As technology evolves there are relentless effort by some organisations to free girls and women from online oppression that can cause discomfort. Take Back the Tech-TBTT(https://www.takebackthetech.net ) is an expanding group of women active in 16 countries. They are set on reclaiming online space, making the net safer and more representative, as well as a place for women to thrive and change the world.
At the end of 2014, Facebook,
Twitter and Youtube were all given an ‘F’ grade for the way they dealt with –
or rather, did not deal with – online violence against women. Sexism, abusive
language and death threats were all included. The social media platforms were
found to be lacking in transparency and accused of only taking such issues
seriously when media picked up on the situation. But a growing movement of
women is challenging global technology companies and empowering themselves and
each other to be safer online. TBTH is making progress in a number of areas.
Facebook and Twitter agreed to offer more protection for women’s freedom of
speech, and freedom from violence; TBTT’s Pakistan partner Bytes for All has
become a Twitter safety partner.
Across the world there are 200 million fewer women
online than men, meaning men have more chance to present their own perspective
online and hold even more power over women, according to the group. Part of TTBT’s work is to get more women online and
trained in new technologies so they can have a louder voice. It also seeks
recognition for women’s achievements in ICT and in all areas of life, and for
these achievements to be fairly documented on Wikipedia history pages. Violence
against women and girls online is increasing,says Lulú V. Barrera, founder of
Luchadoras. “We want to break down stereotypes of women.”
Sarah Baker, TBTT coordinator is buoyed to see social
media platforms starting to listen, but they are only just scratching the
surface, she says. “Simply expressing an intention to make changes is often
followed very, very slowly by actual policy or mechanism changes. And then some
seem to move backwards. Google, for example has recently hired the founder of
4chan, a site that is notorious for online abuse.”
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