[WSIS CS-Plenary] Gender equality and ITU

[Laina Raveendran Greene]

Not an excuse but there are two aspects to this issue: For Director
positions it is member states that nominates and vote the candidates. Since
1989 or 1992, there has been a Plenipotentiary resolution from member
countries to ensure more gender inclusion but I have yet to see countries
nominate women as candidates (there may have been- please correct me if I am
wrong). Some member states have been good at least to have more women on
their delegations and even have had women head the delegation (Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand, e.g) but many others do not make any such efforts.
Going to an ITU meeting is a foriegn trip and thus a privilege, and so often
domestic gender biasness shows through, even before it hits the ITU. Many
ITU Resolutions and discussions have been held to get more women involved
and things are happening but not enough at the candidate level so unlikely
to see women Director until this happens (much like seeing a women US
President elected)
 
There is also a second issue i.e hiring staff within ITU then. Most of the
women hired are "G" positions i.e. admin and there was a move to have more
"P" which are professional. There are of course more women in "P" positions
today than there were back in the 80s and 90s, but more could be achieved.
Some efforts have been done to make women more included but as those of you
who have worked in technical fields dominated by men, it is hard to mandate
men to accept women in these positions. Men often need women often to prove
themselves first before they are accepted, but how can they if they do not
get the job etc etc. It becomes a chicken and egg situation. I see this same
issue within Internet circles and organisations that I have been involved in
since 1986 to now, not just theITU.
 
I think the point could also be made that besides "reform" being a mandated
thing (which they seem to have tried using Resolutions") not just within ITU
but within all WSIS players. It is a culture or mindset change that also
needs to happen with members and with staff. ITU has a website on Gender
issues and there are many initiatives by ITU women delegates to mainstream
other women e.g. Global Telecom Womens Forum, etc etc. I know that there is
more awareness than before but it is hard to mandate within an already male
dominated organisation. Ironically, sometimes, the women who have survived
the organisation, often treat newcomer women very harshly as they expect
them to survive as they did.  I have also seen a similar behaviour with
women groups fighting for gender rights, who then discriminate other women
too who don;t fit the image of what they have of how women fighting for
womens rights should look like or behave. We do need a better partnership
with men and with other women to make true changes happen.
 
I guess in other words, the gender biasness issue is not always a conscious
problem but rather a unconcsious one (baggage from the past and stereotypes)
makes changing that is a much harder battle to win. It is a worth changing
as it is adds different perspectives to issues, creating better and more
effective solutions.
 
Just thought I would add some history to these efforts and some thoughts
from my perspective.
 
Laina

  _____  

From: plenary-admin at wsis-cs.org [mailto:plenary-admin at wsis-cs.org] On Behalf
Of Jean-Louis FULLSACK
Sent: Tuesday, February 07, 2006 11:07 PM
To: plenary at wsis-cs.org
Subject: [WSIS CS-Plenary] Gender equality and ITU





Dear all

ITU and gender equality : a quasi antinomy ? 

Despite recurrent solemn speeches of its Secretary general in international
arenas since a decade, the "board" of the ITU which is elected during the
Plenipotentiary Conference (ITU jargon : PP) is still exclusively made up of
men : Mr Utsumi (Secretary general), Mr Blois (deputy Secretary general), Mr
Toure (Diector of ITU-D), Mr Zhao (Director ITU-T, Mr Timofeev (Director
ITU-R. And even its most important consultative groups are quasi exclusively
masculine. 

Are ICTs a pure men's affair ? Let's see what will come out of the hats
during PP 06. I guess the same scenario will go on.

I therefore urge our very active "Gender Caucus" to react accordingly by
submitting a strong reform proposal to the ITU Secretary general. 

Best regards

Jean-Louis Fullsack

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