GenderIT @ Internet Governance Forum 2009, Sharm El Sheikh

GenderIT.org IGF2009 Team 
The GenderIT Feminist Talk contributors and tweeters at the Fourth Internet Governance Forum, Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, 15-18 November 2009, are Maya Indira Ganesh, Jan Moolman, Wieke Vink and Jac sm Kee.

New spaces: same old worries  
Transparency, democracy, inclusivity, equal access, people centred… sound familiar? These and other concepts have grounded the work of the women’s movement and other movements for social change and justice for decades. They also at the core of the WSIS principles that were highlighted at the ‘WSIS principles: a development agenda internet governance’ workshop that I attended yesterday. So why then do I approach writing this with such trepidation?

Secret and sexy (4)
When there’s something wrong with the internet connection at home, it is not my grandparents who are fixing it. It is not my mum or dad. It is my boyfriend. It is my brothers. It is me. We are the first generation who are brought up in the digital age – in a world wide web with Wikipedia as our library and Skype as our phone. In the case of internet, it is not necessarily the parents educating their children, but us learning our parents about You Tube and Facebook. We have to recognize that internet is a place where people gather, share and connect – and that young people, young men and women, are at the forefront of that.

Video: Finally, another take on sexuality 
Video: Jan Moolman speaks with Wieke Vink from the Youth Coalition on Sexual and Sexual Reproductive Rights, about issues raised at the APC WNSP IGF 2009 workshop: Content regulation, surveillance and sexuality rights - Privacy, Agency & Security.

Video: Our children are in danger 
Jan Moolman speaks with a participant at the APC WNSP IGF 2009 workshop about her thoughts: Content regulation, surveillance and sexuality rights - Privacy, Agency & Security.

Video: Who’s In? Who’s Out? Women's Rights at the 2009 IGF (1)
Video interview: Jan speaks with Margarita Salas from Sula Batsu cooperative, Costa Rica, and gets her perspective on where women's rights feature at the fourth Internet Governance Forum.

APC perspective on the future of the Internet Governance Forum 
This statement was presented for APC by Willie Currie, APC policy programme manager, at the Taking Stock and Looking Forward – on the desirability of the
continuation of the Internet Governance Forum session, Fourth Internet Governance Forum meeting, 18 November 2009, Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

Video: Jehan Ara on privacy, agency & security 
Video: Jan Moolman speaks with Jehan Ara, President of the Pakistan Software Houses Association for IT & ITES (P@SHA), about issues raised at the APC WNSP IGF 2009 workshop: Content regulation, surveillance and sexuality rights - Privacy, Agency & Security.

Some Thoughts on Youth Participation at the IGF (2)
Workshop #277 in Siwa Room 9 was bursting at the seams. They had to bring in extra chairs and more than once my laptop screen was bumped, nudged and shaken by large bottoms and smooth, dimpled elbows jostling for a better shot. Cameras flashed and popped, and people from the meeting rooms next door were later overheard complaining about the noise. Who were these celebrities? They were about 20-30 young people enrolled in and leading youth participation activities through two organizations – Childnet International from the UK, and the Cyber Peace Initiative (or, ‘Net-Aman’ meaning Net-Safety in Arabic) of the Suzanne Mubarak Women’s International Peace Movement – and their trainers, minders, parents, teachers and friends, as well as a UK Member of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alun White, and representatives from the SMWIPM

The privacy puzzle - part I (2)
I attended two sessions on privacy yesterday and today. Both raised interesting points and approaches to the issue of privacy in a networked society. At the last IGF, privacy was a concern, but I definitely noticed a visible escalation of its importance this year. And it's being closely linked to the area of social networking (with an entire main session dedicated to it as an emerging issue), businesses and of course, young people.

Possible Futures of the Gender Dynamic Coalition at IGF 
After quite a number of informal talks among gender-interested people at this year`s IGF, the following picture is beginning to emerge. Since women have not made enough inroads into national governments and big business decision-making structures, civil society is a crucial stakeholder to help promote gender equality and women`s issues. Hence, the IGF as a multi-stakeholder event is crucial to link gender advocacy up with internet governance. However, IGF so far has failed to demonstrate a satisfactory engagement with gender issues. Thus, gender advocacy is direly needed, which makes it seem important to continue the Gender Dynamic Coalition.

