Sharing Women’s Stories: Enhancing Women’s Worlds

As a native Thai-Lao, and a non-English speaking novice writer, writing and submitting my first assignment in English on “Power of Web2.0” for PulseWire on the World Pulse Networks is quite a task at hands for me.

I slowly walked through reading materials related to Web 2.0 which is claimed as a powerfully concurrent social media and tool for women’s empowerment according to PulseWire. I read a couple of times to get a better glimpse of how the Web 2.0 can prominently do to change the lives of women from all walks of lives.

There are a few dominant aspects of Web 2.0 that amplified my interests. Firstly, Web 2.0 provides collaborative and interactive medium where users can meet, read, write, and engage in a social media dialogue without geographical constraints. Secondly, Web 2.0 shifts ICT-based power-relations that people have by allowing users to act from both web/blog creator and viewer perspectives. Users now can generate their own variety forms of content namely texts, video, photos and share that via social media tools e.g. blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc. Thus, coordination and networking is subsequently facilitated and easily possible regardless of in-person interface. Thirdly, Web 2.0 as socially new media eventually weaves in PulseWire underlying theme “No one speaks for me. I speak for myself” of alternative media in dissemination of information. According to Jensine Larsen –the World Pulse Founder, PulseWire provides platform where women globally can join hands in making their visions heard, transforming their futures and the realities in the eyes of women.

For example, I could simply share my reviews on books, movies, and lectures of my interests on my Facebook without going through bureaucratic process of article submission to media firm just to get an approval for my article to be disseminated widely. Recently, I posted my review of the Dutch movies called “Komt een vrow bij de dokter” in Thai which entails the story of a Dutch woman suffering breast cancer, its impact on sexualities of her husband and hers, including her decision of mercy killing, and my perspectives on the pressing issues. I have felt empowered to share those with my 300 Facebook friends, and received a number of feedback.

As highlighted above, Web 2.0 seems to presently serve as the right tools for women to make vital visibility of their issues at hands. Apart from the tools which currently exist out there, women will still have to continue to challenge the worlds that we "live", we "share", we “create”, and “recreate” through the “Content” we share.

On top of easy accessibility that Web 2.0 makes available, the worldwide women community of PulseWire is required to continue to work concertedly “Not” just to simply tell their stories, and make their voices visible, but also to look into how the women sensitively share those stories in the languages and terminologies along with photographs, and videos which will reconstruct a new facet of women’s lives, their values and their worlds through this effective tool.