Welcome. This blog was developed as a way to first inform you about the activities relating to women, gender, and ICTs in the GK3 conference and then provide a forum for your thoughts and input. GKP has taken a very innovative and, some might say, courageous approach to integrating the gendered perspective throughout GK3. To achieve this goal, they have invited the International Taskforce on Women and ICTs (ITF) to make recommendations that the GK3 team can collaboratively implement. Who is the ITF? What are the recommendations? And how effective will the GK3 be in achieving this goal?

The ITF was formed in 2005 as an outcome of an international conference on women and ICTs. It is an informal network of business, government, multilaterals, and NGOs who agreed to work collaboratively for five years to implement new strategies for change that would exponentially increase progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals, particularly as it relates to women, their families, and their communities. The ITF is interested in developing new strategies or expanding current effective efforts to support women’s full participation and leadership in the ICT workforce and are also interested in ICT-enabled strategies that support women’s full engagement in the knowledge society. The ITF is not intended to be a new organization but an interim effort that creates a surge of activity on behalf of women and ICTs. The ITF will sunset in 2010. Chat Garcia Ramilo, Coordinator, Association for Progressive Communications Women’s Networking Support Programme (APC WNSP), and Gloria Bonder, Chair, UNESCO Women, Science and Technology in Latin America are both GKP members and serve on the steering committee of the ITF. Rinalia Abdul Rahim, Executive Director of the GKP, serves on the advisory committee for the ITF.

So how is the ITF working with the GKP? The ITF agreed to work with GKP to develop a plan to mainstream gender throughout the conference and evaluate how effective those strategies are. While there has been a lot written about mainstreaming gender, there has seldom if ever been provided an opportunity for a group of women experts from both the north and south to work collaboratively to create such a strategy.

How does one create a framework for integrating gender throughout a mainstream conference? The group quickly agreed that this does not mean simply requiring 50% women on every panel. In fact, that requirement would be too restrictive and would not adequately address the spirit of mainstreaming. If 50% were the rule, would that mean that panels must also have 50% men? And would it be enough simply to have more women on a panel or in a room? Research shows that cultures begin to change when the underrepresented group represents between 30% and 35% of the population. This percentage is called the “tipping point.” Having at least one woman on every panel is already a step in the right direction. But while working to have women on all panels may be necessary for mainstreaming, it is far from sufficient. The ITF came up with additional guidelines as well.

The flaw in the concept of the tipping point is when there are minorities that exist within an underrepresented group. So having all women from North America and Europe would not address the need for a diversity of women. Nor would having women or men from only the business community. Just as men should represent a diversity of communities and cultures, so should women. The aim is to increase overall diversity in the conference. There are more differences among women than between men and women.

There is a fair amount of debate about whether integrating women into a conference is enough to fully mainstream them. Globally, there is a greater recognition that women’s issues are everyone’s issues, but there is still a lack of knowledge about how women’s issues and concerns impact not only women but economic and social development globally. Only by looking at these issues under their own lens can we fully begin to address them. Examples of this include the trafficking of women and children, pornography, and abuse. But how much of the content of a mainstream conference should be devoted to these issues specifically? The ITF arbitrarily chose 20%, but time will tell if that is an effective percentage.

All panels must address the following question in their presentation:

We are asking all panels presenters to answer these questions. There is no right or wrong answer; rather we are trying to ask the questions to encourage the organizers to think thoughtfully about how gender factors into issues of access, literacy, IP, and related topics. Unfortunately too often these questions are not considered and the result can be catastrophic for women. Instead of ICTs being a tool for empowerment, they become another form of discrimination. This not only leaves women further disadvantaged in the global economy but also has a profound impact on a country’s ability to develop. Myra Sadker, a US feminist and activist once wrote, “if the cure for cancer is in the mind of a girl, we might never find it.” By thinking about gender as part of every project or process undertaken, we ensure that a diversity of thinking and problem solving is considered. We also know when women benefit, men, women, and children benefit.

Unfortunately many people, men and women, have not been trained to consider a gendered perspective. There are many who would like to do the right thing, but simply do not know how. The ITF developed three tools to help presenters prepare. The first is a content paper available on the GK3 website about women in the knowledge society. This short, easy to read document explains clearly why everyone should care about the issue of diversity and women’s full participation in the global society. Developed from the Orbicom-funded work of Sophia Huyer and Nancy Hafkin, this synopsis provides a compelling answer for those who are unclear about the value of mainstreaming a gendered perspective.

The second useful tool is the Frequently Asked Questions. This set of questions was submitted to the ITF from women and men around the globe. Each question was answered using research documents created by the leading experts in the field. But the FAQ was not intended to be the end of the discussion, but the beginning. The ITF then created a database of experts. Women from around the globe submitted their resume, which was reviewed to ensure the contributor could indeed help guide anyone with questions. Again, one might get several perspectives from the diversity of women who are represented in the database, but that too is a welcome change as we realize that like men, women do not all have one perspective on gender or the implementation of gender strategies. The dialogue then becomes an important outcome.

The last question is about the effectiveness of this strategy in achieving the goal of mainstreaming both women and women’s issues into the GK3 conference. To that end, Sophia Huyer, mentioned above, has agreed to provide an evaluation of the ITF efforts. Until the last person returns home from GK3, we will be learning and modifying our efforts.

So what does this mean for you? First, we are asking that you “test the system.” As you develop your panel or presentation, what tools will you use? Are they too long? Too complicated? Too vague? We welcome your comments both on this blog and through e-mail to cwit@umbc.edu. And be prepared, we may show up in your panel to evaluate how well you have answered the questions, and if they are not answered, we’ll want to know why not!

We welcome your thoughts and suggestion and your interest in responding to this blog. We are looking for positive and constructive feedback that will help us all learn and improve our effort on behalf of women and ICT. And if you are interested in supporting the work of the ITF, please consider adding your organizations name to our Declaration of Agreement for Women and ICTs, which can be found at http://www.umbc.edu/cwit/Declaration.html.

Claudia Morrell, Executive Director, Center for Women and Information Technology (CWIT), University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Secretariat Chair, ITF, USA