ICTs and Gender Equality - Women’s Rights and the Internet Ms. Chan Yu

1. ICTs and Gender Equality - Women’s Rights and the Internet Ms. Chan Yu Workshop on “The World Summit on The Information Society : The Asian Response” November 22-24, 2002 Bangkok www.apcwomen.org

2. Association for Progressive Communications • Network of civil society organisations (mainly ISPs) dedicated to empowering groups & individuals working for peace, human rights, development, gender equality & environment • 30 organisations in 26 countries • At GCN: RITS, JCA, Jinbonet, ENDA, GreenNet

3. Internet Rights Charter The Right to communicate Right to access Inclusiveness Gender equity Affordability Development impact Integration with media rights Accessibility of public information Rights in the workplace

4. Women’s Network Support Program • WNSP works to transform gender inequality • ICTs cannot create gender equality, or end poverty, but that they can be tools for social action and positive social change. • Concern women's empowerment issues in ICT projects for • development and social justice. • Highlighting the need to take gender into account at the time of planning and implementation of ICT initiatives, namely as Gender Evaluation Methodology.

5. ICTs and gender equality -’Technology as culture' perspective views not only about women's exclusion from full participation in technological work, but views technologies are 'cultural products,' 'objects' or 'processes' which take on meaning when experienced in everyday life. - Women's Empowerment & ICT refers to enabling women at home, community and policy level to take charge of their own lives by taking control over access, usage, training, and decisions about ICTs that will shape their lives. -Gender Transformative Policies are about change and transformation of existing inequalities as opposed to gender-neutral

6. Are ICT’s contributing to gender equality and women’s empowerment? - Women’smovement one of the first to create and manage it’s own online spaces -Issues identified 7-8 years ago, still remain critical for most women in the world GEM provides a means for determining whether ICTs are really improving women's lives and gender relations as well as promoting positive change at the individual, institutional, community and broader social levels

7. Critical Gender and ICT issues - Access and Control - Education, training and skill development - Industry and Labour - Content and Language - Privacy and Security - Trafficking, pornography and censorship - Power and decision-making - Putting ICTs to Strategic use - The Right to communicate

8. Critical Gender and ICT issues Access and Control - difference between access and control - access: the opportunity to make use ICTS (technology, knowledge, information) - control: the power to decide how ICTs are used and who has access to them - know-how, - affordability - development impact - evaluation - rights in the workplace

9. Critical Gender and ICT issues Education, training and skill development - critical to ICT interventions - training should gender-sensitive - focus on finding, managing, producing and disseminating information - develop policies and strategies for effective interventions - illiteracy, language

10. Critical Gender and ICT issues Industry and Labour - labour is highly sex-segregated - tele-work, home-based work - health and environmental concerns - women are paid 30-40% less than men for comparable work (ILO) - increase in women’s work in ICT sector, primarily in data-processing, component processing - cheap labour in un-proteced, unregulated free trade zones

11. Critical Gender and ICT issues Content and Language - Women’s viewpoints, knowledge and interests are not adequately represented - gender stereotypes continue to be propagated - dominance of english language

12. Critical Gender and ICT issues Power and decision-making - access to decision-making and control of resources - local, national, global => women are under-represented in all decision-making structures - purely ‘technical’ areas (typically for male experts) - no space for Civil Society viewpoints - deregulation, privatisation of telecoms industry ==> less accountability, compounding decision-making and control

13. Critical Gender and ICT issues Privacy and Security - secure online spaces - international sharing of experiences of oppression, abuse of women’s rights, VAW, trafficking - threats to a basic rights framework - Government justification - ‘the war against terrorism’ - creation of safe spaces, free from state censorship, monitoring and surviellance

14. Critical Gender and ICT issues Trafficking, pornography and censorship - ‘protection’ of women & minors; propagation of VAW, trafficking, pornography - States defining ‘harmful’ &‘illegal’ content; state as ‘protector’; possibilities of censorship, content rating, filtering - manipulation of agendas and genuine concern - alternatives needed - self-determined, empowering of communities

15. Critical Gender and ICT issues Putting ICTs to Strategic use - bring more attention to issues of concern to women - reinforce solidarity campaigns - enhance traditional women’s networking activities - defend the rights of women to participate equally in civil and public life - marginlisation and exclusion

16. Critical Gender and ICT issues The Right to communicate - Advocacy for a new Information and communication environment must fully integrate gender concerns and women’s advancement - UDHR recognises the right to information as a fundamental Human Rights - Equally important is advocating for the right to communicate as a fundamental Human Right

17. Critical Gender and ICT issues The Right to communicate The Internet and ICTs can be used to strengthen diversity and provide a platform for a multitude of voices, a pluralism of ideas and opinions and a place for cross-cultural exchange. This can only be true if civil society strategises to have a voice in all policy formations which aim to regulate and govern, control and ownership of the internet. Central to this strategy must be an agenda which strives for and is driven by women’s equality, empowerment, advancement and gender justice.

18. APC Internet Rights program • Develop information resource • Policy monitor & website (www.apc.org) • Newsletter, Research • Raise awareness in civil society • Email lists, conferences (e.g. WSF) • Civil Society Internet policy training • CS policy & lobbying • Policy framework, lobbying support • National, regional & global

19. APC Internet Rights Program • Regional programmes • Africa (3 staff) • Latin America & Caribbean (2 staff) • Asia (planned) • Major focus for 2003 – reach out • Gender organisations, human rights, environment, social movements, health (HIV/AIDS), good security, basic needs