Cybersecurity: Do women count? (1)
I have another blog post to write about, which is a continuation of the privacy blog. But after attending this morning's session on ITU and cybersecurity, I think I should jot this down before the moment escapes. The workshop was a panel of representatives from the 5 pillars of ITU's work: legal, technical, organisational structures, capacity building & international cooperation. The thing that interested me was their new area of wor under the Global Cybersecurity Agenda: COP. Child Online Protection.

Swimming in my crocs: IGF Day 1 
Trying to find the room where the ITU child protection open forum took place this morning on the first day of the IGF, I was struck by how many people knew each other. Everywhere I turned I saw people greeting each other like long lost friends. “Was Hyderabad the last time I saw you?” “Tunis feels like a lifetime ago doesn’t it?” – snippets of conversation accompanied handshakes and the enthusiastic patting of backs. I was also struck by how many men there were (wearing suits!), how few, if any, people wore campaign T-shirts with catchy slogans and how many acronyms I did not recognise.

The end of IGF? Mulling on its point and pointlessness. (4)
Today is the start of the fourth Internet Governance Forum (IGF). Took yet another shuttle bus into another conference centre that has heavy security - or at least the show of it - big Alsatian dogs, burly men in uniforms and guns, mirror-checks under vehicles, bags into x-ray machines and so on. The next IGF is also the last one when the mandate ends. I guess at WSIS they thought that 5 years was enough to resolve this issue of who, what and how. What has happened instead, is that the IGF became a robust place for fairly open debates about existing and emerging facets of critical issues like access, security and development. Which is also one of the biggest topic of this year's agenda. Should IGF continue beyond its 5-year mandate? How effective has it been anyway given that it has no decision making powers.

The Tyranny of Binaries: Child Protection, Sexuality and Safety Online.  

Is it just me or does the schedule for the Internet Governance Forum conference in Sharm El Sheikh seem to pop with the words youth, security, protection, empowerment, child? At least two sessions every day focus on these themes. I attended a session today titled The Global Path for Ensuring Online Child Protection and Safety: Effective Strategies and Specific Action. This session seemed like it could throw up some interesting discussions since it had a balance of civil society groups, NGOs, the technology industry and child rights and family values advocates.

GenderIT.org @ Hyderabad: Gender Peripheries of the third Internet Governance Forum (December, 2008)

Brief Appraisal of the Third Internet Governance Forum 
Now that the dust of the third Internet Governance Forum, held in Hyderabad from 3-6 December 2008, has settled, a brief look back is in order. The host country's efforts amounted to an unqualified success and provided a smooth – even lavish – context. This was especially appreciated under the difficult circumstances in the wake of the Mumbai attacks.

What does the IGF mean to the poorest woman and her rights? 
The transcript of speech of Anita Gurumurthy, executive director of IT for Change and member of IGF Gender Dynamic Coalition, at the closing ceremony of IGF on December 6th. In her contribution to the closing panel, Anita highlighted the words of Mahatma Gandhi - “Before you do anything, stop and recall the face of the poorest most helpless destitute person you have seen and ask yourself, ‘Is what I am about to do, going to help him?’”. She further urged the participants to interrogate the modified version of Gandhi's question in the context of IGF - “How is the IGF going to help the poorest, most helpless destitute woman?”

Statement of the IGF Dynamic Coalition on Gender for the Taking Stock and Moving Forward Session 
The statement of the IGF Dynamic Coalition on Gender presented at the third Internet Governance Forum in Hyderabad, India,on the 6 of December 2008.

E-Governance only for "the common man"? 
Oh! I waited for almost three years to get this opportunity. Finally it arrived on 5th December 2008 during IGF, when i got a chance to attend the meeting with the Secretary of Information Technology of Government of India with APC team and other civil society organizations.

Why women need access to internet? Interview with Anita Gurumurthy from IT for Change (video) 
Anita Gurumurthy from IT for Change is commenting on the issue of women's access to the internet in the context of the debates from Day 1 of IGF. The debates were primarily concerned with the infrastructure level of access but did not really touch on how access or its absence affects people in the so-called next billion. Download the video interview here: http://www.genderit.org/uploads/multimedia/Anita_Access.mp4

Will the Children of the World be Safe Soon? Notes from day one  
Judging from the substantial number of workshops dedicated to the issue of child online protection at the third Internet Governance Forum currently underway in Hyderabad, a veritable rescue mission for the children of the world seems to be underway. Or maybe not?

