Thoughts and articles helping to frame some of the issues that should come up at next week's 55th session of the Commission on the Status of Women.
Sonia
**PLEASE DISSEMINATE WIDELY**
(apologies for cross-posting)
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*GENDER CENTRED: A GenderIT.org thematic bulletin*
APC WNSP - GenderIT.org, 16 February 2011
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*Special CSW edition: Can technology transform women's reality?*
I. THOUGHTS AROUND...Tipping the balance for local adopters of technology
II. NEW ARTICLES
III. FEATURED RESOURCES
IV. JARGON
V. WHO'S WHO
VI. FEMINIST TALKS
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The 55th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) will be held in New York from 22nd February to 4 March 2011. The theme for this year's session is "Access and participation of women and girls in education, training, science and technology, including for the promotion of women's equal access to full employment and decent work". This GenderIT.org's special CSW edition brings together some of the work that the Association for Progressive Communications is doing on these issues.
GenderIT.org will also hold live coverage of the CSW 55th session taking place in New York. We invite you to participate and join the conversation as we focus on section J of the Beijing Platform for Action and women's communication rights in the GenderIT.org's Feminist Talk section or on Twitter using the hashtag #csw #genderit (or #genderitES for Spanish).
Sonia, Flavia, and Katerina from the GenderIT.org's team
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I. THOUGHTS AROUND...Tipping the balance for local adopters of technology
by Chat Garcia Ramilo, the manager of the APC Women's Programme
Gender, science and technology. This theme will be analysed, dissected and evaluated at the 55th session of the Commission on Status of Women. Government delegates, non-government representatives and activists will troop to the United Nations headquarters in New York, braving the coldest winter in decades, to assess how women and girls are faring in education, training and employment in scientific and technological fields. To a large extent, this is a foregone conclusion. Science and technology continue to be incredibly gender-biased.
UNESCO's background paper and the United Nations' final report of the Expert group meeting on this theme cite trends of "persistently low participation of girls in science and technology education through all levels of schooling". They also say that the pipe that carries women and girls towards careers in science and technology remains leaky. What accounts for the persistence of this trend? The UN report says that decreasing retention rates in most countries echo familiar gender themes of multiple burdens, discrimination and gender inequality. These can be anything from domestic roles, child labour, teenage pregnancy or early marriage to armed conflict and gender-based violence in and outside of schools. Barriers also include illiteracy, disability and poverty.
While these findings are not surprising, they should be a cause for worry when we live in a world that is dependent on science and technology. The ability of women and girls' to shape their future is limited by their marginal participation in shaping how these technologies are used and developed. Unless this condition is reversed, our scientific and technological future will entrench gender disparities rather than help break them down...
Read the full editorial at:
[www.genderit.org/editorial/tipping-balance-local-adopters-technology]
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II. NEW ARTICLES
*Technologies for transformation : combatting violence against women in the Congo*
The work of the APC WNSP with organisations in the Congo provides invaluable real life experiences that can be useful in discussions at international forums like the upcoming 55th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) whose theme this year is women, technology and education, writes Selina L Mudavanhu. She examines projects that are part of the MDG3 Take Back the Tech! small grants programme in the Congo.
[www.genderit.org/articles/technologies-transformation-combating-violence-against-women-congo]
*The Gender Evaluation Methodology: Helping assess the gender impact of development work *
"How exactly can GEM influence the discourse at the CSW, I think it is really to challenge the notion of development, or at least how governments understand it." The APC's Angela Kuga Thas speaks with GenderIT.org editor about the Gender Evaluation Methodology, what it is and the value it adds to grassroots work on gender and ICTs.
[www.genderit.org/articles/gender-evaluation-methodology-helping-assess-gender-impact-development-work]
*Science and technology in Latin America: women breaking the glass ceiling*
Latin American women are attaining good levels of education and training for the labour market, including knowledge of ICTs, but APC WNSP regional coordinator, Dafne Sabanes Plou acknowledges that digital inclusion as a factor in economic progress is just beginning to appear on the regional horizon and that gender equity is still sidelined from ICT policy discussions. She speaks to GenderIT.org Spanish editor Flavia Fascendini about the progress women are making in science and technology in Latin America.
[www.genderit.org/articles/science-and-technology-latin-america-women-breaking-glass-ceiling]
*Poverty and culture: Key barriers to education and training of women and girls in Cambodia *
In this article, the director of End Child Prostitution, Abuse and Trafficking (ECPAT) Cambodia, Chanveasna Chin, speaks with GenderIT.org English editor Sonia Randhawa about the challenges facing women and girls in accessing education and training, particularly in technology.
