Page 1 Paper presented on : INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ENGINEERING & ICT (ICEI 2007), Eqoutorial, Melaka, Malaysia. 1 CYBERFEMINISM: Changing Gender Inequality via Information Technology Mulyaningrum, A.B. Mohd Yusof, Suraya Ahmad, Shahrin Sahib Abstract – Cyberfeminism is a philosophy which acknowledges, (firstly) that there are differences on power between women and men specifically in the digital discourses; and (secondly), that cyberfeminist wants to change that situation. The e-media can be provided to encourage women participation in the field of information and communication technology. This paper aims to investigate in what ways the whole range of internet can contribute to change gender inequality via information technology. It was a part of technoculture change process among women. Cyberfeminism has makes it visible how women worldwide are affected by new communication technologies. Key words: cyberfeminism, feminist theory, gender identity, techno-culture 1. INTRODUCTION 1 Historically, technology has been a male dominated, and the new technologies are still continuing this tradition. In the past 20 years, the world has seen an explosion in the field of information and communication technology. In 1995, only 15 percent of internet users were women, but by early 2000, women comprised of 50 percent of internet users. Yet patriarchy has never been absent. Men controlled the content, men earned the profit. Similarly, a gender gap emerged in how women and men accessed the internet: men surfed, hopping from site to site; women went directly to certain sites or searched for information on specific topic (Richard & Schnall, 2006). Mulyaningrum, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (e-mail: mulyaningrum@utem.edu.my ) A.B. Mohd Yusof, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (e- mail: abmy@utem.edu.my ) Suraya Ahmad, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (e-mail: surayaahmad@utem.edu.my ) Shahrin Sahib, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (e-mail: shahrinsahib@utem.edu.my ) As technology becomes more advanced, and full societal access to information technology becomes more widespread, women are becoming liberated from the traditional patriarchal power structures that surround and engulf them. In the gender roles, gender identity are breaking down, where our societal notions of being human, feminine, and masculine are in transition (Plant, 1996). This technology gives women the power to express their ideas to develop new business models, which has to be rational, visionary, and practical in order to get things done. In addition, the information and communication technology allows women to escape boundaries and categories that have in the past constrained their activities and their identities. The e-media are completely new technologies which give women a chance to start afresh, create new languages, programs, platforms, images, fluid identities and multi-subject definitions. This e-media can be recoded, redesigned, reprogrammed to meet women’s need and desire to change the feminine condition (Wilding, 2006). Cyberfeminism takes feminism as its starting point, and turns its focus upon contemporary technologies, exploring the intersection between gender identity, culture and technology. Plant (1996) uses the term cyberfeminism to indicate an “alliance” or “connection” between women and technology, where “women have always been the machine parts for a very much male culture”. There is the popular perception still that women are generally anti-tech and at best secondary players in the high tech world. There are so few women in a visible position of leadership in the electronic world, so few women programmers and hacker still a tiny minority, and often considered anomalies. Cyberfeminism is also a struggle to be increasingly aware of the impact of new technologies on the lives of women, and the insidious gendering of technoculture in everyday life. The international cyberfeminist seeks to bring together women from many different fields of knowledge and interest around the world to begin