*Join us for Change Seminar today 10/22!* *When*: today, 12pm-1pm *Where*: CSE2-271 *Who*: Samia Ibtasam *Title*: "My cousin bought the phone for me. I never go to mobile shops.": The Role of Family in women’s Technological Inclusion in Islamic Culture *Abstract*: In this talk, I will discuss how the intersection of Islam and gender affects technological and social interactions for Muslim women in significant ways, including gendered roles, generational differences in a family, and wider socio-cultural and religious influences. I will present a recent CSCW work that builds on 73 qualitative interviews with low-income women in Punjab, Pakistan, and analyzes the complexity of family relationships and the subsequent dynamics of authority around technology uptake and usage by women within non-Western contexts, and, specifically, within the Islamic world. The work argues that a Pakistani woman's experience with technology depends on many factors, including gendered roles, generational differences in a family, and wider socio-cultural and religious influences against the backdrop of a culturally conservative and patriarchal society. It highlights the rich family dynamics, including key life events, that transform the roles of both Muslim women and their relatives. My work aims to inform scholars, practitioners in development agencies and industry, and other individuals studying technological inclusion about the household dynamics that influence women’s use of technology. Considering these dynamics during design and implementation processes will broaden accessibility and diversity in the acceptance and use of evolving technologies. *Speaker Bio:* Samia Ibtasam <https://samiaibtasam.com/> is a Ph.D. student at the Paul G Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle. As part of the ICTD Lab, her current work focuses on devising tools and frameworks to increase women’s technological and financial inclusion. With more than ten years of experience in designing, developing and deploying technologies for emerging markets, she is studying the impact of gender on technological and financial services and the use of consumer training to expand financial inclusion. Before UW, Ibtasam was the founding co-director of Innovations for Poverty Alleviation Lab (IPAL) <http://ipal.itu.edu.pk/> at the Information Technology University (ITU). She has authored and led research grants, designed and led projects on speech interfaces for low-literate users and on Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health (MNCH), including the redesign of immunization cards and the creation of digital health records for the province of Punjab in Pakistan. In the Computer Science Department at ITU, she taught Design Thinking, Human-Centered Design, and product development courses to undergraduate and graduate Computer Science students. Ibtasam was named a Google Women Techmaker (North America) Scholar in 2019 <https://news.cs.washington.edu/2019/09/13/allen-schools-samia-ibtasam-receives-google-women-techmakers-scholarship/>, a Marilyn Fries Endowed Fellow in 2016 <https://www.cs.washington.edu/students/grad/awardrecipients/fries>, and the Acumen Fund Regional Fellow for Pakistan <https://acumenideas.com/samia-razaq-likes-to-call-herself-a-geek-4a774f27f210#.ch890l1pn> in 2015. She occasionally tweets @SamiaRazaq <https://twitter.com/SamiaRazaq> -- Sara Vannini, PhD Lecturer - Integrated Social Sciences and Department of Communication University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA Personal website: http://www.saravannini.com Sanctuary collective website: http://www.sanctuarycollective.net/ Pronouns: she, her, hers -- Sara Vannini, PhD Lecturer - Integrated Social Sciences and Department of Communication University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA Personal website: http://www.saravannini.com Sanctuary collective website: http://www.sanctuarycollective.net/ Pronouns: she, her, hers