New Spaces, New Interactions? Young People’s Online Social Networks and Gender Relations in Africa

This article explores the implications of online social networks for gender relations in Africa. It questions whether these networks are impacting the stereotypes and biases that drive offline interaction. To answer this question, the article relies on targeted surveys in Nigeria and Ghana. These surveys not only generate data for the central enquiry, but also highlight the role of class in shaping the nature of interactions with and within the new spaces emerging with new media. This raises questions about the gender dimensions of the much touted democratic utility of new media, and how other important social interactions, such as, economic and cultural, can frame it. It also questions the overall inclusiveness of new media. The article concludes by drawing attention to the possibilities of new media in creating gender-blind societies but also highlights the crucial, and often neglected, role of other social categories in framing access to these possibilities and in configuring how they interact with the political space.