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	Gender Source: APC
	Resources available Checklists Databases Guides Lobbying and advocacy tools Publications Training materials

Information and communication technologies (ICT) policy decisions affect anyone who wants to take advantage of the opportunities that new technologies can offer. Will the national policy favour technology that is state-of-the art but not affordable in rural areas? Will your government provide service subsidies to poor or disabled people? Will your government encourage the development of software that illiterate people can use? All of these are pressing questions whose answers depend on the ICT policy choices made by governments and other official decision-makers.

The APC Monitor has collected resources that help civil society organisations and others understand policy and regulation related to ICT so that you can begin to engage and influence policy processes affecting ICT adoption and implementation at national, regional and global levels. Many of the resources are also produced by APC.

Checklists

 Summary of Gayatri Spivak's talk on Gender issues
Summary of the Talk to the Gender and Law Thematic Group by Professor Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Avalon Foundation Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University, New York

Databases

 New Gender And ICT Policy Website Helps Women Make ICT Policy A Priority
Gender and technology activists, the APC WNSP, have launched GenderIT.org, a new information and communications technology (ICT) policy portal for women and policy-makers. ICT policy is not just about legislation of infrastructure and operators. Good ICT policy can promote economic empowerment. It can counter the negative uses of ICTs, such as trafficking of women. GenderIT.org promotes the need for gender advocacy in ICT policy as well as the "how to" of pushing for policy change.

GenderIT.org (HTML)
 

Guides

 Policy Guide for Gender and ICTs from the APC Women's Programme (WNSP)
ICTs offer immense possibilities for reducing poverty, overcoming women's isolation, giving women a voice, improving governance and advancing gender equality. This potential will only be realised if all factors which contribute to the current 'gender digital divide' are recognised and addressed in all ICT policy making spaces. The APC and APC Women's Programme's message is simple and clear: if these concerns are not addressed we face the danger that WSIS and other policy processes, will fail in addressing the needs of women, and will contribute to reinforcing and reproducing existing inequalities, discriminations and injustices. The APC WNSP's ten-point policy guide provides an overview of key gender and ICT concerns.
Produced by: APC

Lobbying and advocacy tools

 Citoyennes africaines de la société de l'information

Ce manuel traite, du point de vue des femmes, des enjeux liés à l’entrée des pays africains dans la société de l’information. Il présente, à l’intention des décideurs et acteurs publics, civils et privés, un plaidoyer sur la prise en compte du genre dans les politiques de TIC pour une société africaine de l’information juste, plurielle et inclusive.

Document en PDF (PDF)
 

Publications

 Women Empowerment Through Information Technology
This book attempts to demonstrate that ICT technologies are powerful tools for women to use to overcome discrimination, to achieve full equality and well-being, and to participate in decisions that impact the quality of their lives and the future of their communities. It is written for policy makers and development leaders to use as a reference tool to help to help mainstream gender issues in areas of technology development.
Produced by: Usha Sharma

 Gender Perspectives on the Information Society - South Asia Pre-WSIS Seminar Papers
Even as information technologies have pervaded the way many of us connect with our work and world, it is equally true that from IT-powered globalisation, to the telecom revolution and the advent of egovernance, the impact of technology is indeed felt by all women. The range of issues linked to new technologies, with implications for development practice, political economy analyses and social justice, underscore the need for feminist engagement on the information society discourse.

Click here to download the Seminar Papers (HTML)
 

  ICT Policy: A Beginner's Handbook
This book by APC lays out the issues and dispenses with the jargon to encourage more people to get involved in ICT policy processes. It is for people who feel that ICT policy is important but don't know much about it, e.g. a government official worried about a gap in her technical knowledge of how the internet works, a human-rights worker concerned that his need to send secure email is being challenged by national government policy, a citizen fed up with paying exorbitant rates for dial-up internet access and ready to organise…
Produced by: APC/Ed. Chris Nicol

"ICT Policy: A Beginner's Handbook" - browse the online version (HTML)
"ICT Policy: A Beginner's Handbook" - download in pdf
"ICT Policy: A Beginner's Handbook" in Spanish
"ICT Policy: A Beginner's Handbook" - buy it online ($10.00USD plus postage and packing)
 

Training materials

 ICT Policy for Civil Society Training Curriculum
The ICT Policy for Civil Society training course builds the capacity of civil society organisations to understand policy and regulation related to information and communication technologies (ICT) so that they can begin to engage and influence policy processes affecting ICT adoption and implementation at national, regional and global levels. This is a five day course with each session planned to last approximately 1.5 hours. The modules can be used stand-alone as training on a particular topic or used together as part of a longer course. Modules are in English with some in Spanish.
Produced by: APC

You can download the complete curriculum or modules covering different topics (HTML)