Global Research Society Publisher

Empowerment and Resistance: African Women's Use of Digital Spaces for Identity Construction and Social Change


Sr No: 15
Page No: 124-139
Language: English
Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0
Authors: Gbemisola Janet komaiya*, Faith Chiazor, Temitope Olufunmi Atoyebi, Vivian Claire Okeke, Temitayo Abdulrafiu, Racheal Chisom Ebugosi
Published Date: 2025-09-22
Abstract:
African women have long been marginalized in both national and global discourses due to entrenched gendered power structures that silence their voices and restrict their agency. The advent of digital technologies, however, has opened new frontiers for visibility, resistance, and self-definition. This study investigates how African women strategically utilize digital platforms as spaces of empowerment, identity construction, and collective mobilization. While the internet offers unprecedented opportunities for feminist expression, its liberatory potential is unevenly distributed due to barriers such as the digital divide, cyber-harassment, and state surveillance. Drawing on Digital Feminism, Feminist Media Theory, and Intersectionality as guiding frameworks, this qualitative research employs digital ethnography and discourse analysis to examine online conversations between 2022 and 2024. Focusing on case studies of prominent feminist hashtags such as #BeingFemaleInNigeria and #MyDressMyChoice, the study explores how women mobilize language, including code-switching between indigenous languages and English, as a rhetorical strategy to contest patriarchal narratives, build solidarity, and frame counter-discourses. This study argues that African women have moved beyond being merely passive recipients of digital content but active producers of political meaning, transforming social media from recreational spaces into sites of resistance and feminist organizing. These digital interactions demonstrate that online activism is not detached from material realities but instead reinforces offline struggles against gender-based violence, socio-economic exclusion, and cultural policing. Moreover, the research contends that African women are redefining digital spaces as arenas of social transformation where race, class, culture, and gender intersect to produce new forms of visibility, leadership, and feminist power. Finally, it concludes by emphasizing the need for expanded digital infrastructure and feminist-oriented policy protections to ensure that online empowerment translates into sustained societal change.
Keywords: Digital Feminism, African Women, Identity Construction, Online Activism, Gender Empowerment, and Intersectionality.

Journal: GRS Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Studies
ISSN(Online): 3049-0561
Publisher: GRS Publisher
Frequency: Monthly
Language: English

Empowerment and Resistance: African Women's Use of Digital Spaces for Identity Construction and Social Change