Web 2.0 Changes Global figures on Women and Media

Web 2.0 Changes Global figures on Women and Media

I am most excited about Web 2.0 because it has broken the myth about women and the use technology. As recent as 1995, I was scared of using the computer and today I can use it and much more I can share my opinion, and express my view on issues that are of interest to me – journalism and gender activism. My writing does not have to be academic but from my heart. It excites me that the with Web 2.0 tools like PulseWire, I always look forward to being connected to join my online friends on the exciting issues raised that are real development issues affecting the daily realities of many women. While many of the popular forums are used for informal chats and touching base, I am excited that PulseWire is providing women with challenges to steer the wheel of development from a gender perspective, getting their voices heard.
Reading through the “Media and Women’s empowerment” document, I said to myself, well it reflects most of the realities on the ground regarding the percentage of women in decision making positions. In most of our societies, women’s issues and opinions are not value as much as that of men. Literacy has been an obstacle for women to be decision making position and this is reflected in the media whether they are practitioners or it is about the representation of issues on women discussed in the media. Web 2.0 allows women to be ‘experts’ on topics being discussed, their opinions are respected and women can no longer be silenced or controlled in accessing new media. They can be decision makers in creating their own blogs. For example PulseWire has motivated me to write about myself in a way I have never done before, having the confidence to express myself on issues that are private. But then the private is public because it affects us as human beings whose rights are abused. It motivated me to reflect on how I have asserted myself for freedom to be who I want to be and not who my parents or in-laws wanted me to be. This is really empowering. Since I joined the PulseWire group, I have read many of the issues affecting women and expressed by women. Web 2.0 is a transmitter of many voices who without such technology and opportunity would be silenced forever.
Web 2.0 will solve the problem of access to new media, censorship and control over the minds of women. Women will be in a position to determine what to write, make a decision on what pictures or videos to share – that is the women will manage the medium they will be using and be the editor of the content. Women would be the experts to comment or make analysis on topics raised as well as in the use of the technology. This will change the global figures regarding the percentage of women in the media and in decision making positions.