"Looking at patterns between those with meaningful connectivity — defined as having daily internet use with 4G-like speeds, owning a smartphone, and an unlimited access point at home, work, or a place of study — and those with just basic or no internet access at all, we saw key distinctions betw
...
een women based on geography and education in our study sample which impacted their experiences of the internet. Across our six survey countries [Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ghana, Mozambique, South Africa, Uganda], women with a tertiary education were nearly twice as likely to be meaningfully connected compared to their peers with less education. Women living in rural areas were three times more likely to lack internet access than their urban-dwelling peers, while women living in cities were over 50% more likely to have meaningful connectivity. Meaningful connectivity enabled women around the world to learn, earn, access government and financial services, and connect with family and communities, thereby also saving essential time and money in transport costs. Women’s educational level and having meaningful connectivity are the strongest predictors of finding information online or participating in the digital economy. Women int erviewed in underserved localities — such as remote villaes in India and impoverished urban settlements in Nigeria — reported restricted digital access due to: lack of infrastructure (such as mobile towers); high cost of devices and data services; income-generating activities and unpaid care work leave little to no time available to access connectivity or digital skills educational initiatives; dependency on men in their family to use devices [...]
We propose four tiers of achievable solutions — and call attention to policymakers, investors, and the ICT sector at large to fast-track meaningful connectivity and inclusive digital development for all:
1. Deep investments that use substantial resourcing to make profound changes in a specific policy area or for a specific community. Universal Service and Access Funds (USAFs) represent a key mechanism across the majority world for deep investment strategies. When well executed, they provide clear interventions with measurable changes in the lives of affected communities.
2. Grand visions that combine years of effort with substantial funding resources to revolutionize the status quo. National broadband plans and other key strategy documents — when appropriately supported and resourced through implementation stages — represent a core example of grand visions within this space.
3. Easy wins that are comparatively discreet and specific changes that can still create tangible value at their scale. Gender data — collecting it, creating it, analyzing it, and using it — is a critical component to several easy wins that have been implemented in recent years. Policymakers can start from this level of research and measurement to make clear steps in the right direction.
4. Scalable systems that represent large, programmatic change in the pre-existing ways of working. Multistakeholder approaches and gender targets can provide the foundation for long-term, ongoing processes that scale progress towards closing the gender digital divide. By using policy and regulation to create mechanisms and procedures that consider digital inclusion, policymakers can build habits and routines that gradually and consistently change the course of history." (Executive summary, pages 2-4)
more
"In journalism, there are still growing concerns about the ratio of men to women, even though women's presence in the newsroom have increased progressively. The issues of gender stereotyping and discrimination against women have emerged over time and still remain an issue of great concern. In view o
...
f this, using the gender theory, this chapter aims to interrogate the issues of female representation in the practice of journalism in Ghana, in terms of numbers, portrayals, and discriminations. To achieve the aim, the study employs a qualitative approach through in-depth interviews. The study reveal that men still dominate the journalism profession in Ghana. Also women in the newsroom are portrayed on one hand as capable and hardworking and on the other hand as emotional and immoral. Furthermore, women in journalism in Ghana are discriminated against in terms of salary structure and job roles. It was also revealed that female journalists in Ghana are employing strategies like apathy and rebelliousness to deal with the negative portrayals and discrimination against them." (Abstract)
more
"What do we know about the gender digital divide for girls? To date, there is little research on gender differences in digital access for children under the age of 18. These disparities in usage limit women’s access to the full range of opportunities offered by digital. However, the limited data a
...
