Session
Organizer 1: Muge Haseki, University of Pennsylvania
Organizer 2: Christopher Yoo, University of Pennsylvania
Organizer 3: Leon Gwaka, University of Pennsylvania
Speaker 1: anindya barai, Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group
Speaker 2: Sharada Srinivasan, Intergovernmental Organization, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 3: Muge Haseki, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Muge Haseki, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Leon Gwaka, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Leon Gwaka, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Round Table - U-shape - 90 Min
Barriers to universal and meaningful access: What are the main challenges that people face in obtaining and making full use of Internet access? To what extent are these the result of social, economic and cultural factors, and to what extent do they result from aspects of the digital environment? How can we use the responses to these questions to better understand the intersection between digital policies and other policy areas? Can this understanding help us to develop and implement more realistic Internet-related policy goals?
What are the main challenges that women face in obtaining and making full use of Internet access?
To what extent are these the result of social norms factors?
How can we use the responses to these questions to better understand the intersection between digital policies and other policy areas?
Can this understanding help us to develop and implement more realistic Internet-related policy goals?
5. Gender Equality
Targets: Our proposal address the following SDG by providing data and coordination mechanisms that include gender perspectives.
Target 5.B: Promote empowerment of women through technology
Description:
Across low- and middle-income countries, mobile is the primary way most people access the Internet, with mobile broadband connections comprising 87% of total broadband connections (GSMA, 2020). According to GSMA’s Mobile Gender Gap report (2020), despite its importance, mobile access and use remain unequal. Across LMICs, women are still 8 % less likely than men to own a mobile phone, and 20 % less likely to use the internet on a mobile. This means that in these markets 300 million fewer women than men use mobile Internet. Culture and norms act as a significant barrier that affects women in gaining access to and benefiting from connectivity. The effects of culture and norms, along with the attitudes and stereotypes that accompany it, was most frequently cited as a barrier to access by the IGF Best Practice Forum (BPF)’s survey participants, 71% of participants selected it as a barrier to meaningful access for women. The story is likely to become even more challenging in patriarchal societies. Bangladesh is a low-middle income country in South Asia with heavily patriarchal cultural and societal norms. This panel brings together experts from different stakeholders to share their recent research and insights on the role of social norms on mobile Internet adoption in patriarchal societies in general, in Bangladesh in particular.
-Identify the ways for how social norms act as a barrier to meaningful access for women
-Contribute to IGF's Best Practice Forum output on how social norms act as a barrier to meaningful access for women
-Develop more realistic Internet-related policy goals
-Cultivate inter-institutional collaboration on identifying ways to address social norms barrier
1) The speakers will share their insights and then the moderator will include online and offline audience into the discussion.
2) The online moderator will constantly watch out online and offline audience for their questions and comments and let them ask their questions and make their comments at every opportunity.
Usage of IGF Official Tool.