[www.genderit.org/articles/poverty-and-culture-key-barriers-education-and-training-women-and-girls-cambodia]
*EroTICs: Sexuality and technology*
Jac SM Kee and Sonia Randhawa explores the links between sexuality and the theme of this year's Commission on the Status of Women meeting, "Access and participation of women and girls in education, training, science and technology, including for the promotion of women's equal access to full employment and decent work".
[www.genderit.org/articles/erotics-sexuality-and-technology]
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III. FEATURED RESOURCES
*16x16:Cambodia - ICTs light to no VAW*
The 16 slides x 16 seconds idea follows the Pecha-Kucha presentation format which is 20 x 20. We have adapted it to 16 for the 16 days of activism against gender violence. It draws the story of how violence against women (VAW) and ICTs link together in Cambodia. The presentation highlights the top 3 VAW issues for Cambodian women - domestic violence, rape, and human trafficking. It also shows how ICTs are used by abusers as well as local anti-vaw movement. The presentation is a part of the 16x16 series that builds on knowledge and experiences collected via the APC WNSP project 'MDG3: Take Back the Tech! to end violence against women' that connects ICTs, VAW and Millennium Development Goal 3 (MDG3) in practice, policy and law in 12 countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America.
[www.genderit.org/resources/16x16cambodia-icts-light-no-vaw]
*How technology is being used to perpetrate violence against women – and to fight it*
This fact sheet relies on new research into how new technologies are being used by abusers and by women fighting back. The cases were uncovered in research commissioned by the APC in 12 developing countries in 2009.
[www.apc.org/en/pubs/research/how-technology-being-used-perpetrate-violence-agai]
*Because I am a girl: Digital and urban frontiers 2010*
The report focuses on the lives of adolescents in two of the current scenarios of faster growth: the urban environment and the digital world. Both have new opportunities for girls and young women but also risks that have hardly been investigated and regulated. Prejudice and poverty exclude millions of girls from taking advantages of the transformative possibilities that cities and information and ICTs can offer. The 2010 'Because I am a Girl' brings lots of exciting examples
from around the world that ICTs open up for girls in terms of learning, networking, campaigning and personal development, such as girls tweeting to amplify their
voices in global discussions on women's rights. The report has also interesting and context specific recommendations on how to enhance girls access to science and technology.
[http://plan-international.org/girls/static/docs/BIAAG_2010_EN2.pdf]
*EROTICS: Exploratory research on sexuality and the internet - summary report*
What is the value of the internet in the exercise of sexual rights? From 2008 to 2010, the EROTICS research sought to answer this question, aiming to bridge the gap between policy and legislative measures that regulate content and practice on the internet, and the actual lived practices, experiences and concerns of internet users in the exercise of their sexual rights. The summary report provides an overview of the research, and surfaces the key areas of concern, interest and findings of five national studies in Brazil, India, Lebanon, South Africa and the United States. They give a compelling glimpse into the richness of the research universe, and the complexity of the subject.
[www.genderit.org/sites/default/upload/APC_WNSP_EROTICS__IssuePaper.pdf]
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IV. JARGON
*Evaluation*
Evaluation is a systematic assessment of a project, programme, policy or organization. Evaluations typically examine what happened, how it happened, why it happened that way, and what might be done to improve performance. Problems with evaluation include how the criteria for assessment are reached and whether all stakeholders in a project have the same understanding of the process, goals and criteria for the evaluation. Among the criteria stressed, evaluations should be judged by their utility and actual use.
Sources:
Wikipedia.org
EvaluationWiki.org
Research Methods Knowledge Base (www.socialresearchmethods.net)
International Development Research Centre (www.idrc.ca)
*Access to knowledge*
The right of access to knowledge comprises three main rights as comprising the right of access to knowledge, according to the APC Rights Charter. The first is the right of access to knowledge per se, that is, "Wide-spread access to knowledge and a healthy knowledge commons form the basis for sustainable human development. Because the internet enables knowledge-sharing and collaborative knowledge-creation to a previously unprecedented degree, it should be a focus for the development community." The second two rights are the right to freedom of information and the right to access to publicly-funded information.
Legislation on access to knowledge, which includes legislation restricting access such as copyrights or patents, are gender-blind. The laws tend to overlook gender concerns such as women's control of and access to knowledge, including traditional knowledge. Another area of concern is women's participation in decision-making on access to knowledge issues, both at the local and international level, for example in framing definitions of copyright.