Taking steps towards an internet environment based on human rights, inclusiveness and openness 
The transcript of speech of APC member RITS’ Graciela Selaimen at the opening ceremony of this year’s IGF on December 3rd. As a part of the inaugural panel discussion, Graciela stressed in her speech that the IGF can also be a space ¨to defend and ensure rights and equality among people – starting with the equality among women and men – both on the internet and outside of it."

GenderIT.org @ Rio: Gender Peripheries of the second Internet Governance Forum

To act now or not act: Clash of views on content regulation at internet forum  
Today I sat in a workshop in Rio de Janeiro. A workshop in Rio de Janeiro? A capoeira, volleyball or football workshop, you must be thinking. Even though I’m just 25 metres away from a beautiful beach, imagine, I sat in a room in a hotel, full of people with laptops… on their laps. Such is life in the second Internet Governance Forum. And let me tell you that it’s worth it. One of the 97 workshops unfolding here in Rio was called “Content regulation and the duty of states to protect fundamental rights”, brought to you by the APC’s women’s programme, the APC WNSP for all of you acronym-lovers.

GenderIT.org @ the Planning Workshop of the Feminist Network on Gender, Development and Information Society Policies (Bangalore, October 2007)

Sexuality, Identity and Digital Spaces (October 6, 2007) 
The panel discussion was chaired by Avri Doria, Adjunct Professor, Luleå University of Technology (Sweden). There were 2 panelists namely, Namita Malhotra, a legal researcher at the Alternative Law Forum in India and Cecilia Sardenberg, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology of the Federal University of the Bahia, Director of NIEM, Brazil. Namita’s presentation was fascinating. She spoke about the history of pornography, the laws around pornography ...

GenderIT.org @ Athens: Gender Peripheries of Internet Governance Forum

Why are we here? Women participants at the IGF told us why they came to Athens  (11)
GenderIt blogging team member Mavic Cabrera-Balleza is interviewing women participants in the ongoing Internet Governance Forum in Athens to find out their agenda in coming to the IGF. CHECK OUT the comments under the article!

3 November: IGF sums up, puts forward recommendations; women’s groups identify next steps  
The 1st IGF concluded on November 2nd in Athens. Women's groups formed the Gender in WSIS Implementation Network (GenWin) as one of the dynamic coalitions.

2 November: The IGF Experiment is a Success - if women take part in setting the agenda  
Organizers and participants in the Internet Governance Forum in Athens declared it a success. Women's groups in the IGF demanded for parity in women's participation in the next IGF in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil in November 2007.

2 November: Dynamic coalition, the new buzzword  
There's a new buzzword in the ICT circle. Everyone was talking of forming dynamic coalitions as the 1st IGF in Athens concluded on 02 November 2006.

2 November: Thoughts on privacy and security 
"WHOIS was created in ancient times; those days people would let their online friends know who they are" as we heard at one of the panels from an expert on domain names registries. The IGF discussions in the track of privacy and security made me go back in memories to my own early online days.

2 November: The Way Forward: Gender is essential for the IGF! 
At the closing session called The Way Forward, Mavic spoke from the floor on behalf of women's rights activists and gender advocates who met at the IGF. She stressed the need for gender aspects to be part of the discussions in the following words...

1 November: Gender advocates called for set-up of 'Gender in WSIS Implementation Network' 
APC WNSP called a meeting of gender advocates who are present at the IGF here in Athens. There were 8 of us who met today and discussed follow up steps for the post-WSIS journey

1 November: Privacy and Data Retention Related Concerns at IGF 
Privacy and data retention are a concern not only for Europe and America, but also in Asia.

1 November 2006: Diversity Session 
"What does diversity mean to you?" was the question posed by the moderator Mr. Yoshinori Imai from the Japan to the panelists. A panel was rich with lots of language diversity discussion. But suprisingly enough, gender and disability were very very marginal topics.

31 October: Covering the Openness @ IGF (4)
A long table with panelists, a long but very good session, taste of diversity of opinions and standpoints, that is the very shortest i can say about Openness session which took place in main Hall, from 10 util 13, on Tuesday, 31st of October.

