LSE MSc students Dana Vigran and Tara Bell reflect on their experience working on an internship at LSE with the Womanity Foundation on their Womanity Award for the Prevention of Violence Against Women

Bell, Tara

Vigran, Dana

LSE Research Online

2016-6-16Promoting tech for good- the Womanity Awardblogs.lse.ac.uk /polis/2016/06/16/promoting-tech-for-good-the-womanity-award/LSE MSc students Dana Vigran and Tara Bell reflect on their experience working on an internship at LSEwith the Womanity Foundation on their Womanity Award for the Prevention of Violence Against Women.Working with the Womanity Foundation in a group of LSE students gave us the opportunity to observe, participateand learn from the extensive selection process: narrowing down thirteen applications to four finalists, to the eventualannouncement of the winner of the award: Take Back the Tech, created by the Association for ProgressiveCommunications, and replicated in Mexico by La Sandia Digital and Luchadoras.One of our main tasks was to undertake a thorough overview of all of the shortlisted organisations and themultiplicity of ways in which they have used technology in order to address violence against women. These rangedfrom online media campaigns to training in digital security, and from a soccer-themed video game promotingpositive gender behaviours, to an app that allows users to create a safe ‘action plan’ for leaving a potentially abusivepartner.  We learned about the initiatives that have been created in countries all over the world that are used byhundreds of thousands of women, and are all successful in their own right. However, the nature of the exercisemeant we had to view the organisations in relation to one another, comparing and contrasting them, which gave usan insight into which programmes stood out and excelled above the rest.The second stage of the internship involved conducting close critical analysis of four of the leading contenders forthe Womanity Award. We were asked to submit an in-depth report on one of the 4 shortlisted projects ‘Take Back theTech’, consisting of the partner organisations: Association for Progressive Communications (APC), based in SouthAfrica, and La Sandia Digital  and Luchadoras working in Mexico. Take Back the Tech! is a global and collaborativecampaign that aims to counter and build awareness of tech-related violence against women. This comes in the formof online harassment, trolling, cyberbullying, online stalking and revenge porn websites. Take Back the Tech offerssafety roadmaps and information to women suffering from tech-related violence against women, enabling them torespond to online abuse, claim virtual space, and creatively influence policies and practices.Take Back the Tech’s unique approach, aims to create safe digital spaces and build activist feminist networks online,acknowledging the growing power and importance of online voices and spaces.  APC is a long standing leader inthe field and La Sandia Digital and Luchadoras are younger online activist organizations that are able to negotiatethe burgeoning issue of online violence specifically in the Mexican context.  These organisations’ commitment to1/2innovation and adaptability is necessary to counter the ever more prevalent issue of technology based violenceagainst women (VAW).  This process ideallyl will not just help prevent online violence but demand a renegotiation ofgender politics online, both acknowledging problematic constructions of masculinity as well as bolstering a feministactivist discourse.As LSE students, this internship afforded us the opportunity to engage in a real world professional application of ouracademic work in an intersectional, interdisciplinary way.  As a group, we were able to learn from the applicantorganizations and from our peers, examining the intersection of media, technology, and gender politics through acritical analysis of the work that is being done to counter and prevent VAW.  The experience also raised ourawareness of the important work being done by the Womanity Foundation.  It has been rewarding to participate in aproject that devotes itself to improving women’s lives and having examined first-hand the strengths of the Take Backthe Tech! programme, and the collaboration of APC and La Sandia Digital /Luchadoras, we are excited to follow theprogress of the replication process facilitated by the Womanity Award.Antonella Notari Vischer – Womanity Foundation from Polis Video on Vimeo.Copyright © 2014 London School of Economics and Political Science2/2

Promoting tech for good- the Womanity Award

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