[bestbits] [governance] [Ext] Re: [DC] [IGFmaglist] IGF Best Practice Forum on Gender: Access

[Deirdre Williams]

Dear Jac,

Dear Jac,

While I support your work on behalf of women and girls I’m noticing a trend
which is very disturbing – that is the creation of “gender” as being
synonymous with “women/female”, at times almost acting as a euphemism.

Consider what you wrote yesterday:

the multiple forms of disparity and discrimination that the diversity of
women face

and what Michael wrote this morning:

To put it mildly, helping to empower women and girls with meaningful and
sustainable access is imperative to our future

Where are the men?

We seem to be being driven into an unfortunate case of divide and rule. A
huge theme for the internet is inclusion, and yet “gender” is excluding
approximately half of its population. So if we want to say “women” couldn’t
we just say “women”? Do we think it’s a bad word? And if we’re discussing
gender, couldn’t we include the men too? For example there might be
workshops considering things from both sides, offering a male perspective
as well. Are there men who facilitate internet access for women? Are there
men who actively block access? How is this done and what measures have been
implemented to get round the blocking? Are there men who are themselves
denied access to the internet?

The human race is diverse, in gender as well as in many other things.
Denying diversity has been demonstrated as an unsuccessful way to try to
solve problems, because the diversity persists no matter how much it is
denied.

What do other people think?

Best wishes from the Caribbean (where we have a concern about the
“marginalised male”)
Deirdre.

On 2 October 2017 at 05:52, Jac sm Kee <jac at apcwomen.org> wrote:

> Much thanks for all the considered thoughts on this issue. Being a
> committed advocate of this issue, I appreciate the reflection and
> insights on why it is both difficult and important to integrate gender
> into IG and policy conversations, including and esp on access.
>
> I hope this thread of discussion helped to clarify why it doesn't make
> sense to stack the multiple forms of disparity and discrimination that
> the diversity of women face before we take action to address whatever
> that is within our ability, capacity and responsibility to address. Also
> happy to take this conversation further if more doubts or questions
> surface.
>
> In the meantime, we continue to appreciate your support in responding to
> as well as disseminating the survey to your networks who do work in this
> area.
>
> As a reminder, the survey link is:
> https://www.apc.org/limesurvey/index.php/783797/lang-en
>
> Best,
> jac
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Jac sm Kee
> Manager, Women's Rights Programme
> Association for Progressive Communications
> www.apc.org | www.takebackthetech.net | erotics.apc.org
> Jitsi: jacsmk | Skype: jacsmk | Twitter: @jhybe
>
>


-- 
“The fundamental cure for poverty is not money but knowledge" Sir William
Arthur Lewis, Nobel Prize Economics, 1979
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