31 October: Good or bad? Harmful or not? Legal or illegal? – the challenge of regulating internet content 
Who defines what is harmful and illegal internet content? How do we regulate online content? Participants in the panel discussion “Content regulations from gender and development perspective” organized by the Association for Progressive Communications - Women's Networking Support Programme (APC WNSP) in the ongoing Internet Governance Forum debate on these contentious points.

31 November: The internet cannot be an unattended area 
Interview with Ms. Hanne Sophie Greve, representative of the Council of Europe, former judge of the European Court of Human Rights . Among many others, she actively participated at the panel on Content Regulation and Access to Knowledge organized by APC WNSP .

30 October 2006: Internet Governance Forum - What is it All About? 
Quite a number of women --including those who have been following gender and ICT discussions--are having a difficulty understanding Internet Governance as a concept. Needless to say, we have encountered quite a number of questions on what the Internet Governance Forum is.

30 October: Silence on the Platform - Question on gender dimension of internet governance, answered with total silence  (1)
GenderIt blogging team member Mavic Cabrera-Balleza raised a question on the gender dimension of internet governance during one of the main plenaries in the ongoing Internet Governance Forum. The answer she got was very telling: total silence!

30 October 2006: IGF Opening - Setting the (Gender Disparate?) Scene 
It's not a huge surprise but still a big disappointment: women are a very small minority in today's opening of the first Internet Governance Forum in Athens, Greece.

Highway Africa 2006

Women in Black 
When we went for dinner at the Settlers Monument on September 12, i was surprised to see the "Women in Black". Having been associatd with the women's movement in Africa, i thought these were the same people. But no! These were young women who were going to serve us food.

Some african women journalists still writing their stories with hand 
“If you want to connect to internet, you have to come earlier at the office, before the typists come and use the computers” says Bimbola Ayesola, a woman journalist working in Nigeria. This shows the sad reality of newsrooms in Africa. Women journalists still have a few access to ICTs. There have been ICTs workshops during the Highway conference to build African journalists skills. However, there is still a lot to do to ensure access and use of ICTs by women journalists in the continent.

Let the people speak! Days of hope and optimism 
Tracey Naughton started off the session on community media at the Highway Africa conference with an old recording of the ANC’s radio station. As the speakers crackled with an Mkhonto we Sizwe song, delegates sat in silence. The session was a great summary of beginnings of the community radio sector in South Africa. Tracey Naughton and Lumka Mtimde mentioned that they are writing a book on the history of community radio – I'll be looking forward to it!

Where are the Women? At home, not being assertive. (1)
I arrived with 3 other Association for Progressive Communications Africa Women project (AAW) delegates on Monday morning to attend the Highway Africa conference in a raining Grahamstown, South Africa. In today’s Open Source publication, the headline “Be assertive to have a gender sensitive HA!” made me shake my head. Last year, women protested the lack of women speakers – this was obviously not “assertive” enough for the conference orgnisers. The statement implies that the reason for the non-appearance of women on the agenda is, well, our fault. It’s because we are too demure and coy. If the conference had only 11 black speakers among fifty, would Chris Kabwato be asking black journalists to be more assertive in asking for equal representation?

TAKE BACK THE TECH!

TAKE BACK THE TECH Call Issued! (6)
During the Know How conference held in Mexico City from August 23-26, the Association for Progressive Communications Women's Networking Support Programme (APC WNSP) issued a call to every grrls, librarians, lecturers, writers, techies, geek grrls, bloggers, emailers, SMSers, advocates, trainers, storytellers, poets, writers, web managers, theorists, graffiti artists, photographers.. to take control of ICTs and consciously use it to disrupt gender relations. To Take Back The Tech is necessary in order to reclaim women's critical contribution to ICT development, as well as their SPACES and RIGHTS to move, shape, define, participate, use, share freely without harassment or threat to safety.

Small thoughts around...

SMALL THOUGHTS AROUND....Violence against women and ICTs (1)

Over the next two months, GenderIT.org will be publishing a series of papers that provide a snapshot and baseline on the law and policy on ICTs and violence against women (VAW) in 12 countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America. The papers are part of the Association for Progressive Communications Women's Networking Support Programme (APC WNSP) project that connects ICTs, VAW and Millennium Development Goal Three (MDG3). This project is entitled, “Strengthening women’s strategic use of ICTs to combat violence against women and girls”, and is supported by the Dutch government’s MDG3 Fund to empower women and promote gender equality.

