How initiatives to narrow Africa’s digital gap are affecting women’s representation
Source: Global Voices
In Africa, several initiatives seek to increase women’s visibility in digital spaces. Africa Wiki Women is one of the projects actively involved in advancing African women’s participation in online knowledge creation and sharing.
Women across the continent still face many obstacles in accessing technology and participating in digital knowledge spaces. Previous reports from Global Voices show that online abuse and harassment of women are significant barriers limiting their participation in and contribution to collaboration platforms and information networks. These obstacles lead to a representation bias, where African women’s achievements often remain unseen and undocumented in digital spaces.
From these access barriers emerged Africa Wiki Women, a collaborative project between three women: Ruby Damenshie-Brown from Ghana, Bukola James from Nigeria, and Pellagia Njau from Tanzania, who came together to empower women through training, contribution campaigns, and mentorship programs. This organization encourages women to document the countless remarkable achievements African women make, and increase the content about women and their initiatives on collaborative knowledge platforms.
In Africa, several initiatives seek to increase women’s visibility in digital spaces. Africa Wiki Women is one of the projects actively involved in advancing African women’s participation in online knowledge creation and sharing.
Women across the continent still face many obstacles in accessing technology and participating in digital knowledge spaces. Previous reports from Global Voices show that online abuse and harassment of women are significant barriers limiting their participation in and contribution to collaboration platforms and information networks. These obstacles lead to a representation bias, where African women’s achievements often remain unseen and undocumented in digital spaces.
From these access barriers emerged Africa Wiki Women, a collaborative project between three women: Ruby Damenshie-Brown from Ghana, Bukola James from Nigeria, and Pellagia Njau from Tanzania, who came together to empower women through training, contribution campaigns, and mentorship programs. This organization encourages women to document the countless remarkable achievements African women make, and increase the content about women and their initiatives on collaborative knowledge platforms.