This is the nineteenth episode of our podcast based on the vignettes contributed by friends and colleagues to Tim Unwin’s new book Digital Technologies in an Unequal World: An Empancipatory Manfesto. In it, Revi Sterling reflects on the challenges facing gender digital inclusion, and asks: “I wonder what we did wrong for the last twenty years. Were we ahead of ourselves? Were we just Cassandras warning people about restrictive social norms and technology determinism? It’s a petty bitterness I have. There’s a twinge of resentment when I look at the ‘new’ gender and digital inclusion research agendas – retreads if there ever were. No one has heard of the canon of digital divide research we built. If they have, they say ‘It’s so old!’ but if you don’t address a gaping wound, it doesn’t heal”. She concludes that “‘Development’ now is not about progress; it’s about keeping progress from slipping. Our goal is to hold the gendered rock. The goal of development work now may be maintaining a state – instead of expecting state change – until newer systems evolve to fill the vacuum. We need to be content, even dedicated, to holding the boulder on the steep hillside and not letting it slide”.
The full vignette can be read here.
All audio files relating to the book are also available on our podcast with a new episode every week.
Revi started out elevating women’s voices through technology. This led to positions and programmes helping millions of women use technology to achieve their goals, as well as 20+ years of frustration with donors, governments, peer institutions and rural busses. I will never stop talking about social norms, opportunities, and inequities.
Full details of the book are available through the following links:
- An overview
- What others are saying about the book
- Chapter summaries
- Draft of opening chapter
- Full drafts of all the 31 vignettes contributed by other leading researchers and practitioners
- Flyer about the book
Other recent episodes
Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 18) – Paul Spiesberger on “Spinning Digital Cotton to Counter Digital Colonialism” – ICT4D Collective » ICT4D
- Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 18) – Paul Spiesberger on “Spinning Digital Cotton to Counter Digital Colonialism”
- Inclusão Digital num Mundo Desigual (Episódio 17) – Fernanda Scur sobre “A Tecnologia Digital e os Desbancarizados: A Pandemia da COVID no Brasil” (Áudio em português)
- Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 17) – Fernanda Scur on “Digital Tech and the Unbanked: The COVID Pandemic in Brazil” (English audio)
- Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 16) – Benita Rowe on “The Tech Will Save Her’ – False Promises in Digital Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Solutions”
- Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 15) – Nimmi Rangaswamy on “Social, Shared and Sustainable: Whatever Happened to the Community Internet?”
ICT4D Collective 