Dear everyone,
I am glad to report that at yesterday's plenary, several governments including
South Africa, Canada, Finland, US and EU delegations acknowledged and endorsed
the language prepared by the GSWG.
The new paragraph 9 now reads exactly as we proposed:
"Women are key actors in the information society. We
are committed to ensuring that the information society
enables women's empowerment and their full
participation on the basis of equality in all spheres
of society and in all decision-making processes."
Earlier yesterday, the Gender Caucus endorsed the same NGO GSWG language.
As a result, we distributed it in the afternoon as a joint statement of the NGO
GSWG and the GC.
Alice Munyua of FEMNET -Africa read the statement.
I'm copy pasting below the joint statement from the NGO Gender Strategies
Working Group and the Gender Caucus.
Warm regards,
Mavic
******************
A Joint Statement from the NGO Gender Strategies Working Group, and the WSIS
Gender Caucus
on the current gender paragraph 9 in the Draft Declaration
[Document WSIS PC-3/DT/1-E]
22 September 2003
The NGO Gender Strategies Working Group and the WSIS Gender Caucus wish to
thank the government delegates for drafting 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 InformationSociety”
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 somethingconferred
upon, rather than a right that is ensured or which can be claimed.
5) We have 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.”
We hope that this suggested reformulation and the justifications be considered
in constructing the final version of the Declaration.
ALAI, Agencia Latino-America del Informacion (Latin America)
APC WNSP, Association for Progressive Communications Women's Network Support
Programme (Global)
Bokk Jang (Senegal)
ENDA, Environment and Development in the Third World (Senegal)
Femmes Africa Solidarite (Switzerland)
FEMNET, African Women's Development and Communications(Africa-wide)
International Federation of University Women (Switzerland)
Isis International Manilla (Phillipines)
Maurifemmes (Mauritania)
National Alliance of Women's Organisations (United Kingdom)
Terre des Femmes (Germany)
Tunisia Mothers' Association (Tunisia)
Contact persons:
For more information on the paragraph and lobbying positions of the gender
formations:
NGO Gender Strategies Working Group:
Mavic Cabrera-Balleza (Mobile: 076-527-6081; email: mavic@isiswomen.org; Box
#268]
WSIS Gender Caucus:
Sundra Flansburg [Mobile: +41765248239; email: sflansburg@genderwsis.org]