[Ict4women] ITF: Important Step Forward in Mainstreaming Gender in ICTs for Development

[Sophia Huyer]

INTERNATIONAL TASKFORCE ON WOMEN AND ICTS

ITF

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE



September 3, 2009

Contact: Gloria Bonder, ITF Chair

catunesco1 at flacso.org.ar, glorbond at gmail.com





IMPORTANT STEP FORWARD IN MAINSTREAMING GENDER IN INFORMATION AND  
COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES FOR DEVELOPMENT



The International Taskforce on Women and ICTs (ITF) congratulates the  
United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID) for  
operationalizing its commitment to gender as one of its key areas in  
its 2009-2010 Action Plan adopted today at the Global Forum on ICT and  
Innovation for Education being held in Monterrey, Mexico.

Based in the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs  
(UNDESA), GAID reiterated its commitment to mainstream gender issues  
across all its activities in adopting the Action Plan. The Global  
Alliance underlined the importance in its mission for the forthcoming  
year of mainstreaming gender as a key global challenge in meeting the  
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The third MDG calls for promotion  
of gender equality and empowerment of women by elimination of gender  
disparity in all levels of education.


ITF Chair Dr. Gloria Bonder, a member of the GAID’s highest body ¾ the  
Steering Committee ¾ said “we are very pleased with the inclusive  
agenda UNDESA-GAID has adopted. This is a significant step forward for  
women. The International Taskforce for Women and ICT is proud to  
support UNDESA-GAID and looks forward to working across our global  
partnerships and regional nodes to advance, engage and mainstream  
girls and women in the knowledge society. When women are empowered and  
have the opportunity to develop to their full potential in the  
knowledge society, communities across the globe benefit”.


ITF is proud of its consultative role as a GAID Community of Expertise  
working closely with GAID to secure the inclusion of gender and ICT  
issues in the Action Plan. The Gender Community of Expertise,  
comprised of ITF and IT for Change, has been among the most active of  
the Communities collaborating with GAID on the development of the plan.

Among the specific gender-related activities in the plan is  
mainstreaming ICT into high-level United Nations policy debates on  
gender. This is particularly important in order to bring the ICT and  
the gender policy communities together since in the past both have  
suffered from lack of awareness of the other. In 2010 GAID, assisted  
by the Community of Expertise of Gender, will organize a panel on ICT  
and gender at the Economic and Social Council Annual Ministerial  
Review (AMR), which has chosen gender as its focus, to be held in  
Geneva in July 2010. ITF expects to work with GAID in the preparatory  
activities for the meeting and in the preparation of a paper on Gender  
and ICT for presentation to the AMR.

GAID has also outlined its support to the Communities of Expertise in  
the Action Plan, including involving the Communities as resources for  
the preparation of white papers on ICTs and the MDGs and helping the  
Communities to establish partnerships among each other. This is  
particularly relevant for the Gender Community, as gender cuts across  
the other communities.
ITF wishes to express its appreciation to UNDESA-GAID for ensuring the  
strong participation of the Community of Expertise on Gender in the  
Monterrey Forum and meeting of the Strategy Council where the Action  
Plan was adopted. ITF Steering Committee member Dorothy Gordon, a  
member of the GAID Champions Network and Director-General, of the  
Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT moderated the  
opening discussion at the Forum on 2 September on the State of ICT  
Development – A Global Perspective. Dr. Bonder, Chair Holder of the  
Regional UNESCO Chair on Women, Science and Technology in Latin  
America, opened the plenary session on ICT and intercultural  
innovations in education. GAID also supported the participation of ITF  
and IT for Change members from developing countries to the meetings of  
the Steering Committee and Strategy Council and the Forum and awarded  
ITF a site in the iMarketPlace, one of the Forum’s parallel events.

The International Taskforce on Women and Information and Communication  
Technologies is a community of expertise of organizations,  
institutions, academia, businesses and individuals working to increase  
economic, social, and educational opportunities for women and girls in  
the knowledge society in a measurable way. Its vision is an  
information society for sustainable global development that fosters  
the potential for success of all its members. Its overarching goal is  
to ensure women’s full participation in an inclusive information and  
knowledge-based society as leaders and creators as well as users of ICT.
  
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