Twittering the Iranian election 
The most talked-about aspect of the current situation in Iran, is Twitter. In the past weeks Twitter has reportedly provided opportunities for Iranian protesters to send out information during that government's refusal to allow (mostly Western) journalists to report on the aftermath of the (suspect) re-election of Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. So the hottest tweet is possibly, ironically, about Twitter itself.

Access to knowledge and gender 
This edition of GenderIT looks at the question of access to knowledge focussing on Africa. Over the last century, copyright and patents legislation have penetrated into most countries, strengthened by international trade agreements, and often pressure from the United States. This has had the impact of both shrinking the amount of knowledge that is freely available, and of legislating what is and is not 'knowledge'.

Cybercrime legislations and gender 
This edition of GenderIT.org examines the issue of cybercrime legislation through a gendered perspective and its implication on women, in collaboration with  the ICT Policy Monitor Latinamerica and the Caribbean team of the Association for Progressive Communications. The focus of this edition was catalysed by issues and questions raised by our readers on the increasing pervasiveness of cybercrime legislations in different regions, and their potential impact on women's communication rights. The articles in this edition portray the current cybercrime landscape and its gendered dimensions in different regions of the world – including India, Burkina Faso, Chile, Brazil, Venezuela and Bolivia.

Financing for Gender & ICT 
The 52nd session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) kicked off with a long line of women queuing for their official registration in front of the UN headquarters in New York. Over 5000 individuals took part in the CSW this year between 25 February and 7 March. This is one of the largest participation in the history of CSW, and illustrates importance of this year theme to women’s movements everywhere: “Financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women”. As a contribution to this debate, GenderIT team in partnership with AWID are surfacing the links between ICT policy and financing for women’s empowerment and gender equality in this edition of the Gender Centred Bulletin.

Women's Health & ICT Policies 
The current edition of GenderIT.org approaches the problematic issue of women´s health and its interconnection with information and communication technologies (ICTs) policies. ICTs have an enormous strategic potential to locate women at the centre of health initiatives. In an attempt to contribute to this discussion, in this edition GenderIT.org writers analyze some of the existing challenges and experiences about this subject in Uruguay, West Africa, Uganda and a summary overview around integration of ICTs into health initiatives around the world.

Access & Gender 
There are different dimensions to access-related issues, and there are significant points of connection between them. Factors such as gender disparity at the level of employment, education, social class, literacy, geographical location and decision making have great impact on the level of women’s access to ICTs. Gender is a cross-cutting issue with specificities that are often hidden. What are the strategic and real needs of women when it comes to meaningful access to ICTs?

Content Regulation & Censorship 
Content regulation is one gesture away from censorship and surveillance practices. The tension between managing content that could potentially result in harm towards a section of the population (e.g. spam) and silencing of viewpoints (e.g. lesbian issues) is not an easy one. How can advocates of women’s human rights, advocates of development, civil and political rights activists as well as feminists navigate the terrain of content regulation and censorship without inadvertently overlooking important perspectives and impact that affects sections of society differently?

Freedoms of Expression & Information 
World Press Freedom Day was celebrated on 3rd of May. As new digital communications technologies enable new opportunities for the creation, expression and dissemination of news and perspectives, these spaces are not invincible from the policing of State and other equally impactful, but often submerged, socio-political norms. GenderIT.org explores the gender dimension of freedoms of the freedoms of expression and information.

Gender Peripheries of World Social Forum

World Women Courts hear untold stories 
World Court of women on resistance to wars, wars of globalisation, and wars against women heard stories in poetic and visual presentations of testimonies of women from all over the world at the Polycentric World Social Forum (WSF) in Bamako.

Bamako WSF march spells out Another Africa was possible 
Traffic came to a stand still in Mali at the start of the Polycentric World Social Forum (WSF) as about 6000 people marched in Bamako’s Independence Statue through to the stadium called Stade Omini Sports Modibo Keita carrying banners with different solidarity messages saying Another Africa was possible. Campaigns coordinator for Jubilie South Africa Makaoma Lekalakala was happy to see that 70 percent of the people marching where women.

