‘I pretend to be an ideal woman just to keep their mouths shut’: Bangladeshi women’s contestation of abuse through social media platforms

Abstract

ABSTRACT The current paper examines how women in Bangladesh contest abuse within patriarchal systems of control. In many cases, women will often decide the extent to which they adopt a particular technology to prevent experiences of abuse on social media platforms. In the current study, we analysed how women's online presence is controlled by patriarchal norms which impede their agency and recontextualise their empowerment through social media. As such, we rely on the narratives of three women in Dhaka, Bangladesh to understand how they exercise agency on social media platforms to ensure their own empowerment and avoid (further) experiences of abuse. Although we recognise that ICT for Development (ICT4D) can be a crucial way to ensure women’s empowerment, we argue that, as a male-dominated space, social media platforms promote restrictive and unequal gender stereotypes that require women to find alternative strategies to challenge and resist existing patriarchal structures.