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CSW
UPDATES FROM ISIS
CSW delegates compromise on a few points,
continue debates on others --onsite report from the 47th
UN CSW session by Mavic Cabrera-Balleza, Isis International-Manila
New
York - 12 March 2003 --The Bureau of the Commission on
the Status of Women continued the informal consultation
on the theme media and information and communication technologies
(ICT) today. Following a closed meeting in the morning,
the government delegates attending the ongoing 47th CSW
session agreed on seven more paragraphs in the draft of
the agreed conclusions.
One of the paragraphs where the delegates have come into
an agreement is the one that calls for participation of
women in the World Summit on Information Society that
is taking place in Geneva, Switzerland in December 2003.
The delegates approved the wording "high participation
of women in the Summit" instead of the original draft
that called for 30 percent women's representation. This
change was made following the United States representative's
objection to 30 percent representation.
The other areas where agreements have been reached were
the inclusion of gender perspectives and gender-specific
measurable targets in projects on ICT for development;
the development of measures to promote girls' education
and enable them to access ICT; and the development of
steps to include ICT education for girls and women in
all educational levels including through methods such
as distance and e-learning. The paragraph on the encouragement
of South-South cooperation to facilitate transfer and
exchange of low-cost technologies and appropriate content
was likewise approved. However, there was no mention of
open source technology (e.g. non-proprietary software
that is available for anyone to adapt and change) as an
example of low-cost and appropriate technology.
The last paragraph that was agreed upon in today's discussion
was the one on collection, sharing, and publicising good
practices to counter gender stereotyping, negative portrayals,
and exploitation of women, in all forms of media and ICT.
After these agreements, the delegates took almost an hour
to discuss the need to "urge governments to take necessary
measures to combat the growing sexualization and pornographization
of the media output in terms of globalization and the
increasing privatization of the media system." G77*, as
represented by the Moroccan delegate, refused to compromise
and delete the need to urge governments to take action
on this issue in media.
The other issue wherein the government delegates had a
lengthy discussion was on the establishment and expansion
of skills training, vocational and employment training
and capacity-building programmes for women and girls on
the use, design, and production of ICT to prepare them
to take on leadership roles. The U.S. delegate proposed
to insert the phrase "and to promote their participation
in the political process." Both G77 and the European Union
did not think that the phrase properly fitted in. Some
NGO observers in the session felt that the U.S. objection
was just another effort to stall the negotiations and
prevent focus on the more important issues in the draft
of the agreed conclusions.
The delegates also deferred agreement on the paragraph
on the promotion and increased use of local languages
as well as locally produced content in media and communications.
The U.S. delegate wanted more clarification on what local
content means and what it covers. Towards the end of today's
session, the Moroccan delegate expressed concern over
the amount of time (four days) spent debating on the use
of the phrase "as appropriate" which the U.S. delegate
wanted to insert in a number of paragraphs. One such paragraph
relates to the "allocation of new and additional resources
to support strategies that aim at increasing women's participation
in the information society." Speaking on behalf of G77,
the Moroccan delegate stressed that they want new resources
allocated because they want governments to commit and
ensure progress in terms of implementation. -30-
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CSW UPDATES FROM ISIS
Onsite
Report from the 47th UN CSW session by Mavic Cabrera-Balleza,,
Isis International/Manila New York: 11 March 2003. The
Bureau of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)
finished the second reading of the draft of the "Agreed
Conclusions on the theme media and information and communication
technologies (ICTs)" today. The Commission recalled and
reiterated the strategic objectives and actions of the
Beijing Platform for Action, the outcome document of the
Fourth World Conference on Women 1995, on the potential
of the media and of ICT to contribute to the advancement
of empowerment of women. It also recalled the provision
in the UN Millennium Declaration (2000) on the need to
ensure that the benefits of the new ICTs are available
to all.
One of the points that the Bureau agreed on is the need
to focus on the gender dimensions of ICTs to prevent and
combat any adverse impact of the digital revolution on
achieving gender equality. Another point agreed upon is
the need to integrate gender perspectives in the forthcoming
World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). However,
the delegates failed to come to an agreement on the call
for the inclusion of at least 30 percent women in national,
civil society and private sector delegations to WSIS.
The representative from the USA objected to the 30 percent
quota in the composition of the delegations saying that
this number is arbitrary.
The Commission did agree on the provision of management,
negotiation, and leadership training for women, as well
as mentoring systems and other support strategies and
programmes to enhance women's capabilities and potential
for advancement in media and ICT sectors. Another point
of agreement was the need to compile statistics on ICT
use, disaggregated by sex and age, to develop gender-specific
indicators on ICT use and to collect gender-specific data
on employment and education patterns in media and ICT
professions. Similarly, the Commission agreed on the need
to enable equal access for women to ICT-based economic
activities such as small business and home-based employment.
The following action points, regarded as the more contentious
ones, are to be discussed on 13 and 14 March, the last
two days of the 47th session of the CSW: -Ensure that
policy and legislation empowers regulatory bodies to establish
appropriate mechanisms to enhance full participation of
women in ownership, control, and management of ICT and
media;
- Use and establish legal and regulatory means and provide
financial and other support that enable public and community
media to work in support of gender equality;
- Encourage South-South cooperation to facilitate transfer
and exchange of low-cost technologies and appropriate
content between developing countries; -Strengthen and
encourage the use of existing information and communication
technologies such as radio, TV, as well as telecommunications
and print, in parallel to enhancing the use of the new
technologies for gender equality and the economic and
political and social empowerment of women as leaders,
participants and consumers; and
- Enhance international cooperation to create an enabling
environment to reduce the digital information divide between
developed and developing countries and promote, develop
and enhance access to ICT including the internet infrastructure,
particularly for women.
In relation to the last point, the Canadian delegation
proposed the following formulation: -facilitate access
to and transfer of knowledge and technology on concessional,
preferential, and favourable terms to the developing countries,
as mutually agreed, taking into account the need to protect
intellectual property rights and the special needs of
developing countries.
Other than the proposal from Canada, the current draft
of the "Agreed Conclusions" does not discuss the issue
of intellectual property rights, a hotly debated issue
in the WSIS process. In addition, there is no mention
of open source, i.e. computer software that is non-proprietary
and available for anyone to adapt and change, nor any
mention of network security in the draft. Check out the
website set up by the NGO Gender Strategies Working Group
for further information concerning the lobbying efforts
of gender, media and ICT advocates at the CSW and the
WSIS.
Website: http://www.genderIT.org
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