Feminist dialogue urges women to embrace ICTs 
The African women’s movement, which is meeting at the Bamako World Social Forum (WSF) Feminist Dialogue, have recognised the access to new technologies as one of the strategies, they need to use to advance themselves as movement.

ICTs a need for women's movements 
The Bamako Polycentric World Social Forum (WSF) kicked off yesterday with a 70 percent of people being women from all walks of life. The WSF is an event of great importance to African people as a very first opportunity for a collective and democratic expression in their fights against exploitation of people and their resources.

Post-WSIS Reflections: What Did The World Summit on the Information Society Bring For Women?

OPINION POLL: WSIS gains & losses (3)
The WSIS process is over, what we have gained and lost in terms of integrating gender as a relevant dimension into the ‘information society’ after this 7 years? What do we have? And where should we go from here? What is the importance of having these explicit mentions of gender and women here and there?
Share with us YOUR views, experiences, and concerns.

Mirror Image: Part I - Conversations with Tunisian Women 
I changed my route to the Palexbo on the last day (18 November) and found a café between where the taxi dropped me off to the security line. The woman who managed the place spoke to me in English, and since I was the only customer, we started chatting. I asked her what she thought of the Summit, and she responded, “I don’t know. I’m not there. Why don’t you tell me about the Summit?” Good point =)

Mirror Image: Part II - The Missing Rights Agenda 
These conversations, and the “Expression Under Repression” panel organised by Hivos starkly reminded me of the missing rights agenda in the WSIS process. At most, the discursive thrust of including civil society perspectives have been on development issues. In the ICT 4 All exhibition centre, this was particularly evident. It really felt like a global branding exercise on who are the current Big Players in the field of ICTs. Kind of like Who’s Who for potential investors who might be swarming in the space.

Mirror Image: Part III - The Point(lessness) of Global Platforms? (1)
This led me to question the efficacy of such global platforms and processes. A lot of money and effort have been pumped into this Summit, and for the entire seven years of PrepComs as well as Phase I in Geneva during 2003. Where has it all led to?

Mirror Image: Part IV - What about Gender? 
In terms of gender, information communications technologies (ICTs) and the ‘information society’ is slowly creeping into the agendas of women’s movements. It is at a painfully slow rate, and a LOT of work still needs to be done to find political investments in this issue. Some connections can be seen from the development trajectory, and foreseeably, from the perspective of international trade and globalisation.

GenderIT.org @ Tunis: Gender Peripheries of WSIS Summit

18 November 2005: Day 6, Cost of Accessing WSIS II (1)
Had some conversations yesterday, and I thought I would share what I have found out in terms of some cost of participating in this event...

18 November 2005: Day 6, Overview of Gender-related Language in WSIS Documents (1)
The WSIS process is almost over, and I am wondering about what we have achieved in terms of integrating gender as a relevant dimension into the building of an ‘information society’ after 7 years. What do we have?

17 November 2005: Day 5, Missing Gender Words 
The gender caucus has observed with disappointment that the only gender word in WSIS documents is “gender disaggregated data”.

17 November 2005: Day 5, Where are Tunisian Women and Children? 
Travelling around Tunis in taxies and buses, I see no women and children. Wondering around the market, I see no women and children. People went out to see the night life of Tunisia, but there are no women in cafes and stores. There are more men than women on the streets of Tunisia. Are women on holiday? Is it a sign of patriarchal society?

17 November 2005: Day 5, the Same Old Strangers 
Why is that the police who want to look like an average citizen look alike all around the world? Why do they cut their hair and comb it the same way? Why do they use the same black glasses and same gold chains? Why do they like those tropical shirts that in the long run become a uniform? In Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago, Tegucigalpa or Tunisia, they are instantly identifiable.

16 November 2005, Day 4: Opening of WSIS II – An Audible Victory for Human Rights 
It has been a crazy tiring, hectic and running-around day, so I am hoping to give a small glimpse at least before I pass out into oblivion. So, after working on this process for close to 7 years, we are finally tying up the ribbons and signing on the dotted line with icing. Yes, it is WSIS II opening!

15 November 2005: Day 3, Strikes and Counter Strikes in Human Rights 
Today was a day of cancellation. The GEM (Gender Evaluation Methodology) Book launch was scheduled to happen at 2:00pm, but in a demonstration of solidarity, APC decided to withdraw and cancel all of its side events scheduled for today...

