CWP 2 - WOMEN PARLIAMENTARIANS AND SOCIAL MEDIA
Dr Meagan Wood, MP, (left) and Mrs Shaista Pervaiz, MNA, (right) delivering their presentations.
that social media is not intimidating if you hold your own as a woman. Having been the recipient of some un-colourful words in blogs, she has taken the approach of “garbage in, garbage out”. Therefore, rather than spending time reading the blogs and letting the blogs define her, she prioritizes her integrity and passion for the job as the modus operandi of her life. She encouraged fellow female participants to do the same. Ms O’Connor Connolly closed by expressing her excitement at how social media would explode and open a colossal amount of possibilities and opportunities for girls and women in the future. She encouraged women to dream big, “marry IT”, and move
forward to share their ideas and experiences. This could be the tool that sharpens another.
Social media struggles in Pakistan
Ms Shaista Pervaiz, MNA, Pakistan, explained that privacy laws and legislation in her country are still in its infancy. YouTube has been completely banned in Pakistan, a decision taken by the previous government. As a progressive and forward thinking government, she believes ardently in a free media. Twitter in Pakistan has become solely the tool of choice for key opinion leaders.
The Chief Minister of Punjab, Hon.
Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, has thousands of followers and he keeps them fully updated on where he is and the projects he’s working on. While Twitter usage is on the increase it remains more of a passive medium. Ms Pervaiz outlined several interesting statistics about social media usage in Pakistan, stating it would help in further understanding why information from Facebook needs to be constantly taken into context as it could lead to distorted decision making. While the majority of women around the world make up half of Facebook users, this discrepancy in Pakistan is even more marked, in more than 65 per cent of users being women; 50 per cent
of women use twitter. Additionally women also outdo men in the average time spent on Facebook and are a lot more interactive. She gave the example of the Dengue epidemic, which requested for volunteers on social media. The campaign was so effective that the worst ever epidemic of its kind in the country was controlled. Ms Pervaiz said that “social media is as good or as bad as the user whose hand it is in”.
Initiatives in Uganda Hon. Rosemary Nansubunga Seninde, MP, Uganda, defined social media as internet-based tools that help Parliamentarians interact and engage with others. In Uganda, social
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