Ifeanyi-Ajufo, N. and Tladi, S. (eds.). Women and Cyber Rights in Africa. – Juta, 2024.
ISBN: 9781485151135
About this publication:
"Women and Cyber Rights in Africa challenges the extant reality of women’s rights in cyberspace. It is a collection of work by African female researchers who deliver perspectives on the discourse through multi-disciplinary and cross-jurisdictional approaches while exploring roles, stereotypes, prejudices and biases in cyberspace. Gender inequalities have been exacerbated by the advent of emerging technologies which further disrupt cultural and societal norms in regions such as Africa with existing gender and patriarchal preconceptions. While some advances have been achieved in introducing policies on cyber rights, challenges related to gendered aspects particularly persists.
The authors have discussed various cyber themes affecting women’s rights in Africa. The highlighted challenges are contextualised based on divergence in cultural, historical and geographical perspectives. In addressing these issues, the authors further employed various Afro-feminist theories to consider the gendered nuances of African perceptions of female cyber entitlements. The focus on African women is important because, while existing patriarchal structures permeate the cyber realities of women in Africa, the region is also the least digitalised in the world and this further presents peculiar challenges of inclusion and participation for women. Governments in the region create policies without gender-sensitive approaches, which has resulted in limited digital literacy and deprivation of participation for women in the digital economy. Women are also targets of gendered cyber-criminality in those spaces.
There is little research on African women’s lived experiences in such spaces. The range of themes in the book is broad and this allowed authors to explore diverse significant topics, identify gaps and provide recommendations for future research on similar debates. The book concludes by mirroring a gender-sensitive approach to cyber governance policy development. By mapping the African landscape on women and cyber rights, the hope is that this book will spur the development of effective policies and serve as an invitation to further research on the discourse of African women in the ever-changing terrains of cyberspace."
Content:
CHAPTER 1: African cyber-feminism
CHAPTER 2: Gender and criminality in cyberspace
CHAPTER 3: African women and human rights in cyberspace
CHAPTER 4: Not yet uhuru: race, gender and the cyberspace in South Africa
CHAPTER 5: Portrayal of gender and race in advertising on social media platforms: a South African perspective
CHAPTER 6: Gender-based cyber harassment in Africa
CHAPTER 7: Social and economic empowerment of sub-Saharan African women in cyberspace
CHAPTER 8: South Africa, women and sexual relations in cyberspace
CHAPTER 9: Digital technologies and intimate partner violence in Nigeria
CHAPTER 10: Africa’s digital gender divide: inclusion and participation in the information society