Gender Equality Issues Displayed In The Social Network Facebook : Comparative Case Study of four NGO's founded and operating inGeorgia and Sweden with regard to gender equality issues

Abstract: In the nineteenth century, the central moral challenge was slavery.In the twentieth century, it was the battle against totalitarianism.We believe that in this century the paramount moral challenge willbe the struggle for gender equality around the world. 1Although the Georgian government has made some positive attempts to elaborateand implement a gender equality strategy, achieving gender equality onthe way to building a democratic state is still a big challenge for Georgia. ActiveNGO's, usually supported by global NGO's, are trying to promote genderequality in which both men and women have equal opportunities to benet fromand contribute to economic, social, cultural and political development.While, Sweden, alongside other Nordic countries, are world leaders in genderequality. Nowadays, Swedish government and NGO's are taking part in sharingexperiences with other countries in how to make progress, and among thosecountries, is Georgia. Sweden is one of the main donor working on gender qualityin Georgia and takes an active part in donor coordination. Close collaborationcan help Georgia achieve gender equality.Digital technologies provide even more opportunities by linking people andsupports their involvement in change-making processes. And the most importantpoint is that society has to comprehend that it i not only a matter of socialscience scholars or students, all citizens have a stake in what happens with theeld of communication because the outcome will aect us all 2. But it is theduty of those who work or study in the communication eld to help society understandthat it will be depending on us for the eects this revolution will bring,as we can be writing a glorious new chapter in out history: democratizing oursocieties, revolutionizing our economies, lessening inequality and militarism, reversingenvironmental destruction, and generating an extraordinary outburst ofculture and creativity. Or we may speak of it despondently, measuring what wehave lost, or, for some, never had: our privacy, our humanity, our control overour own destiny, and our hope for the future. Or we may end up somewhere inbetween. 3As a researcher, I am proud to be part of this process, as what we are seeingis a rare phenomenon: citizens and scholars working together to enhance thequality of democracy and public life. For those of us in the eld of communication,we are in the fortunate position to be in the middle of this process and, indoing so, we have an opportunity to prevent our eld. It is an opportunity wecannot let pass. 41Nicholas D. Kristof, 2009, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for WomenWorldwide2McChesney, 2007, xiv3McChesney, 2007, 34McChesney, 2007, xvi5