Dialogue mondial sur la technologie de la CIPD30 : transformer la technologie pour l'inclusion féministe

From June 27-28, 2024, government leaders, policymakers, civil society representatives, youth leaders, and the private sector came together in New York to attend the ICPD30 Global Dialogue on Technology. This event was one of three global dialogues convened to mark the 30th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). Co-organized by the governments of The Bahamas, Luxembourg, and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Global Dialogue on Technology aimed to unpack, debate, and ultimately better harness the transformative power of technology to advance women’s health, rights, and choices.

Executive director of UNFPA, Dr. Natalia Kanem, in the feature address spoke about harnessing the power of technology for the advancement and protection of women’s rights. She spotlighted the work of Mariam Torosyan, founder of the Safe YOU app, which aims to empower and protect women and girls from violence and enhance awareness around gender-based violence (GBV). Those who are vulnerable to violence have access to emergency assistance, service professionals, and safe spaces for peer-to-peer dialogue. Available in Armenia, Georgia, Iraq, New Mexico (USA), and Romania, its successes to date indicate the possibilities of feminist-centered technology.

This is an important takeaway because while technology is often hailed as a tool for large-scale progress that can help transcend the way we travel, eat, learn, or recycle, it does not exist separately from our social politics and systems. The risk, therefore, is that technology can function as a tool that perpetuates deep-seated inequalities. Intersectional feminist technology represents a reframing of and departure from traditional paradigms that cause harm, toward a centering of intersectional human rights and justice. Intersectional feminism, introduced by critical race theorist Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989, is an approach that focuses on the diverse experiences of people whose identities intersect across factors like race, gender, sexuality, class, and ability. These intersections shape how individuals experience and navigate oppression and privilege within their societal contexts.

The promise inherent in technology is limited by structural barriers such as racism, class divides, and cultural biases. Overcoming these barriers requires sustained investment in prioritizing marginalized voices, including in leadership roles. The conference was helpful in pinpointing the ways in which these barriers are often manifested but also positioning the approach of intersectional feminist technology as an important framework to limit the potential for harm against communities that have been historically marginalized. Speakers such as Karla Velasco Ramos, Policy Advocacy Coordinator for the Women’s Rights Programme at the Association for Progressive Communications, and Marcia Pochmann, Brazilian economist, academic, and politician, expounded on the importance of feminist technologies in reshaping the way technology impacts women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and sex workers. They shared evidence of how feminist technologies can have positive real-world impacts on health, education, and the economy, related to equitable healthcare access, nurturing digital literacy, and enhancing opportunities for the financial inclusion of women and other marginalized groups. They also shared on how it aids in enhancing personal safety, as feminist technologies prioritize informed consent and data protection.

Reimagining gender in technology necessitates a commitment toward addressing tech-facilitated GBV and the new and troubling ways in which it manifests such as online stalking, revenge porn, et deep fakes. There is often very little recourse for survivors of tech-related violence, contributing toward unsafe spaces for gender minorities.

The vision of intersectional feminist technology is a bold one, but it is not impossible to achieve; it is simply a matter of what the commitment is:

• Is there a commitment to people or profit?
• Is there a commitment to the status quo or toward shifting power in a way that centers the rights and protections of those who are vulnerable to online violence?
• Is there a commitment to challenge the systemic biases that are rooted in the process of technological development?

These are questions that sessions at the conference evoked. While there is no one answer, in challenging these norms around people’s place and function in society, technology can be a liberatory tool for the advancement of marginalized people’s rights that is intersectional. Applying a feminist lens to technology development prioritizes technology that is inclusive and accessible, and it prioritizes privacy, safety, and autonomy, rather than technology that merely reinforces existing power imbalances caused by exclusionary design practices and biased algorithms.

The conference provided a useful opportunity to further understand technology’s transformative power potential and the harm it can cause to populations that have been historically marginalized. It also served as an avenue for hope, indicating how technology can be revolutionized to better serve women and other marginalized groups, particularly in the realms of accessing reproductive healthcare, equity, and protection.

The ICPD30 is a stepping stone toward intersectional advocacy and policy reforms that center on transformative gender equality and justice. Participating governments and international bodies must make practical steps toward enacting policies that advance gender and racial equity within technology, and safeguard digital rights. It is also important for them to hold tech corporations accountable for ethical practices that combat online harassment and protect marginalized people disproportionately affected by surveillance and data privacy violations.

To learn more about the role of technology and youth, watch recaps of the conversations from the ICPD30 Global Dialogue on Technology. You can also add your voice to recommend actions the involved governments should take to better support youth.