The Impact of Internet shutdowns on Women in Uganda
What effects did Internet shutdowns during and after the Uganda 2021 elections on Ugandan women? A report, funded by OPTIMA and developed by Sandra Aceng from WOUGNET
Tagged: Human Rights Reports
This study is part of Internews’ OPTIMA training fellowship on network measurement. The report is presented into two sections. The first analyzes data collected through network measurement tools and the second part investigates the impact of internet shutdowns on women in Uganda. Network measurement tools were incorporated to build the parameters for when the shutdowns occurred and/or continue to occur to provide evidence and existence of internet disruptions, and how it is that these affect women in Uganda. The report involves the use of OONI network measurement data on the blocking of social media and the internet before, during and after Uganda’s 2021 elections. Also, Internet Outage Detection and Analysis (IODA) data and Google Transparency Report were used as data sources to identify internet outages that occurred amid and following the elections. Primary data was further collected using key informant interviews and social network analysis specifically from Twitter based on conversations and perspectives shared within the research period. This analysis aimed to highlight the perspectives of women, persons with disability, minority groups (LGBTIQ), activists, and refugees on internet shutdowns and further investigate how internet blockages and outages affected their livelihoods. This was able to show how internet shutdowns are a huge violation of women’s rights online in Uganda.
