Girlpower: New campaign
By Shalini Singh

One of the great drivers to the success of the booming Indian IT sector are female techies have taken up equal positions to their male counterparts in every desi tech company. The Indian tech industry has more women than any country in the world.  Something India can be proud about.  But as all of us know, there is much to be done in India for us to be equal to men.

A new online campaign ‘Take Back The Tech!’ is another step towards empowering women. Take Back The Tech describes itself as “a collaborative campaign that takes place during the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence (25 Nov - 10 Dec). It is a call to everyone - especially women and girls - to take control of technology to end violence against women.”

What were the agendas of the first few days?  Day 1 (Nov 25) was International Day Against Violence Against Women and all activists were urged to campaign to end such inhuman behavior by some men. Day 2 (Nov 26) was aimed to protect women’s privacy through network safety.  Day 3 (Nov 27) urges women to leave a note/message on social media forums towards this noble cause.  And so on.

This campaign is organised by the Association of Progressive Communications, Women's Networking Support Programme (APC WNSP). APC WNSP is a global network of more than 175 women in over 55 countries promoting gender equality in the design, implementation, access and use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and in the policy decisions and frameworks that regulate them.

What a great idea! What is really heartening is to see many men putting their shoulder to this worthy campaign.