ADDRESSING INEQUALITIES
The Heart of the Post – 2015 Development Agenda and the Future We Want for All
Global Thematic Consultation
APC’s Women’s Rights Program (2012)
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) create new scenarios, new ways for people
to live, and these reflect real‐life problems. Women need to assert their rights here with determination and without delay. Women may not have been an active part of policy‐making conversations when internet governance started, but the rapid pace of change online means they need to participate now to ensure that the future of the internet is shaped taking into account women’s rights. For people who have little access to other kinds of publics due to the multiple forms of discrimination they face ‐ including gender, age, class or sexuality ‐ the internet can be a particularly important space to negotiate and realise their rights.
For women, the internet is a vital public sphere due to barriers of access to media or political representation. Inequalities that women face in terms of economic power, education and access to resources also affect access and participation in shaping the internet, its debates and policy. This explains why the internet has become an increasingly critical public sphere for the claiming of citizenship rights and civil liberties, including women’s rights. For those who have little access to other kinds of “publics” due to the multiple forms of discrimination faced – including based on gender, age, economic status and sexual identity – it can be a particularly important space for the negotiation and fulfilment of their rights.
This paper will explore the following issues:
- Self, body and autonomy
- Culture and society
- Economic power and development
- Public and political participation