Dear all,
Here's an update on the response of the NGO Gender Strategies Working Group on
the new version of the gender paragraph.
Best,
Mavic
***************
Deep concern over the gender paragraph in the new WSIS Draft Declaration of
Principles
Members of the NGO Gender Strategies Working Group and other women NGO
representatives in the ongoing WSIS PrepCom 3 are deeply concerned about the
present formulation of the gender paragraph in the new Draft Declaration of
Principles.
In a meeting held yesterday, the women examined and discussed the current
version of the gender paragraph which reads: para 9: We affirm that development
of ICTs provides enormous promise for women, who must be an integral part of
the information society. We are committed to ensuring that our information
society fosters the emancipation and empowerment of women, promotes gender
equality and portrays women fairly and respectfully.
Following is the proposed new language which will be presented today at the
official plenary by Fatimata Sey Sella from Senegal:
$BE8(Be want to thank the working group for including specific language about the
need to address women empowerment and gender equality in the Information
Society.
However we want to propose a reformulation of paragraph 9, to read as follows:
Women are key actors in the Information Society. We are committed to ensuring
that the Information Society enables women$BCT(B empowerment and their full
participation on the basis of equality in all spheres of society and in all
decision-making processes.
Justifications:
1) We propose the use of language that also recognises women as existing
vital contributors to the information society, while acknowledging that they
are not as yet fully integrated. We wish the Declaration to avoid language that
couches women as $BEX(Bards” needing protection and guidance from someone in a
position of power.
2) We need specific language that includes women$BCT(B right to make
decisions
in all spheres of their lives and in all spheres of society.
3) We are concerned that the term $BEP(Bur Information Society” implies that
the Information Society is already defined or its definition is in the control
of only one of the stakeholders and not all stakeholders. The Information
Society is still being defined and shaped and the term $BEU(Bhe Information
Society” better reflects this.
4) We feel that the term $BEX(Bomen$BCT(B emancipation” is redundant next
to $BEX(Bomen$BCT(B empowerment” and $BEF(Bmancipation” seems to imply something conferred
upon, rather than a right that is ensured or which can be claimed.
5) We$BCW(Be taken language from Article 13 of the Beijing Platform for
Action, which has been endorsed by all 189 UN Member States, as this contains
key principles of $BEX(Bomen$BCT(B decision-making in all spheres.$BGt(B
In addition to the expression of deep concern about the gender paragraph, the
NGO GSWG is also extremely dissatisfied about the weakness of the entire
document. Most of the inputs provided by civil society organisations were
deleted in the current version of the Declaration. For example, all references
to community media were deleted. Proposed language on free and open source
software was also disregarded. The text on the communication needs of people
with disabilities is missing. The situation of indigenous peoples is put
alongside the particular needs of developing countries and emerging economies,
Least Developed Countries, Small Islands Developing States, and landlocked
developing countries.
At this morning$BCT(B civil society plenary, the African Caucus, the Asia-Pacific
Caucus, and the Latin American and Caribbean Caucus expressed the same
dissatisfaction. A draft statement was circulated in relation to this concern.
The draft statement, which was also supported by the North America and European
Caucus will be finalised and presented at the official plenary within the day.