women would need to be savvy and politically aware users of these technological systems; simply using them was not enough. This is the main thing which each woman should remember while using technology. There is nothing wrong with the use of technology but they have to be aware of the negative effects also. They have to make some more efforts to make their place safe in the digital world. And make sure that all the women use technology in very large numbers.
Role of women in digital world :-
During the COVID-19 period governments announced lockdowns that drew people towards the digital world. People became more interested in online shopping with e-retail reaching 95 percent of Indian districts, and digital payments touching the 100 million transactions per day mark, it amplified another trend: The gendered digital divide. Indian women are 15 percent less likely to own a mobile phone, and 33 percent less likely to use mobile internet services than men. In 2020, 25 percent of the total adult female population owned a smartphone versus 41 percent of adult men. Even when they are permitted to own or use household-level mobile devices, women’s online activity is often governed by male relatives. While mobile phones are viewed as a risk to women’s reputation pre-marriage; post-marriage, phone-use is viewed as an interruption to caregiving responsibilities. Women generally refrain from speaking on their phones in public places, preferring to conduct their conversation within the home, owing to prevailing social norms and fear of judgement.
Feminist movements: Role of technology
The Use of technology by womens gave a more voice of Cyberfeminism day by day. Technology also played a vital role in the life of women. It has also helped bring justice to women. Online or cyberfeminists make use of blogging and social media as a measure of political mobilisation and community building.
According to feminist activist Faith Wilding, “there is a tendency though among many cyberfeminists to indulge techno-utopian expectations that the new e-media will offer women a fresh start to create new languages, programs, platforms, images, fluid identities and multi-subject definitions in cyberspace; that in fact women can recode, redesign, and reprogram information technology to help change the feminine condition.”
Although the fourth wave of feminism is still in its nascent stage in India, women are using digital tools to demand accountability from their governments, corporations and leaders. In India, digital feminist movements largely rely on social media platforms.
Throwing some light on the some movements in which internet played an important role:-
1) In 2017, the #LahuKaLagaan hashtag took over on Twitter to campaign against the 12 percent tax on sanitary napkins, with the“period tax” being scrapped in 2018 as a result of the movement.
2) In 2012, in the aftermath of the death of a 23-year-old rape victim in Delhi, widespread protests broke out under the ‘Nirbhaya movement’. The protests spread to social media as well. Hashtags like #DelhiBraveheart was used by millions in support of justice for the victim. This type of movement forces the government to take action.
3) The Delhi rape incident brought women’s safety in public places to the forefront of policy discourse. In the ethnographic work ‘Why Loiter,’ feminist sociologist Shilpa Padke showed that the act of “loitering” is more prevalent among men, while women are rarely alone in public spaces like parks and beaches.
4) In 2017, this culminated in the #WhyLoiter hashtag trending on Twitter, with women posting pictures and stories of how they were reclaiming public spaces, creating the narrative of resisting male domination and patriarchy in the physical and virtual spaces.
5) By 2018, the #MeToo movement gained momentum in India, enabling women to share their stories of sexual harassment on social media. It also led to activists successfully lobbying the government to strengthen the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, which previously had many weaknesses.And from this movement people are aware about how the online harassment is done by famous people.In that case famous people from the Bollywood industry like Nana Patekar, Chetan Bhagat and others are also a part of that online harassment.
6) In 2013, acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal gathered 27,000 signatures through an online petition, ‘StopAcidSale’, to curb the sales of acid and took the issue to the Supreme Court. The campaign gained nationwide attention and allowed several other acid attack survivors to voice their support for the ban on acid sale. In 2013, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the plea and introduced restrictions on the sale of acid.This seems to be an easy way to connect more people on the internet in limited time and also through that they try to see how to raise a voice against injustice.
7) Another study of women's movements on social media by Sujatha Subramanium, who interviewed a Dalit feminist activist, noted, "In Kerala, the voices of subaltern groups are very prominent on social media, especially sexualminorities and Dalit groups. On social media, all of us are publishers. Only some communities get the space to get published in mainstream media. Social media allows marginalized voices the possibility of being heard in the public discourse.
This feminist movements help the women to raise their voice and standing a strong in front of the injustice. These online moments help to gather a large number of people in limited time and become a voice of victims ya anybody.
Online Misogyny and Cyber attacks :-
The digital space has also become a hotbed for online harassment, bullying and sexual exploitation.Online abuse is also linked to domestic violence against women. According to research by Women’s Aid, 48 percent of women in the UK who had experienced violence at the hands of a partner also reported experiencing online abuse once they had left the relationship. The study also revealed that 38 percent of women had been stalked online after they had left their partners.Such data indicates that the internet not only allows violent ex-partners to use it as another tool to abuse women, but also to incite others to join in their attacks.
MS Dhoni’s daughter, Ziva Dhoni, underwent rape threats after her Dad’s side, the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), lost the last clash facing the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). The threatening annotations were declared to Dhoni’s wife’s Instagram account, and reportedly, the step was taken by the Gujarat Police.The 16-year-old boy, who is a student of class twelve, has been arrested for making such offensive remarks.
Indian captain Virat Kohli who has received rape threats against his nine-month-old daughter, because he took a stand against the communal criticisms against his teammate and cricketer, Mohammad Shami. Following this, the Delhi Commission of Women issued a notice to the Delhi police in connection with rape threats issued against the minor daughter of Virat Kohli and actor Anushka Sharma.
Conclusion:-
Throwing some light on history that technology has been a male dominated and new technologies also are still continuing that tradition. On the other hand, women stay away from technology. Cyberfeminism talks about the women's role in the digital world.Every coin has two sides and that's like technology has an advantage and disadvantage.Every woman needs to accept one thing: that the internet is not only harmful for them but it's helpful in many ways if it is used in the right way. In fact, the internet encourages them to overcome techno-fear.Women try to get involved in that criteria of technology but the one stage of using that they had fear of online harassment, online misogyny and cyberattacks. All of these things stop women from using technology freely. They can't share their photos on social media freely because they are scared of that misuse by people.Women have been willing to share their ideas and experiences with others who they only know online. Social platforms are tools for interactions with the people around them at the level of the world. Women can use cyberfeminism to communicate with each other and to connect over the issues that are closest to their hearts. But it's not done by all women because of that techno-fear. So it's all about that all Women should try to make their place in the digital world and cyberspace. The Internet is a great space for women to explore them and their ideas in front of the world.
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