Empowering Women Through ICT http://www.egovmonitor.com/womenict
Working with the International Taskforce on Women and ICTs through the secretariat, the Center for Women and ICTs at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (CWIT) Policy Dialogue International is launching a microsite and campaign focused on Empowering Women Through ICT with a global focus. While the gender gap in ICT usage has vanished in many countries such as US and Canada, there are still many countries in Europe including the UK, Italy, and Spain where the gender gap in ICT usage is still wide. In developing countries, including IT superpower India, women continue to experience low Internet access rates due to disparities in education, economic opportunities, and gender bias. This challenge is compounded when one considers the low enrolment rates of women in science and technology courses and programs around the world. A report of the OECD highlighted that while women?s labour market participation is increasing in most countries, their participation in engineering remains low and in computer science even lower. Unfortunately, women's disproportionate lack of access to education and skills training, as well as socio-economic factors, has led to an isolation of those most likely to benefit from ICT access and use. As women represent approximately two-thirds of the illiterate population in the world, excluding women from the information society will negatively impact economic development efforts for building and sustaining communities. While there remain social, political, and economic barriers to women's progress with ICTs, some progress has been made by select groups demonstrating ICTs positive benefits for empowering women and improving the quality of life in communities around the globe. Understanding these benefits may create interest in women?s full participation in ICTs in nations and regions where priorities have left women out of the decision-making and funding considerations. These inspirational narratives from far-flung corners of the globe have been spurred by innovative ideas and should be shared and highlighted as examples of what benefits ICT can bring to communities with active participation from women. The goal of this project is to highlight these achievements and share them with a large audience by disseminating our work through a network of individuals and organisations globally. This showcase of projects would be supported with stakeholder perspectives, analysis of the contextual issues, and highlights of challenges and opportunities to resolve them. The project is seeking perspectives and case studies from researchers, development organizations, governments on the various elements of women's progress in ICT as well as individual projects that have improved lives. These projects could be about access, infrastructure, capacity building, content or any other topic related to using ICTs. Contributions are being featured on the eGov monitor at http://www.egovmonitor.com/womenict For further information, please contact Shamit Ghosh at eGov monitor via email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Ms. Jayne Cravens MSc Bonn, Germany Kabul, Afghanistan (March - August 2007) www.coyotecommunications.com www.ivisit.com id: jcravens.4947 <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@digitaldivide.net http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
