The "Cyber Summit" and Women: Incorporating Gender into Information and Communication Technology UN Policies

Abstract

The "Cyber Summit" and WomenIncorporating Gender into Information and Communication Technology UN Policies Leda Cooks (bio) and Kirsten Isgro (bio) As information and communication technologies (ICTs) proliferate worldwide, their use and importance increases correspondingly.1 Likewise, the number of development programs designed to address the gaps between the world's information-rich and information-poor and the living conditions of the poor through ICTs has grown tremendously. Women are a strong focus of these programs, since it is believed that Third World women face double and triple inequalities with regard to ICTs. Access to information and communication technologies for women is more difficult when inequalities of gender, race, caste, nationality, and class are taken into consideration. The December 2003 UN World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva devoted a portion of the conference to our focus: the communication of gender in development ICT.2 Under the auspices of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the WSIS is the first "cyber summit" to debate the changes brought forth by the use of the Internet and other informational technologies throughout the world. The description of the forum reads as follows: The information revolution of the 21st century presents a tremendous opportunity for development. For one, ICT can greatly facilitate the flow, dissemination and appropriation of information and knowledge, irrespective of geographical distance. At the same time, it affords a cost-effective means for organizing and sustaining highly dynamic networks, which are fundamentally demand-driven and allow for their member's interactive exchange and participation. This panel discusses how different media and communication technologies (community radio, TV, telephony, Internet) can contribute to more effective development strategies and looks at their role in voicing people's concerns and allowing more active participation in society—both at the local and at the global level.3 [End Page 71] Within this vision, communication becomes both process (the means through which realities are created and "information and knowledge" are disseminated and appropriated) and product (i.e., increased development and active voice). Using documents from the Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) for the WSIS we focus specifically on the ways in which gender, communication technology, and development are constructed and connected within these discourses.4 Our analysis focuses on policymaking instead of on specific ICT projects to better understand how policy visions structure various ICT projects.5 We understand development as a multidimensional and relational process that entails many levels and layers of communication. Yet as Naila Kabeer points out, the term development (particularly within the context of international socioeconomic development) is ideologically laden and therefore difficult to contain within a singular definition.6 There are three main levels where development communication practices and analysis take place: micro, macro, and global. On the microlevel, development communication is focused more on individual or collective behavior and often includes particular persuasive campaigns promoting certain programs. On the macrolevel, development communication may include infrastructures and policies within particular nation-state borders around communication systems. There may also be efforts to implement and support more grassroots media systems. On the global level, there is the interest of capitalist expansion of media systems, in addition to more international policies surrounding telecommunications.7 At each of these levels there may be concerns that are focused on the technical aspects of communication (equipment, services, etc.), program aspects of communication (setting up and promoting particular programs in underdeveloped economies), and policies about communication flow. However, as Jan Servaes points out, there often is a large gap between the national and international communication policies put forth and the realities of these policies being implemented. Although we will not address each development level or layer explicitly in our paper, we do want to acknowledge that this field of communication and development is vast, and the literature within this field is often interdisciplinary in scope. In this paper, we adopt a view of communication as the process through which concepts of gender, information and communication technologies, and development are cocreated, envisioned, implemented, and acted upon. As the UN and other global organizations attempt to increase the capacities and resources of less developed countries (LDCs) through ICTs, it is worth pausing to ask what values and beliefs about technology, culture...