vailable does indicate a similar pattern of lower access and use for girls, as for women. In countries with data, girls aged 15–19 years were less likely than boys to have used the internet in the past 12 months, and they also had lower mobile phone ownership. The greatest disparities were in South Asian countries. For instance, rates of internet use among boys were double those of girls in Nepal, and quadruple those of girls in Pakistan. Phone ownership was almost 30% higher among boys in Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Weekly access to information media was also substantially lower among adolescent girls in Nepal, India, Afghanistan and Timor-Leste. Boys use far more digital platforms and services for a much wider range of activities than girls, and they are more likely to use the internet. Roughly 46% of boys use the internet on their phones, compared to 27% of girls. Another study, by Girl Effect and the Vodafone Foundation, found boys are 1.5 times more likely than girls to own a mobile phone and 1.8 times more likely to own a smartphone. More than half (52%) of girls borrow mobile phones if they want digital access, compared to 28% of boys. As for adult women, this gender gap in access is echoed in digital use overall. As the digitization of economies expands, economic and social growth will increasingly depend upon people’s ability to use technology. While some jobs require very advanced digital skills, most jobs and daily activities need basic digital literacy to engage with a digital economy. Without increased digital adoption and use, girls will have fewer employment opportunities and will face additional barriers to workforce participation." (Pages 6-7)
more
"Invisible Women shows us how, in a world largely built for and by men, we are systematically ignoring half the population. It exposes the gender data gap - a gap in our knowledge that is at the root of perpetual, systemic discrimination against women, and that has created a pervasive but invisible
...
bias with a profound effect on women's lives. Award-winning campaigner and writer Caroline Criado Perez brings together for the first time an impressive range of case studies, stories and new research from across the world that illustrate the hidden ways in which women are forgotten, and the impact this has on their health and well-being. From government policy and medical research, to technology, workplaces, urban planning and the media, Invisible Women reveals the biased data that excludes women. In making the case for change, this powerful and provocative book will make you see the world anew." (Back cover)
more
"Rights related to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) and gender equality are often seen to be in contradiction with one another. Underlying this (mis) perception of a normative clash between the two is very often an understanding of FoRB as a right that protects religion – and often conservativ
...
e, patriarchal religion. For some, this means that FoRB is seen as an inherent obstacle to achieving gender equality; for others, gender equality is seen as a threat to the protection of religious values and practices. This antagonistic construction of the two human rights norms has consequences. A lack of attention to, or an unwillingness to engage with, the intersections between FoRB and gender equality may result in unnecessary clashes, unsatisfactory handling of factual conflicts, and lost opportunities for synergies, learning, and cooperation among actors engaged in the promotion of respectively FoRB and gender equality [...] Against this background, the present report should be read first and foremost as a basic introduction to the relationship between FoRB and gender equality, providing a snapshot of the examples, experiences and ideas discussed in the workshops and hopefully encouraging further research and analysis." (Introduction, page 6-7)
more
"Gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, one of the Sustainable Development Goals, is a highly complex and challenging undertaking. We must address multiple issues—discrimination, violence, education, employment, economic resources, and technology—and work across economic sectors
...
, from agriculture to financial services. Achieving gender equality will require significant amounts of accurate data about the situations and struggles of women and girls. Globally, however, there is a major gap in data that is disaggregated by sex, and this gap often renders women’s societal, cultural, and economic contributions and obstacles practically invisible. It can also exacerbate existing gender divides, feeding and reinforcing biases in social programs, access to financial and other services, economic opportunities, and even development programs designed to address gender inequality. Part of the solution may be in the form of big data, which, if used effectively, can provide the volume of data needed to portray women and their situations accurately, which in turn can inform the creation of evidence-based solutions." (Page 1)
more
"Language is one of the main ways that discrimination is enacted. In the discourse of discrimination there is a set of key words that denote the processes of prejudice. This book discusses the lexical semantics of this field of words and how, as a cognitive process, they underlie insults, hate speec
...
h, slurs, derogatory phrases, terms of abuse and other linguistic acts of discrimination. Stollznow presents a semantic analysis employing reductive paraphrase, using data sourced from naturally occurring examples and corpora. Relevant semantic phenomena are also examined, such as synonymy, polysemy, metaphor, euphemism and dysphemism, semantic shift, pejoration, amelioration and reclamation. This book examines the way people enact racism, sexism, ageism and other forms of discrimination in language." (Publisher description)
more
"This chapter will analyze women’s access to and participation in Mexico’s news media. At the intersections of feminism and the political economy of communication, we will put into context the findings for Mexico in the Global Report on the Status of Women in the News Media (Global Report) (Byer
...
