FAQs

What is a feminist approach to technology?

Technology is now an inseparable part of our everyday social and material lives – from the tools we use for communication (mobile phones, the internet, radio), to the machines and technology that produce our electricity, food and clothes, transport us or monitor us when fall sick. Whether in the Stone Age (when humans learned to use fire to improve their life) or the Bronze or Iron Age (when man began to manipulate metal for his own use) technology has been important to human society. Yet the history of technology has, more often than not, been a history dominated by men and the inventions of men. While this is somewhat true in the recent past, we believe that this should not be true in the years ahead.

From this thought follows the idea of a feminist approach to technology - an outlook that questions the existing structures of technology and seeks to incorporate women as equal partners within it. Whether in personal, social and professional spaces, women should be encouraged to take an equal part in technology, take initiatives to learn and be comfortable in engaging and experimenting with technology.

Why technology?

Technology is something we feel very strongly about! The relationship between women and technology in India has not been documented or studied very closely, and this worries us.

From the urban professional space to a semi-rural household, we have almost no figures that inform us how women are using technology or being introduced to it. A gender and class bias that prevails ensures that most women and girls are almost never trained to use technology or even introduced to a very simple-level engagement with it. This is despite the fact that most women will use technological implements throughout their lives or have them affect their lives in ways which they have no control over.

At FAT we try and address this lag in our own way, through workshops, awareness programs, skill-building sessions for different groups of women (in professional spaces, unemployed women, semi-educated women) with the belief that even this small knowledge will give them a capacity to make positive changes in their own lives and the lives of those around them.

Why feminist?

A feminist approach is a gendered critique of the design, use and impact of technology with the idea that empowering women to participate in using technology can help change the future of technology. Women’s participation in decision-making around technology and in producing it is important as it ensures that widely-used technology does not alienate women but becomes a tool for them to improve their own quality of life.

Why “Feminist” and not “Women’s”?

There is a hatred/fear for the term feminist in India as in many other countries. People often think that feminists are men haters, which is NOT true. Feminists are people who believe everyone should have equal rights. We identify ourselves as a feminist organization, so we use the term. We would not stop using the word because others don’t like or understand it.

In short the name is FAT. We love this acronym. As feminists we believe that the stigma around being FAT and other “undesirable body images”, is a form of violence that everyone inflicts on themselves as well as others. It is cool to be comfortable in your body and we are proud to be FAT.

*We do not condone obesity, fast food and a lack of exercise.

Are you anti-men?

Not at all! We do things for women but we do not hate men. A lot of men have been associated with FAT in the past, continue to be a part of FAT, help us and work with us. Any qualified men who want to lend a hand to our movement in any way are always welcome!

When you say "technology," do you mean IT?

We take a very broad view of technology. For us, technology covers any area where any tools or techniques are used, from agriculture to biotechnology, carpentry, electrical wiring or nursing. That is why we offer classes on a variety of skills as we feel that livelihood options should not be limited to only the very visible or common technological fields.

Can women really be as good as men in technical work?

India sees a huge gender bias when it comes to technology. It is a common belief that boys are naturally better than girls at maths and science, that engineering and machines are a man’s domain, that women cannot understand technology or women aren’t ‘interested’ in technology and other such statements that have unfortunately turned into self-fulfilling prophecies.

This misunderstanding has its roots in a deep-rooted social bias against women. In our work we come across women from different walks of life who understand technology and enjoy working with it. Most of the young girls we have worked with so far have come to our workshops because they were drawn by a desire to learn and work with technology, so we find the idea of women not ‘getting’ technology baseless!

FAT believe that women are as capable of understanding technology as men and would like to create as many opportunities as possible for women to engage with different aspects of technology in a relaxed and non-judgmental space. The more women get comfortable with technology, the better placed they are to use it to improve their own lives, the lives of their families and the communities they live in.

We would like to see more women creating and using technology in professional spaces – in offices, research & development wings of corporations, in applied agriculture, engineering, laboratory research, entertainment, communication and electronics – we see that the possibilities are endless!

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