1- Promoting the Role of Arab Women through ICT

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1- Promoting the Role of Arab Women through ICT

• Dr. Nibal Idlebi
• Chief of the ICT Applications Section

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ICT Worldwide

• Rapid change and growth of ICT.
• ICT has various applications in social and
  economic areas.
• ICT is a relatively new sector and has enormous
  potential for women.
• Statistics and data related to ICT usage are rare
  especially in the Arab World.

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ICT Opportunities

• A variety of ICT Business uses
• Application design, database, e-services, network
  design management, fixed and mobile telecom.
• Project management, teaching, RD, marketing.
• ICT applications in health, banking and media.
• ICT is an exceptional working environment
• Intellectual, stimulating, creative and
  innovative.
• Requires dynamic teamwork.
• Revenue generating, good source of income.

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ICT as Enabler

• ICT is a tool for
• Acquiring knowledge and continuing education.
• Organizing and assisting in doing business.
• Networking and promoting the creation of new
  tiers.
• Facilitating e-work, particularly in special
  social circumstances for women.
• ICT can often dictate changes to work flows and
  business processes.
• Allows remote working.

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Womens added values in ICT sector

• Good level of communication and negotiation
  skills.
• Team work spirit.
• Multi tasking nature.
• Innovation and creativity.
• Accuracy, perseverance and follow-up.

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ICT Women in International Summit

• Benjin Conference 1995
• First recognition of the role of ICT in
  empowering women.
• UN MDG 2000
• Improving the status of women using ICT.
• WSIS Geneva Declaration 2003
• Emphasizes the role of women for building the
  Information Society.
• Removing gender barriers to ICT education.
• Gender equality and empowerment of women.

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ICT Women in Arab Conferences

• ICT and Arab Women activities started in 2003
• 2003 Regional Forum on Women and ICT.
• 2004 ESCWA organized various specialized
  workshops.
• 2005 ESCWA organized High level Round-Table on
  Women and ICT during WSIS-Tunis Summit.
• 2005 Forum on Arab Women in Science and
  Technology.
• 2005-2007 The Arab Women Organization held many
  meetings for the Arab Taskforce on Women and ICT.

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ICT Women in Arab ICT Strategies

• ICT policies and strategies indicated the
  importance of gender issues and womens
  involvement in decision making.
• Bahrain, Syria, Palestine, Qatar, Egypt, and
  Kuwait.
• Launching initiatives and programs for womens
  inclusion in the Information Society.
• Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Syria.
• Mechanisms facilitating womens inclusion in IS.
• Qatar and Egypt.
• ICT strategies and plan of actions are still weak
  in terms of womens inclusion in IS.

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Arab Womens status in ICT

• Most of the information available on Arab womans
  usage of ICT does not clarify their use in
  comparison to mens use of ICT.
• The proportion of young women in higher education
  is relatively acceptable (it varies between 20
  and 50).
• As the level of education goes up, the proportion
  of women in education decreases.
• The proportion of female workers in the business
  sector is very low, except in Lebanon (40).
• Number of women at decision-making levels, in the
  ICT sector, is very small compared to other
  sectors.

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Arab Womens status in ICT

• Women are still operating in administrative and
  med-level work, in the business sector.
• The participation of women in policy and strategy
  formulation is still rare.

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Approaches for redressing gender imbalances
through ICTs
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• Main issue women generally possess limited
  access to information and knowledge, often
  leading to a vicious cycle, in which their
  interaction with and integration in mainstream
  economies becomes increasingly constrained.
• View points
• Priority to resolve root causes of gender
  imbalance rather than allowing women greater
  access to ICT.
• ICT to enhance national economic performance thus
  benefiting all members of society.
• The need to invoke ICT inputs in all initiatives
  aimed at addressing gender imbalance.

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Example Women and e-Services (e-Government)

• Main Issue Most governments have yet to fully
  exploit the promise of e-Government, let alone
  new approaches to harness this promise, in
  improving gender equity and womens participation
  in socio-economic life.
• Viewpoints
• E-Government provides more transparency and
  greater convenience for resolving gender issues.
• Introduce legislations and abolish negative
  practice.
• E-Government as an agent of change to promote
  womens rights and empowerment.