15 November: Day 3, Women in Pink at WSIS II 
On the first day, I was so desperate to see women at this space because of the overbearing presence of men, especially those in uniformed and are armed. When I scanned around, I saw mainly (apart from the participants) women in pink who were cleaners and usually hauled big bags of rubbish with them...

14 November 2005: Day 2, Obstacles to Access... and Whose Security?  
Took a cab to the Kram Palexbo, where the Summit and IT 4 All exhibition was happening[...] When we finally got to the site, we were stopped 5 times at security checks at every turn of the road and I had to flash my registration card and a big smile to calm the security that I was indeed, a legitimate subject to attend this conference, accredited (somehow) and all.

14 November 2005: Day 2, Representations at a Glance 
At the end of the day, Maxigas and I decided to take a walk and survey the images of women, men, elderly people, young people and disabled people at the ICT 4 All Exhibition hall. Afterall, the claim is that ICT is for all right? So who is this ‘All’ we are talking about.

13 November 2005: Day 1, Groggy at Tunis 
The plane ride was as all plane rides become after awhile, uncomfortable and far too long. Once getting off, there were large posters everywhere advertising WSIS, especially about the IT 4 All exhibition, where the tagline – complete with pictures of multi-gendered and ‘raced’ children smiling at a computer screen – promises to forefront the human dimension of information communications technologies development. I think I snorted audibly...

Gender Peripheries of WSIS Prep Com 3

The second phase of World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) will take place later this year. Between September 19th - 30th, you can follow GenderIT.org writers Jac sm Kee and Brenda Zulu as they participate in the third and final WSIS preparatory meeting (PrepCom3) before the summit in Tunis. Check out their chronicles from the PrepCom3 in Geneve, and read the postings about the activities of gender advocates, and women's concerns regarding key issues on the agenda - internet governance and financing.

29 September 2005 - Gender Caucus urges for multistakeholder participation 
The internet has grown and matured and it therefore prudent to believe that it is time for a greater internationalization of the management of the internet. The internet governance oversight functions have been clearly spelt out as the Gender Caucus paticipates in WSIS PrepCom III.

27 September 2005 - WSIS misses grassroots issues 
Grassroots issues are spelt out. The grassroots caucus lobbies the gender caucus to recognise their issues as they also have gender issues which are cross-cutting in their action plan.

27 September 2005 - Reintroduce cultural diversity 
Culture involves both men and women and in this regard the reintroduction of culture diversity in the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) is an issue as it continues to be side lined in the process.

26 Semptember 2005 - Freedom of expression in Tunisia debate erupts in WSIS  
Imagine for a moment attending a session and suddenly policeman shows up to tighten security for just this meeting. The launch of second report produced by the Tunisia Monitoring Group attracted many delegates in the WSIS PrepCom III .

25 September 2005 - Tunisia's credibility to host WSIS II questionable  
Tunisia's credibility to host the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) has been questioned following the release of the report of the Tunisia Monitoring Group (TMG) as we move closer to pharse II scheduled to take place in Tunis, 16-18 November 2005.

23 September 2005 - …but where are the women? 
The Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) report acknowledges that there is the lack of participation of women, indigenous peoples, civil society and small enterprises in the ICT decision making processes. However women's participation is critical to shape just and equal internet use and evolution.

23 September 2005 - Gender and internet governance in the African context 
"Is there such a thing as gender aspects of internet governance (IG) or does it boil down to the technical and political aspects?," asked Christine Butengwa from the African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET).

23 September 2005 - Gender advocates advised to integrate MDGs 
The joint discussion of the Association for Progressive Communications Women's Networking Support Programme (APC WNSP), African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) and the WSIS Gender Caucus showed that it is important for gender and ICT advocates to embrace MDGs in order to talk in the same language with the government.

23 September 2005 – Last Day at Geneva, End of Week 1 (concept of time no longer exists) 
Of course! Just when I start to get the hang of things and feel like I am finally getting a vague idea of what is going on, it’s time to go. Brenda Zulu who arrived late last night will be taking over blogging for the next week while I go home to the land of good food at reasonable prices (yipee!). It should be exciting. A real test of the promise of participatory, multi-stakeholder, transparent processes that WSIS is distinguished for as a global event...

