Women in the digital world

ABSTRACT

In the early days of the internet it was hoped that going online would bring communities together, help people find each other and that social media would become a powerful advocacy tool as communities could better campaign for the causes they believed in. Instead, gender discrimination, trolling and abusive behavior are rife on the internet. This introduction provides context on women in the digital world. The papers in this special issue include research on gender and politics from political actors’ and citizens’ perspective, they examine the importance of the online access to information, the role of women within the tech industry, they look at online harassment, at how women are treated online, and how NGOs deal with evidence of mistreatment of women.

KEYWORDS:

• Women
• digital harassment
• political engagement
• gender bias online
• social media

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anya Schiffrin

Anya Schiffrin is a Senior Lecturer in Discipline and director of the Media, Technology and Communications Specialization at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs [email: [email protected]].

Karolina Koc-Michalska

Karolina Koc-Michalska is a Professor at Audencia Business School and has affiliations with CEVIPOF Sciences Po Paris, France, and University of Silesia, Faculty of Social Sciences, Poland. Her research focuses on the strategies of political actors in the online environment and citizens’ political engagement. She employs a comparative approach focusing on the United States and European countries [email: [email protected]].

Michelle Ferrier

Michelle Ferrier is the executive director of the Media Innovation Collaboratory and professor in the School of Journalism & Graphic Communication at Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University in Tallahassee, Florida. She is the founder of Troll-Busters.com a service that helps journalists fight online abuse [email: [email protected]].