Source:
APC Internet Rights Charter (www.apc.org/en/node/5677)
To understand unfamiliar ICT or gender terms visit the Jargon section:
[www.genderit.org/glossary]
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V. WHO'S WHO
In this edition of GenderIT.org we introduce another two country partners participating in the "MDG3: Take Back The Tech! to end violence against womem" project and also feature a small grant's project that is supported by the Take Back the Tech! Fund. This is being implemented by the Association for Progressive Communications Women's Networking Support Programme and it's partners in 12 countries across Africa, Latin America and Asia, and supported by the MDG3 Fund. In the context of this project, the partners have worked on national ICT policy and advocacy, conducted national strategy meetings, localized the Take Back the Tech! campaign, organized training events called Feminist Tech Exchanges, developed issue papers on violence against women and ICTs, and distributed small grants for projects that use ICT to address or prevent violence against women.
Partners
--------
*Open Institute Cambodia*
The Open Institute is a non-governmental and not-for-profit organization that works toward widespread access to high quality education, information, communication, and technology, in the belief that this will lead to a more developed and just society. The mission of the organization is to ensure that the benefits of technology for social and economic advance are available to in Cambodian society. At present the Open Institute's main programs are: Women Empowerment for Social Change, Open Schools, Khmer Software Initiative, Mirror Publication, Lexicography and River of Knowledge.
The Women's Empowerment program aims at improving social and gender equality through advocacy and the promotion of information sharing and communication, the Women's Web Portal. In 2011, the Program is implementing "Gender Observatory" a joint project with the Ministry of Women's Affairs of Cambodia. The Observatory is a central place that assist the Ministry to be able to monitor the implementation and the impact of adopted gender policies.
Website: www.open.org.kh/en
*AZUR Development*
AZUR Development's mission is to provide leadership in the sociocultural and economic development of the Congo and of Africa in general. As a non political, non-profit organisation, AZUR Development aims at attaining the following objectives: promote art and culture; promote women empowermenti and sustainable development; bring multi-fold assistance to the sick, to the disadvantaged and to vulnerable people; work to protect environment.
Website: www.azurdev.org
Small grants projects
---------------------
*End Child Prostitution, Abuse and Trafficking (ECPAT) Cambodia*
ECPAT-Cambodia's vision is the realization of the rights of all children to live free of child prostitution, abuse, child pornography and child trafficking for sexual purposes. It works to eliminate the commercial sexual exploitation of children through awareness raising, advocacy, monitoring and the coordination of actions and sharing information among relevant stakeholders. ECPAT-Cambodia's online IT Resource Centre was supported via the MDG3 Take Back the Tech! Fund. The Centre collects information related to the issue of child sexual abuse and exploitation in Cambodia.
Website: www.ecpatcambodia.org
To find out more about key stakeholders in the field of ICTs, visit the Who's Who in Policy's directory:
[www.genderit.org/whos-who]
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VI. FEATURED FEMINIST TALKS
*On sexuality and wikileaks...*
This reflection was written by Jac sm Kee in December 2010, at the height of the Wikileaks' leak of diplomatic cables and the subsequent charge and arrest of Assange. Since much of the reflections and thoughts still stand, despite the case and incident having moved on since then, this is now republished as a blog post for Feminist Talk.
[www.genderit.org/feminist-talk/sexuality-and-wikileaks]
*When is a joke not a joke?*
When does making a joke in bad humour become a criminal act? In the UK, issues of privacy, freedom of expression and violence are being raised as Tweets are being made the basis for criminal action. Sonia Randhawa is intrigued, and concerned.
[www.genderit.org/feminist-talk/when-joke-not-joke]
*Challenging pornophobia and moral beliefs of Congolese media practitioners*
Francoise Mukuku reports on the online discussion around ICT and violence against women organized by Genderlinks as part of the 16 Days of Activism: "As my organization Si Jeunesse Savait is implementing a 2-year project on the topic, I felt like it was really the place to be today...But let me tell you that the debate between most of the people I met online today was really far from meeting my expectation of a great exchange around privacy, freedom of expression and data protection in our context."
[www.genderit.org/feminist-talk/challenging-pornophobia-and-moral-beliefs-congolese-media-practitioners]
To read more Feminist Talk's posts and debates visit:
[www.genderit.org/feminist-talk]
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