ly 2011). Our purpose is to establish that the access and participation of women in Mexico’s news media are (a) identified by gender inequality, (b) subject to a structural problem and not just an accident or a circumstance exclusive of one industry, (c) marked by structural inequality, i.e., the higher the position, the wider the gap of gender inequality, and (d) defined by a gender division of labor that is a feature of the incorporation of women to these industries." (Abstract)
more
"This study examines why female journalists in an Arab country continue to be marginalized. It hypothesized that a set of interrelated factors, pertaining to gender discrimination, sexual harassment, and the lack of a legally and socially enabling environment, work together to systematically discour
...
age and block women's entry into the news field, push those who made it out of the profession, and keep those who have endured down and siloed in specific roles away from decision-making and policy-setting positions. The study uses a mixed-methods approach, including a survey of 250 Lebanese, Arab and international female journalists working in Lebanon, qualitative interviews with 26 female journalists, as well as analysis of ownership documents and minutes of board meetings. Findings suggest that structural, institutional and cultural obstacles that have faced women for centuries around the globe continue to operate with potent effects in Lebanon, and by extension in the Arab region." (Abstract)
more
"Mobile money, a service that allows monetary value to be stored on a mobile phone and sent to other users via text messages, has been adopted by the vast majority of Kenyan households. We estimate that access to the Kenyan mobile money system M-PESA increased per capita consumption levels and lifte
...
d 194,000 households, or 2% of Kenyan households, out of poverty. The impacts, which are more pronounced for female-headed households, appear to be driven by changes in financial behavior—in particular, increased financial resilience and saving—and labor market outcomes, such as occupational choice, especially for women, who moved out of agriculture and into business. Mobile money has therefore increased the efficiency of the allocation of consumption over time while allowing a more efficient allocation of labor, resulting in a meaningful reduction of poverty in Kenya." (Abstract)
more
"Islamische Gesellschaften haben zwei Gesichter: Nach außen führen die Menschen ein freies und normales Leben. Aber unsichtbar, in den von den Vätern beherrschten Häusern, in den von religiösen Fanatikern kontrollierten Dörfern und in den Gefängnissen der staatlichen Geheimdienste, werden die
...
Menschen - meist Frauen und Mädchen - grausam unterdrückt. Die Journalistin Betsy Udink hat sich in Pakistan, dem"Land der Reinen", das sich als ideales muslimisches Gemeinwesen versteht, an diese sonst kaum sichtbaren Schauplätze begeben. Sie berichtet von der ständigen Angst von Frauen und Mädchen, von ihren Vätern oder Ehemännern im Namen des Korans und der Familienehre mißhandelt, verstümmelt oder getötet zu werden. Sie erzählt vom sexuellen Mißbrauch kleiner Jungen, den brutalen Folgen der Gesetze gegen Gotteslästerung und von einem Frauengefängnis, in dem selbst kleine Kinder wie Vieh gehalten werden. Das wunderbar lakonisch geschriebene Buch besteht aus Miniaturen über das Leben in Pakistan, die sich zu einer großen Erzählung über das Leben der Frauen im Islam zusammenfügen. An keiner Stelle werden Pakistan oder der Islam pauschal angeklagt. Die Autorin behält immer die Distanz der Beobachterin." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
more
"This booklet contends that the lifestyle of women in the Third World, including Malaysia, has been influenced by the Western media which represent "the interests and values of an alien and dominant culture" and project a Western brand of consumption which is discriminatory, oppressive and male-orie
...
nted. Chapters discuss the use of women in advertising, pornography, sex tourism (a form of prostitution with Westerners), women's magazines, novels, television and film, and newspapers. References, the great majority of which are from Western sources." (Eleanor Blum, Frances G. Wilhoit: Mass media bibliography. 3rd ed. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1990 Nr. 2)
more