APDIP Releases New Publication on Gender in the Information Society

This publication is a collection of 13 papers developed for a pre-World Summit on the Information Society seminar, produced in partnership with UNIFEM and IT for Change. It showcases perspectives that critique the engagement with new technologies in various development sectors such as the governance, media and work.

Gender in the information Society: Emerging issues
Editors: Anita Gurumurthy, Parminder Jeet Singh, Anu Mundkur and Mridula Swamy
© UNDP-APDIP, Elsevier, 2006, 142 pages
ISBN: 81-312-0632-7

[PDF, 990kB]

This publication features a collection of 13 papers developed for a Pre-World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) seminar, Gender Perspectives on the Information Society: South Asia Pre-WSIS Seminar, on 18-19 April 2005 in Bangalore, India.

This selection of papers makes available a valuable body of information in areas that have rarely been central to the dialogue on information and communications technology for development (ICT4D). Rooted in the ground realities of women, the publication provides frameworks of analyses and actions based on a range of experiences in the South Asian region. Key issues discussed included gender roles and needs in e-governance, the ICT industry, cyber regulation, freedom of expression, right to information and communication, and media.

Highlighting the developing interplay between economic opportunities and socio-cultural hierarchies, the papers are special because of the unique lens that has been used to treat them. They provide an admirable resource for fresh thinking and learning on issues that is meant to open up the debates and pave the way for a sustained engagement of gender activists in the information society.

A video of the seminar was produced and screened at the WSIS Gender Caucus Conference and the Heinrich Boell Foundation in September 2005 and at WSIS in Tunis in November 2005.

The seminar was organized by IT for Change, in partnership with Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN) and the Centre for Public Policy, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, and supported by APDIP and UNIFEM.