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<h1 style="margin:0;padding-bottom:6px;"> <a
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href="http://webfoundation.org"
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<p style="margin:1em 0 3px 0;"> <a name="1"
style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica,
sans-serif;font-size:18px;"
href="http://webfoundation.org/2017/08/amplifying-womens-voices-in-technology-policy/"
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Technology Policy</a> </p>
<p style="font-size:13px;color:#555;margin:9px 0 3px
0;font-family:Georgia,Helvetica,Arial,Sans-Serif;line-height:140%;font-size:13px;"><span>Posted:</span>
11 Aug 2017 01:21 PM PDT</p>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The world is at the
beginning of a connectivity revolution that is
rapidly turning internet access into a critical
determinant of individuals’ human and social
capital and earning power. As the inventor of the
web and Web Foundation founder </span><a
href="http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2014/03/web-at-25/tim-berners-lee"
moz-do-not-send="true"><span style="font-weight:
400;">Sir Tim Berners-Lee put it</span></a><span
style="font-weight: 400;">: “The web is vital to
democracy, [and] a public resource on which
people, businesses, communities and governments
depend.” </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Despite the
importance of achieving </span><a
href="http://webfoundation.org/2015/04/all-of-the-people-all-of-the-internet-all-of-the-time/"
moz-do-not-send="true"><span style="font-weight:
400;">all of the internet, for all of the
people, all of the time</span></a><span
style="font-weight: 400;">, research shows that
women are far less likely to benefit from the
empowering potential of the web — if they are
connected at all. Despite what appears to be
growing public attention around this issue, recent
research from the ITU shows that the global gender
gap in internet access has actually worsened in
recent years, </span><a
href="http://www.itu.int/en/mediacentre/Pages/2016-PR30.aspx"
moz-do-not-send="true"><span style="font-weight:
400;">widening from 11% in 2013 to 12% in 2016</span></a><span
style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Our </span><a
href="http://webfoundation.org/docs/2015/10/womens-rights-online21102015.pdf"
moz-do-not-send="true"><span style="font-weight:
400;">Women’s Rights Online (WRO) household
survey research</span></a><span
style="font-weight: 400;"> zoomed in on urban poor
communities to find out more about the digital
gender divide. Even in cities that are often
praised for their digital development and ICT
innovation, poor women are </span><a
href="http://webfoundation.org/docs/2015/10/womens-rights-online21102015.pdf"
moz-do-not-send="true"><span style="font-weight:
400;">50% less likely</span></a><span
style="font-weight: 400;"> than men to have access
to the internet, and </span><a
href="http://webfoundation.org/about/research/womens-rights-online-2015/"
moz-do-not-send="true"><span style="font-weight:
400;">30-50% less likely</span></a><span
style="font-weight: 400;"> than men to use the
internet to increase their income or participate
in public life. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ignoring the ICT
gender gap now will entrench inequalities, and
will make progress toward reversing inequality
painfully slow — with massive economic and social
costs. The good news is that governments can avoid
this scenario by putting gender front and centre
of their ICT policy agendas, now.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Our WRO network
partners are supporting stakeholders to do just
that — working to drive policy change that
prioritises gender and moves the needle towards
full digital inclusion and gender equality both
online and offline. The member organisations of
the WRO network are working across 15+ low- and
middle-income countries to highlight research and
to support both grassroots and high-level advocacy
efforts centred around the need for governments to
REACT — focusing on </span><b>r</b><span
style="font-weight: 400;">ights, </span><b>e</b><span
style="font-weight: 400;">ducation, </span><b>a</b><span
style="font-weight: 400;">ccess, </span><b>c</b><span
style="font-weight: 400;">ontent and gender
equality </span><b>t</b><span style="font-weight:
400;">argets. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Check out </span><a
href="https://webfoundation.org/wro-network-orgs/"
moz-do-not-send="true"><span style="font-weight:
400;">this snapshot</span></a><span
style="font-weight: 400;"> of the fantastic
Women’s Rights Online projects underway around the
world.</span></p>
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