WUNRN
WORLD SUMMIT ON THE INFORMATION
SOCIETY
CHALLENGES OF GENDER ISSUES,
PRESENCE, ADVOCACY, POWER, FINANCING, OUTCOMES
Please scroll down to Parts 2 &
3 of this WUNRN release on the WSIS Gender Caucus Recommendations from
the 1st WSIS Conference, and the WSIS Gender Caucus Statement.
The
World Summit on the Information
Society (WSIS) Stocktaking Process was launched in October
2004. Its aim is to provide a register of activities carried out by
governments, international organizations, the business sector, civil society
and other entities in order to share knowledge and successful experiences. In
this context, ECOSOC Resolution 2010/2 on “Assessment of the progress made in
the implementation and follow-up to the outcomes of the World Summit on the
Information Society” encourages all WSIS stakeholders to continue to contribute
information to the WSIS Stocktaking database.
Therefore, governments, international organizations, civil society organizations and the private sector are invited to submit any new entries relevant to the time period 2010-2012 through a questionnaire or online at www.wsis.org/stocktaking. The questionnaire includes a description of the activities an organization is engaged with.
To access the questionnaire, click here. The deadline for submissions is 15 January 2012 through the online WSIS Stocktaking Platform.
Information submitted to the public database will be reflected in the WSIS Stocktaking Report 2012 which will be officially launched during the WSIS Forum 2012 and submitted to the 15th Session of the Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD).
For more information, see also the official invitation letter for the “Call
for Update and New Entries,” which can be accessed here.
___________________________________________________________________
WUNRN
WSIS GENDER CAUCUS: SUMMARY OF
RECOMMENDATIONS
TO THE SECOND WSIS AFRICA
REGIONAL PREPARATORY CONFERENCE
ACCRA, GHANA, 2-4 FEBRUARY,
2005.
The WSIS Gender Caucus places
great importance in aligning the WSIS preparatory process and outcomes with
achievements of the Millennium Development Goals and urges Governments and the
International Community to acknowledge and treat the integration of gender
equality and women’s rights in the IS and ICTs as a fundamental issue. The
Gender Caucus acknowledges the significance of the African Regional Preparatory
Conference for the second phase of WSIS, commends the theme "Access -
Africa's key to an inclusive Information and Knowledge Society" and
recommends collective action of all African stakeholders for the integration of
a gender perspective in the IS in general and ICTs in particular.
This is the WSIS Gender
Caucus’ statement of recommendations on the major IS issues presented at the
Accra meeting. We underline the fact that ACCESS is key; access to
financing, infrastructure, technologies etc. and we urge proactive, committed
and gender-sensitive actions and attitudes on the following:
Issue 1: Financing the Information and Knowledge
Society
Adequate and sustainable
resources are required to fulfil the goals of WSIS. We recommend
gender-sensitive budgeting, support for the Digital Solidarity Fund (DSF),
creative financial investment schemes and facilities which do not restrict
women only to micro credit, the allocation of targeted funds for gender and
ICTs and the involvement of Development Banks (national and continental) in the
creation of ICT investment products and services.
Issue 2: Indicators and benchmarking
Measurable performance
indicators must be defined within a gender and cultural analysis framework as a
basis for the generation and collection of appropriate statistics and
indicators on the Information and Knowledge Society. The Gender Caucus
recommends that all IS and ICT indicators be engendered and all data gender
disaggregated.
Issue 3: ICTs for socio-economic development
There is a great deal of faith
in the potential of ICTs to positively support socio-economic development.
We recommend more profound gendered analysis of impacts, training and capacity
development for women and men, literate as well as non literate, “ICTs
and Development” and entrepreneurship as a means to improve the
positive effects on enduring development.
Issue 4: Access and infrastructure
Infrastructure is paramount
and basic telephone connectivity in Africa is significant but not a sufficient
condition for enduring development. We recommend that infrastructure be made
available at within walking distance of all and should include mobile as
well as other options such as optic fibre to reach all parts; rural and urban.
Hardware, equipments and software should be made available and affordable to
the majority.
Issue 5: Industrialisation
Growth of the ICT industry is
important for developing economies and ought to benefit both men and women. The
WSIS gender Caucus recommends that ICT industries (including computer
refurbishment industries should be supported and that more women should be
involved and engaged as producers and workers in both hardware and software
industries and enterprises.
Issue 6: Internet Governance
The global
Information and Knowledge Society depends heavily on the Internet as its main
infrastructure and this global resource should be governed so as to enable the
full participation of Africans; women and men. We recommend consideration for a
gendered dimension of impacts and implications of the policies of Internet
Governance and that both men and women are equally represented in global
ICT governance structures and institutions.
______________________________________________________________________
WSIS Gender
Caucus Statement at WSIS Summit 2005 - Tunis
World Summit
on the Information Society
A STATEMENT ON BEHALF OF THE WSIS
GENDER CAUCUS
The WSIS
Gender Caucus is a multi-stakeholder group of women and men whose main
strategic objective is to ensure that gender equality and women’s rights are
integrated into WSIS and its outcome processes.
The WSIS-Gender Caucus is seriously concerned that
only a fraction of the recommendations made in the
Tunis Plan of Action reflect the realities on the ground.
The opportunity to ensure gender justice and equality in
the Information and Knowledge Society was not fully realized.
Your Excellencies, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, we
cannot claim that we are building a World Information Society
without assuring the channels and means for the full
participation of all women and men . On behalf of women from all regions, the WSIS Gender
Caucus believes that implementation of the Geneva and
Tunis commitments can only be possible through the
inclusion of women's skills, leadership, different ways of
communication and women’s rights as key values of the
operation and implementation mechanisms of the World
Information Society. The members of the WSIS Gender
Caucus are committed to continue working with all partners
towards equal participation of women and men at all levels in
the World Information Society.
The WSIS Gender Caucus calls on all national governments to
adopt a multi-stakeholder consultative approach that will
benefit both women and men on equal footing, to provide
funding for projects aimed at bridging the gender digital
divide, supporting the use of appropriate Information and
Communication Technologies such as community radio, and
to ensure the participation of women in all Information
Society decision making structures.
This is the most effective way to ensure the achievement
of the Millennium Development Goals and end world poverty.
I THANK YOULettie Tembo-LongweWSIS Gender Caucus Interim ChairTunis SummitTunisia
18 November
2005