*Join us for Change Seminar today 10/22!*

*When*: today, 12pm-1pm
*Where*: CSE2-271
*Who*: Samia Ibtasam

*Title*: "My cousin bought the phone for me. I never go to mobile shops.":
The Role of Family in women’s Technological Inclusion in Islamic Culture



*Abstract*:

In this talk, I will discuss how the intersection of Islam and gender
affects technological and social interactions for Muslim women in
significant ways, including gendered roles, generational differences in a
family, and wider socio-cultural and religious influences.

I will present a recent CSCW work that builds on 73 qualitative interviews
with low-income women in Punjab, Pakistan, and analyzes the complexity of
family relationships and the subsequent dynamics of authority around
technology uptake and usage by women within non-Western contexts, and,
specifically, within the Islamic world. The work argues that a Pakistani
woman's experience with technology depends on many factors, including
gendered roles, generational differences in a family, and wider
socio-cultural and religious influences against the backdrop of a
culturally conservative and patriarchal society. It highlights the rich
family dynamics, including key life events, that transform the roles of
both Muslim women and their relatives.

My work aims to inform scholars, practitioners in development agencies and
industry, and other individuals studying technological inclusion about the
household dynamics that influence women’s use of technology. Considering
these dynamics during design and implementation processes will broaden
accessibility and diversity in the acceptance and use of evolving
technologies.



*Speaker Bio:*

Samia Ibtasam <https://samiaibtasam.com/> is a Ph.D. student at the Paul G
Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of
Washington in Seattle. As part of the ICTD Lab, her current work focuses on
devising tools and frameworks to increase women’s technological and
financial inclusion. With more than ten years of experience in designing,
developing and deploying technologies for emerging markets, she is studying
the impact of gender on technological and financial services and the use of
consumer training to expand financial inclusion.

Before UW, Ibtasam was the founding co-director of Innovations for Poverty
Alleviation Lab (IPAL) <http://ipal.itu.edu.pk/> at the Information
Technology University (ITU). She has authored and led research grants,
designed and led projects on speech interfaces for low-literate users and
on Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health (MNCH), including the redesign of
immunization cards and the creation of digital health records for the
province of Punjab in Pakistan. In the Computer Science Department at ITU,
she taught Design Thinking, Human-Centered Design, and product development
courses to undergraduate and graduate Computer Science students.

Ibtasam was named a Google Women Techmaker (North America) Scholar in 2019
<https://news.cs.washington.edu/2019/09/13/allen-schools-samia-ibtasam-receives-google-women-techmakers-scholarship/>,
a Marilyn Fries Endowed Fellow in 2016
<https://www.cs.washington.edu/students/grad/awardrecipients/fries>, and
the Acumen Fund Regional Fellow for Pakistan
<https://acumenideas.com/samia-razaq-likes-to-call-herself-a-geek-4a774f27f210#.ch890l1pn>
in 2015. She occasionally tweets @SamiaRazaq
<https://twitter.com/SamiaRazaq>



-- 
Sara Vannini, PhD
Lecturer - Integrated Social Sciences and Department of Communication
University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
Personal website: http://www.saravannini.com
Sanctuary collective website: http://www.sanctuarycollective.net/
Pronouns: she, her, hers


-- 
Sara Vannini, PhD
Lecturer - Integrated Social Sciences and Department of Communication
University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
Personal website: http://www.saravannini.com
Sanctuary collective website: http://www.sanctuarycollective.net/
Pronouns: she, her, hers
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