web 2.0 and the women's movement

What can I say about web 2.0?! it is an avenue through which to express myself. An avenue for people to hear my unadulterated voice; my story in my own words! This is what excites me the most about web 2.0. And what makes it even more exciting is to think that there are a million people out there who relate to what I am saying; who feel relief because they finally know for sure that they are not alone.

Web 2.0 greatly benefits the global women’s empowerment movement. Web 2.0 brings with it cheap, reliable avenues of communication. One of the greater setbacks that this movement has encountered is the lack of funding. It has been difficult in some circumstances to convince governments or donors of the benefits of supporting a women’s empowerment movement.

Web 2.0 allows us to be both readers and writers. It allows us to find, organise and share information amongst ourselves; information, which is extremely beneficial to the movement. Knowledge is power! For example, learning how women in Somalia are fighting Female Genital Mutilation will no doubt validate or aid how women in Kenya fight it.

Women by our very nature thrive from constant communication with other women. You could say that it’s therapeutic. Through web 2.0, women are able to shares ideas and experiences, seek advice and share joys. The voice of one who has experienced atrocities is discerning and cannot be ignored. Web 2.0 provides women with a platform and creates communities of women who can speak with one loud discerning voice. It creates publicity for issues weighing heavily on our minds and disseminates information on important projects being spearheaded by extraordinary women.

I have always wanted to write and have an online presence and web 2.0 has empowered me a lot. I have a blog at http://harvesttone.com/ and I am very active on twitter http://twitter.com/nekesa. I have become an active citizen journalist. I recently covered the promulgation of the Kenyan constitution and I have quite a number of posts on my blog, like this one http://harvesttone.com/2010/08/kenya-decides-2010good-morning-world/ and this one http://harvesttone.com/2010/08/thomas-omolo/ . I have also been able to sell event management services using my website http://inspireharvest.com/ and twitter http://twitter.com/inspireharvest. I have found these mediums very useful since with them, I am able to feed the public with my content; with the information that I want them to have about me and about my business.

I am constantly exploring new ways to take advantage of web 2.0.