Dear Listers, To further add to this discussion, I think we can borrow a leaf from the article below on the tweeting chief on how ICT can be used in a similar fashion to impact on the reduction domestic violence http://www.business2community.com/social-media/3-lessons-the-tweeting-chief-... Regards, Ronald On Wed, Jun 20, 2012 at 9:38 AM, kelvin githira <kgithira@gmail.com> wrote:
morning to you all,
Grace i stand corrected. which brings up another dimension. if indeed there is a big number of women violence in urban areas could it be
1. they are not using technology to air there views ? if they are is it reaching there intended audience? we must all agree that to some level that this issue cuts across board if we really are to wipe it out. an interesting scenario is the Kenya police who not long ago introduced the p3 forms online for ease of access, questions arise how many of the women technologicaly empowered do take a minute to download this forms fill them in and drop them to the police. how many incidents of violence have been reported and action taken? to eradicate this in my view each and every institution must work together or sit in a round table discussion to chatter a way forward the time to talk is up its time to act
1. the government must come up with tougher laws 2. the police must come up with correct and proper investigations of this incidents. 3. the human rights could take up or continue the role of social education to counter the myths 4. as isoc.ke we must strive to educate more women and organizations in digital story telling, podcasting, and blogging to help document this incidents 5. we must as men learn NEVER to raise our hands against women at all cost.
*as promised this is what the men in Congo had to say about violence against women. *
Men taking alcohol is one of the main causes of men beating women. I would say that domestic violence is a strategy for men to have control of the home, and so the family in general. For if a man is not violent, the woman does not pay attention to you. If my wife takes me to court, I drive her out of my home. I replace her with another. Many women enjoy violence to live well. Sometimes the women themselves are the causes of the violence against them. Our women are truly victims, because they don't dare speak for fear of being hit again. When a man marries, he must give laws. If these laws are not respected? It is important to apply force.
what do we have to say or do to fight violence against men ? well topic for another day.
regards,
kelvin
On Wed, Jun 20, 2012 at 12:12 AM, Ronald Ojino <ronojinx@gmail.com> wrote:
Dear all, This discussion is really getting interesting...thanks Grace for defining violence against women as this brings about a useful dimension in viewing the entire debate. An important question to ask too is what causes domestic violence against women? As we look into the role of technology, and the different classes of women, i believe the gap between the woman in the leafy surburb and the one in the slum is further widened by technology.Poor people are often unaware of their rights.
In my view,education is part of the rift creator between the 2 groups, the woman in the leafy suburb has many channels (and knows how to use them) to air her grievances and thus has a better likelihood of being heard in comparison to her counterpart in the rural area/slum. Domestic violence is further complicated by the issue of culture. There are some cultures here in Kenya where it is actually right to discipline your wife ( domestic violence) If poor people do not have access to basic education, how can they know their rights and even know how to use ICT tools ? As postulated by Charles and Kelvin, education is key. This therefore takes us back to the need of education to all women and supporting ICT projects that seek to empower women in technology.Girls in schools being encouraged to pursue technology courses can really help coz i think (stand to be corrected) that most women share such issues of domestic violence among themselves. Use of cell phones and introduction of toll free numbers for reporting cases of violence can come in handy..."however the response to the distress calls must equally be fast". The govt equally needs to be a strong player in spearheading policies that encourage the use of ICT as a tool for combating violence against women. Best regards, Ronald
On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 11:28 PM, Grace Githaiga <ggithaiga@hotmail.com>wrote:
Kelvin
Yes yes you need to be corrected:)
You will be surprised that violence against women cuts across board i.e. in rural areas, in urban areas, in slums, in the leafy suburbs etc. Further, violence is not only physical but also psychological.
In regard to technology, there have been many cases of women's nude pictures being posted on internet by rejected lovers (and don't ask me why women allow their lovers access to their nude pics cause i have no answers). Women talk of the trauma they go through after something like this has happened (equate this to psychological violence). Do you remember sometime back, Kaz (she is in the entertainment industry) had to appeal to people to stop forwarding or circulating hers which were posted by an ex, cause it was causing her so much anguish?
Patricia Kihoro of 2010 Tusker Project Fame told us in the survey we conducted on cyber crime and women, that there was a Patricia hate page created on facebook after she voted for Ng'ang'alito instead of Debal. This scared her and she didnt know how the the public would treat her after she left the academy. She told us that she put private settings on her facebook page so that it would be impossible to trace her in the searches. This is just an example of how women are intimidated through the net.
Okay Kelvin. Pls share what men think as you promised.
Charles raises an important point that the same online tools used to intimidate women could be used to strengthen and empower women. And Charles, do you think that there are gaps already? Say technological?
Rgds GG
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2012 16:27:44 +0300 From: kgithira@gmail.com To: isoc@lists.my.co.ke Subject: [ISOC_KE] Technology and Violence against women
Hi all,
i do think that most cases of women violence happens in rural areas or slums (assumption ....i dnt have statistics and i stand to be corrected).
if we are to use technology in form of tools like blogs / cell phones we must remember that the internet penetration levels are very low in the rural areas and hence may not reach the targeted or larger audience.
it begins with us we must strive to come up with guidelines that will ensure that in Kenya even the very remote areas in the near future will have a tool for women to raise there voices. we can train women on this skills to blog, create websites but without internet connection there is no platform to air this views.
we must also ask our self's why there is violence against women its only after we understand this that we can solve this primitive behavior . interestingly in Congo this is what women think about it via an sms poll.
*the women*
Despite all forms of violence that I suffer at the hands of my husband, I consider them as accidents and I think he will change. We are forced to suffer all forms of violence, because we love our men, despite their violence, and also because of the children. And sometimes we don't have a good social situation, because there is nothing for us anymore at our parents' home. Yes, you're scared of losing our home if ever we think to lodge a complaint or ask ourselves where will we live, especially when you don't work. We don't know who to turn to when we are victims of violence, because our friends give bad advice. For fear of further abuse, we are sometimes obliged to go along with the decisions of our husbands, even when they are bad. Does justice really care about these kinds of problems? When I went to the police (PSP), I was told we had to settle amicably, because he is my husband.
tomorrow i will share what the men think.
regards,
kelvin
On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 2:44 PM, Charles Oloo <oloo6382@gmail.com>wrote:
Subject: Re: [ISOC_KE] Kenya IGF Online discussions Day 3: Technology and Violence against women
Listers.
1. How can we strengthen participation of women in areas of internet governance, telecommunications, and cyber crime policy regulation?
This is a very important Q. Although there are many options to tackle such problems, the best method would be using the same tools to address the problem. Bloging may not be very popular or used by a large proportion of women, but it provides an instant window to combat those using the same for bad purposes. The speed by which information is passed -spread thro blogging, tweeting, FB etc is so fast and quicker that the normal channels and procedures one may use to reports such occurrences. web2fordev] Web 2.0 Learning Opportunities that teach people to use social media tools. If women are empowered with these technologies, they stand a better chance of combating the problem.
Charles
_______________________________________________ isoc mailing list isoc@lists.my.co.ke http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/isoc
_______________________________________________ isoc mailing list isoc@lists.my.co.ke http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/isoc
_______________________________________________ isoc mailing list isoc@lists.my.co.ke http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/isoc
-- Faith is a living and unshakable confidence. A belief in God so assured that a man would die a thousand deaths for its sake.
_______________________________________________ isoc mailing list isoc@lists.my.co.ke http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/isoc
-- Faith is a living and unshakable confidence. A belief in God so assured that a man would die a thousand deaths for its sake.