Subject: [fem-women2000 461] IWTC Women's GlobalNet #154: Gender and ICTs
From: lalamaziwa <lalamaziwa@jca.apc.org>
Date: Sat, 15 Jul 2000 04:30:44 +0900
Seq: 461
---------------- Original message follows ----------------
From: iwtc <iwtc@iwtc.org>
To: iwtc-womensglobalnet@igc.topica.com
Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2000 12:21:09 -0700
Subject: Women's GlobalNet #154: Gender and ICTs
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IWTC Women's GlobalNet #154
Activities and Initiatives of Women Worldwide
By Anne S. Walker and Joy Wang
July 14th, 2000
GENDER AND INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES (ICTS) FOR DEVELOPMENT
This issue of IWTC Women's GlobalNet focuses on policies, plans,
programmes and research in the area of Gender and ICTs for Development.
It comes on the heels of several important initiatives taken by
international organizations on the question of the importance of ICTs
for development. Here in New York at the UN, from July 5th to 7th, 2000,
ECOSOC (the UN Economic and Social Council) held a High Level Segment of
the 2000 Substantive Session on ICTs for Development. From 7th to 10th
March, 2000, the Global Knowledge II Conference in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia also focused on strategies to bring knowledge and information
to the Global South.
High Level initiatives and activities such as these support the
activities of women's media networks in every world region, the focus of
the last two issues of IWTC Women's GlobalNet.
The following are brief descriptions of some of the initiatives that are
specific to Gender and ICTs for Development.
1) ECOSOC HIGH LEVEL SEGMENT ON ICTs FOR DEVELOPMENT TAKES PLACE AT
UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK, 5-7 July 2000.
After 3 days of deliberations, a Ministerial Declaration on Information
Technology was passed which stated, among other things, "deep concern
that the potential of information and communication technology for
advancing development, particularly in developing countries, had not
been fully captured" The declaration goes on to call on all members of
the international community "to work cooperatively to bridge the
"digital divide" and to foster "digital opportunity". In addition, the
international community was called upon to: a) urgently promote
programmes that intensify cooperation; b) actively explore new financing
for ICT initiatives; c) devise measures to reduce costs of internet
access devices in developing countries and: d) explore measures to
facilitate access to ICT training. (For a webcast of the entire High
Level Segment, go to <http://www.un.org/webcast/ecosoc2000. You will
also find documentation for the meeting at <http:www.un.org/ecosoc2000).
In a brief intervention on behalf of NGO gender issues, IWTC, speaking
for the Conference of NGOs at the UN, called for the UN to: a) proclaim
the right of democratic and equitable access to information and
communication services, with a focus on access for women and other
marginalized groups: b) set up an ICT Gender Task Force that would bring
together departments and specialized agencies of the UN system,
multilateral development institutions, private industry, foundations,
mass media and NGOs, including women's information and communication
networks, to develop an ICT Gender Action Plan; and c) set up a facility
(i.e. fund) to carry out the ICT Gender Action Plan with monies
solicited from private organizations, foundations and Member States. The
facility could leverage additional resources through matching programmes
within countries, and could be integrated into the Global Knowledge II
(Malaysia 2000) recommendation for a Gender and ICT Replication and
Learning Fund.
For the full text of IWTC's intervention, write to: E-mail:
iwtc@iwtc.org or Fax: (1-212) 661-2704. (Full address at end of
bulletin).
1. OUTCOMES OF THE GLOBAL KNOWLEDGE II (GKII) CONFERENCE, KUALA LUMPUR,
MALAYSIA, 7-10 March 2000: A GENDER PRESPECTIVE.
More than a thousand people from 120 countries attended the GKII
Conference Action Summit with the common purpose of hammering out
strategies which will bring information and knowledge to the Global
South and women. The GKII Women's Forum produced an Action Plan that
outlined public-private partnership initiatives and agenda of the Global
Knowledge Partnership (GKP) working groups for the next several years.
GKP working groups intend to concentrate on the challenges facing women
to: Access, Empowerment, and Governance.
The GKII Gender Action Plan is a living document and will serve as a
basis of further discussion and initiatives by governments, women and
women's groups worldwide. To find out more, visit GKP's website at:
http://www.globalknowledge.org/index_main.htm or contact Rosemary
Kalapurakal at UNIFEM: E-mail: rosemary.kalapurakal@undp.org.
2. ITU (INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS UNION) TASK FORCE ON GENDER
ISSUES (TFGI).
The ITU Task Force on Gender Issues was established in 1998 to a) ensure
that telecommunications services and programmes are widely available
equally to men and women and b) ensure gender equality within the ITU.
The task force includes several NGO representatives.
For more information on the ITU TFGI, contact: Pat Faccin, Secretary,
Task Force on Gender Issues, ITU, Geneva, Switzerland. E-mail:
patricia.faccin@itu.int
Tel: (41-22) 730-5489. Fax: (41-22) 730-5778.
3. RESEARCH, POLICY, ACTION!
A. How Women's International NGOs use web sites in their work:
Dr. Gillian Youngs from the University of Leicester surveyed 30 NGOs on
how they use web sites in order to understand the communications role
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