Online Women's Networks

Abstract

The entry describes the phenomenon of online women's networks and sketches out key findings of the research field in gender media studies which analyzes how women and women's organizations use online media for networking, mobilization, and articulation. Different forms of online women's networks are taken into account: online women's networks which are established spontaneously through online networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook because of a special event or incident as well as women's organizations which organize and communicate via online media are considered. With the internet, women and women's organizations acquired new ways of connecting, mobilizing, and articulating their interests and demands. But at the same time mediated communication enabling the networking among women and women's organizations produces unequal power relations within the networks and between the networks and their environments.