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Main opportunities (1/2)

• To improve the chances of increasing their income
  and encourage the development of entrepreneurial
  activities and SMEs.
• To alleviate poverty by improving productivity,
  competitiveness and growth.

• By building womens capabilities through improved
  ICT-based educational and training systems.
• Therefore job creation.

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Main opportunities (2/2)

• To participate in the knowledge-based economy.
• To accelerate efforts to bridge the gender gap by
  leveraging on a wide and fast diffusion of ICTs.
• To mitigate the risk of catching certain
  diseases.

• Thus enhancing sustainable development.
• Thus combating illiteracy and developing
  life-management skills.
• Thus improving living standards.

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Framework for Promoting the Role of Arab Women
through ICT

• Objectives
• Use of ICT for empowering women in social and
  economic development.
• Empowering Women in the ICT sector.
• Enhancing Womens capabilities in ICT.

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Framework for Promoting the Role of Arab Women
through ICT

• We propose a framework including six components
• National policies and laws.
• Raising awareness, promoting best practices.
• Training programmes.
• Education and RD in ICT.
• Specialized digital content.
• Measurement of Arab Women and ICT.

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2- Importance of indicators and statistical data
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Gender Concept

• Gender is a concept describing responsibility and
  the role of men and women in society.
• Gender definition might change according to
  country, era, culture and society.
• Gender describes the difference between the
  status of men and women, and the conditions under
  which they can control/develop their resources.

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Indicators, Statistical Data and Gender

• One of the main tools for monitoring and
  evaluating the status of gender in various
  sectors.
• Tool for comparing the status of various
  countries and regions.
• Tool for formulating policies, strategies and
  plans of action.
• Tool for monitoring the progress of strategy
  implementation.

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Importance of Disaggregated ICT Statistics

• Inform national policy makers about the status of
  men/women vis-à-vis ICT.
• Set evidence based national and international
  policies according to statistical results.
• Define priorities in programmes and initiatives.
• Measure the gender gap, in the digital divide, in
  developed and developing countries.
• Increase awareness on gender issue.

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Gender Disaggregated Statistics on ICT

• There are a number of areas where indicators on
  ICTs would be useful.
• These include
• Internet access and usage
• Content
• Employment
• Education
• ICT policy
• Participation in ICT decision making
• Differential impact of ICTs on men and women
• Participation in ICT projects

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Disaggregated ICT Statistics

• Enable in order to
• Ascertain by measurement if men and women are
  benefiting from ICT and its tools.
• Take corrective measures at national and
  international level.
• Develop specific projects for bridging the gender
  gap in the digital divide.

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Proposed Gender Indicators

• 1- Womens empowerment through ICT
• Female use of internet.
• Female possession of personal computers.
• Female access to mobile phones/telephone lines.
• Proportion of females (aged 16) using the
  internet for email, purchasing/ordering goods or
  services, interacting with government, finding
  information for research and studies, using
  banking or other financial services, trading,
  distance learning, entertainment, other
• Proportion of females (aged 16) accessing the
  internet from home, work, place of education,
  internet café, other

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Proposed Gender Indicators

• 2- Womens Education in ICT
• Female adult literacy rate ( aged 15 and older).
• Female net enrolment ratios in primary, secondary
  and tertiary education.
• Proportion of female enrolment in higher
  education in an ICT field of study.
• Proportion of female graduates in higher
  education in an ICT field of study.
• Proportion of female enrolment in ICT training
  centres.

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Proposed Gender Indicators

• 3- Women in the ICT sector
• Labour force female participation rate ( aged
  15-64).
• Unemployment ( of female labour force).
• Female staff in ICT sector (private and public).
• Female staff in ICT decision-making positions.
• Growth of female employment in the ICT sector.

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Challenges of Collecting Gender Disaggregated Data

• Social and cultural challenges.
• Adoption of gender disaggregated data by National
  Statistical Offices.

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Thank you
Dr. Nibal Idlebi idlebi_at_un.org