governance

One of the main complaints by women during the discussions at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) focused on the need for more women to participate in decisions about the development of the Internet, and the discussion and implementation of public policies aimed at building an inclusive information society, without discrimination based on gender or any other grounds.

In Colombia there is no law or public policy that relates directly to violence against women and information and communication technologies. "This is a scenario where a lot that needs to be done, but which, at the same time, offers us an opportunity," said Olga Martinez Paz of the organization Colnodo, which runs the Colombia part of the APC project "End violence: women's rights and safety online…

The statement by Anita Gurumurthy, Executive Director, IT for Change, at the closing ceremony of WSIS plus 10 review held by UNESCO from 25th to 27th February, 2013, starts questioning _"what went wrong?"_ in the last decade since the internet should have been been equalising social and economic opportunity. Why did the internet, and the information society phenomenon not do what it was supposed…

The Internet Governance Forum in Baku (6-9 November 2012) was a space in which different interests collided. APC revisits by releasing “IGF 2012: The good, the bad and the ugly“. Gender is of course part of this analysis. The report stresses that only one workshop dealt with gender issues specifically, and speakers in main sessions and workshops were still mostly male. "When we look closely, it…

This year's Internet Governance Forum came to a close in Baku, Azerbaijan on 16 November. GenderIT.org contributor Sonia Randhawa spoke to three women about their experiences at the IGF, and whether any progress is being made in terms of the representation of women, and the prominence of women's rights and gender as cross-cutting issues for internet goverance. Jac sm Kee is from Malaysia and…

It is my pleasure to introduce this volume of essays on gender issues at the IGF. The seventh IGF, held in Baku Azerbaijan during 2012, saw several milestones. The IGF showed that it was a maturing forum that was able to tackle important issues, some of which had been taboo in the past.

This publication seeks to identify the relationship between freedom of expression and internet privacy, assessing where they support or compete with each other in different circumstances. The book maps out the issues in the current regulatory landscape of internet privacy from the viewpoint of freedom of expression. It provides an overview of legal protection, self-regulatory guidelines,…

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) create new scenarios, new ways for people to live, and these reflect real-­life problems. Women need to assert their rights here with determination and without delay. Women may not have been an active part of policy-­making conversations when internet governance started, but the rapid pace of change online means they need to participate now to…

The women's movement has always had the ability to make the invisible visible and grant it a political character. This toolkit encourages women and their organisations to engage in political discussions regarding internet development with a vision of inclusion, fairness and respect for women's rights. The authors' vision is that the toolkit be used to raise awareness and encourage participation…

During the years of my school and university studies, report cards caused me high levels of anxiety but with some underlying optimism. Report cards assumed all-knowing experts were making decisions around my abilities and progress. It would invariably be a measure of success or failure and would expose my weak points and (hopefully) highlight my positive traits. But they always had a judgemental…