| Author | Shammi ,Fatima Afrin |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.GD-26-11 |
| Subject(s) | Women--Effect of technological innovations on--Bangladesh
Technological innovations--Social aspects--Bangladesh
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| Note | A thesis submitted in patial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Gender and Development Studies |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | This study examines how urban women engaged in gender rights advocacy in Bangladesh navigate their online visibility in the context of gendered digital surveillance on Facebook and Instagram. Using qualitative research methods, fifteen in-depth interviews were conducted with cisgender women aged 18 to 40 in Dhaka who used Facebook and Instagram for gender rights advocacy between 2020 and 2025, alongside four key informant interviews with expert professionals in feminist organisation leadership and gender research. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Grounded in Trottier\'s (2011) digital panopticon and Wilhelm\'s (2021) replication reinforcement-resilience framework, the study argues that offline patriarchal norms are replicated and reinforced through gendered surveillance on social media, and that the harm women experience online carries back into their offline lives, reshaping how they advocate, how they move, and whether they can continue. The findings identify three forms of gendered surveillance — family, community, and state — operating through Facebook and Instagram\'s platform affordances. These forms converge with structural conditions including weak legal protection, inadequate platform moderation, and socio-cultural-religious norms that systematically disadvantage women advocates. They produce individual, advocacy-level, and collective consequences. Women respond through negotiation, adaptation, and resistance — strategies that reflect both the constraints they face and their determination to remain present in digital life. The study contributes qualitative evidence of how gendered digital surveillance operates in Bangladesh. It demonstrates that the online and offline are inseparable in the lives of women gender rights advocates, and that the costs of digital visibility fall most heavily on those whose advocacy challenges the most contested social norms. |
| Year | 2026 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | Faculty of Public Policy and Sustainable Development (2026) |
| Department | Other Field of Studies (No Department) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Gender and Development Studies (GDS) |
| Chairperson(s) | Chatterjee, Joyee S. |
| Examination Committee(s) | Kusakabe, Kyoko;Hosssain, Julaikha B. |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Her Majesty the Queen’s Scholarships (Thailand) |
| Degree | Thesis (M. Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2026 |
