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Will e-commerce revive Bangladesh’s artisanal economy?
[By Upasana Bhattacharjee, Payal Arora and Usha Raman] How does a nation participate in the digital creative economy centered on individual entrepreneurship while acknowledging its legacy in collectives of women producing crafts? This column explores the experience of Bangladesh, where despite the digitization of the craft industry, digital participation remains limited to a small number…
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Globalized creative economies: rethinking local craft, provenance, and platform design
[By Laura Herman] Can you recognize your friends’ and family members’ hand gestures? People have distinctive gestures: maybe your friend clasps her hands when she’s nervous, your mom taps her fingers together when she’s excited, or your cousin wags two fingers when making an argument. Now, imagine local artisans who hand-make their wares. Their hand…
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Will EdTech go the way of the gig economy?
[By Aditi Surie and Krishna Akhil] The forced push towards digitization of schooling-related activities due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated growth of Indian education technology (EdTech) companies. The sector plugs into and supplements the legacy of after-school tutoring and extracurricular activities by building businesses that take these services online. 80% of…
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Collective brainstorming to imagine a feminist labour collective
[By Siddharth de Souza and Siddhi Gupta] In early July 2021, as a group at FemLab.Co, we explored how to think about the connections between feminism, feminist design, and labour collectives that emerged in our work as researchers, lawyers, activists and designers. As part of this exercise, we were interested in discussing the ways in…
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How a women’s organization in Kerala stood up for the right to sit
[By Anila Backer A P] It hasn’t always been easy for women to attain and enjoy their rights. When we look back into history, most of the fundamental human rights have been won by women by protesting, taking to the streets in strikes and boycotts and fighting in the courtrooms. This is particularly true for…
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Women in Digital – the organization that has trained thousands of female coders in Bangladesh
[By Jamil Wyne] Greater inclusion in the technology sector – specifically ensuring that women and other under-represented groups can find gainful employment within it and make meaningful contributions to the sector – is predicated on building computing capacity of these demographics. Teaching coding skills, and broadening individuals’ exposure to digital industries writ large is a…
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