22 September – Quickie on IG (a little late) 
Sorry for late blog today. The WSIS Gender Caucus have come up with a draft Briefing Paper that states its positions on WSIS PrepCom-3 so far, and by the time Lenka & I worked on inputs and comments to the draft to be submitted to the caucus, I couldn’t face Fabala anymore...

21 September 2005 – Porn[ography] in the Morning (10:00am – 1:00pm) 
The day started with sun! After two days of feeling like a houseplant, the feeling of optimism that the bright, yellow and warm gaze of actual sun is not to be sneered at...

21 September 2005 – Sex[ism] in the Afternoon (1:00pm – 3:00pm) (4)
HUMPH! I am so pissed off I could punch someone (if I didn’t believe in random acts of violence, I would have by now!! Grr..) To start from the beginning, a civil society side event was organised on “Internet Governance Forum Function” with plenary presentations by members of WGIG. This was to have a space for discussion on how a global forum or interface on internet governance might look like, with what kinds of priorities, membership, roles, responsibilities, powers and functions, if any...

20 September 2005 - Getting to the Gender Ghetto (post-lunch-that-didn’t-happen) 
In the last hour where I sat through the plenary session, my ears were on high alert for the mention of gender. Granted I only managed to catch a few governments’ statements (i.e. Switzerland, Venezuela, Turkey, Burkina Faso, Singapore, South Africa and Republic of Korea) before stakeholders like the ITU, CCBI and the Civil Society Internet Governance Caucus were given the floor for their statements, gender relations, dimensions, -based discrimination/exclusion were missing from any of the statements...

20 September 2005 – All Over the Place (pretty much the whole day) (2)
After blogging till pretty late last night, woke up a wee bit late this morning =/ Managed to catch the tail-end of the Sub-Committee A plenary session, which discussed about internet governance issues. ..

19 September 2005 - Civil Society Content and Themes Meeting (6:00pm – 7:00) 
The evening reception happening outside of the meeting room really tested the commitment of the participants in this meeting (me! me!). But Tracey Naughton (MISA - Media Institute of Southern Africa) who chaired the meeting was amazingly efficient, and despite it starting almost 20 minutes late, she managed to outline the new method and structure of working, faciliate a discussion on its finer points, culled concrete steps of moving forward, and organised ourselves into working teams...

19 September 2005 - Gender Caucus Meeting (1:00pm – 2:00pm) 
Admittedly I was late for this because I got hopelessly lost at the Palais de Nations Building. When I finally arrived, still hungry and panting, the meeting was in full-swing. Kind of...

19 Sept 2005 – Opening Plenary (10:00am – 12:00pm) (2)
So, all in all, a much more politically charged day than I thought it would be. For the first time possibly ever, I was actually impatient to be on time for the Opening Plenary of an event...
(warning: a rather long post that tries to make sense of the Human Rights in China accreditation issue and the politicisation of international advocacy platforms that it exposes)

18 September 2005 - Civil Society Orientation Session (10:00am - 5:00pm) 
The first day of WSIS Prep Com 3 already promises to be volatile. The Civil Society Orientation Session featured at least two white elephants straining to break free...

Cultivating Violence Through Technology? Exploring the connections between ICTs and Violence against Women

Questions raised - VAW & ICTs: strategies for change 
These are the questions raised at the mailing list discussion for the Theme: "VAW & ICTs: Strategies for Change". We hope for further engagement and responses to them from the users of this space (Feminist Talk)

Questions raised - VAW & ICTs: global policy processes (1)
These are the questions raised at the mailing list discussion for the theme: "VAW & ICTs: Global Policy Processes". We hope for further engagement and responses to them from the users of this space (Feminist Talk).

Questions raised - pornography & censorship 
These are the questions raised at the mailing list discussion for the Theme: "Pornography & Censorship", as a specific section under Theme I which dealt with harmful representations of women in ICTs, censorship and internet governance". We hope for further engagement and responses to them from the users of this space (Feminist Talk)

Questions Raised - VAW & ICTs: Harmful representations of women in ICTs, censorship and internet governance (1)
These are the questions raised at the mailing list discussion for the Theme: "VAW & ICTs: Harmful representations of women in ICTs, censorship and internet governance". We hope for further engagement and responses to them from the users of this space (Feminist Talk).