Heike Jensen Department of Gender Studies Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany dr.heike.jensen@web.de

The World Summit on the Information Society has been a serious challenge for gender equality advocates. The predominance of a gender-blind and hence male-centered discussion process has made it hard to even achieve a basic commitment to women’s human rights.

All digital divides, from the urban-rural one to the ones caused by differences in income, education or age, have specific ramifications for women and girls and disadvantage them disproportionately in comparison to men and boys. Yet it would be a mistake to presume that the global political process that has centrally been concerned with finding ways of overcoming digital divides and including everyone in the so-called Information Society would naturally take gender into account. In fact, the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS, Geneva 2003 and Tunis 2005) has been a serious challenge for gender equality advocates. The predominance of a gender-blind and hence male-centered discussion process has made it hard to even achieve a basic commitment to women’s human rights. With each document, from the Geneva Declaration and the Plan of Action to the current drafts of the Political Chapeau and the Operational Part for the Tunis summit, the question has arisen again and again if it would be possible to prevent a backsliding regarding women’s rights and to assure that the core values of gender equality and women’s empowerment get reaffirmed. This state of affairs is particularly worrying given the growing realisation that development will not occur if girls and women continue to be discriminated against.

Who are the gender advocates?
The WSIS Gender Caucus is the organisational entity that has spearheaded gender advocacy in the WSIS process. This caucus is a multi-stakeholder group and is hence open to all gender advocates, from civil society to business, governments and intergovernmental organisations. Shortly after the foundation of the Gender Caucus at the Regional Preparatory Meeting in Mali in the summer of 2002, another organisational entity emerged and joined in the gender advocacy efforts with a slightly different approach: The NGO Gender Strategies Working Group, as the name implies, constituted a civil society platform. It was very active up until the Geneva summit and was instrumental in reaching out to other civil society caucuses and sensitising their members with respect to gender issues. Both entities were able to draw on the substantial body of research on women and media, and women and ICTs, that was presented and discussed in preparation of WSIS. A large part of this research was gathered within the UN context, most notably by Expert Group Meetings held by the Division for the Advancement of Women and other agencies. The findings were synthesised and developed into political recommendations. The Commission on the Status of Women and others submitted these to the WSIS process for consideration. Gender advocacy in the WSIS process has also decisively been shaped by the electronic input of those who could not attend the meetings and negotiations in person. Online discussions and e-mails have been instrumental for lobbying, networking and voicing women’s concerns, which has reinforced the central argument that media politics are crucial with respect to gender relations and vice versa.

What are the gender issues?
The starting point, as outlined above, is the awareness that gender divides, including gender digital divides, exist and must be overcome so that girls and women can realise their full potential and can shape the world in equal partnership with boys and men. Historically, the isolation of women from the mainstream economy and their lack of access to information because of societal, cultural and market constraints have led them to become distant from the global pool of information and knowledge. With respect to ICTs and the Information Society, women hence must be enabled to access these technologies and to use them productively. ICT policy, regulatory frameworks and licensing guidelines need to be conceived from a gender equality perspective and need to promote gender-sensitive infrastructure development, access point planning and universal service at affordable prices. It is particularly vital to connect the geographical areas in which women predominate and to provide women with appropriate facilities, such as women-friendly telecentres with suitable opening hours and helpful staff, and with useful content and services. Comprehensive educational programmes are needed to show women how they might make use of ICTs in a manner that ultimately allows them to take more control of their lives. Women furthermore must be empowered to develop, create and implement technology and generate content and services that best answer their needs and interests. Free and open source software might prove most suitable for women to move from users to developers. In terms of content and service needs, particular importance must be given to the development of portals, search engines, catalogues and networking tools that make relevant information and partners easily discernible and reachable. Apart from these job tasks, women have to have the same influence as men in policy formulation, implementation and monitoring regarding ICTs. To this end, great advances in terms of girls and women’s education and capacity building are required, advances that do not stop at the level of primary or even secondary education but enable women to become top-level decision makers in all areas relating to ICTs. At the same time, men need to learn to accept women as full and equal partners and autonomous human beings in all aspects of life.