Enhancing Gender Rights Online An Interactive Discussion By Amrita, Dilpreet & Japleen 14 October, 2018

Gender The social attributes and opportunities associated with being male and female and the relationships between women and men and girls and boys, as well as the relations between women and those between men. These attributes, opportunities and relationships are socially constructed and are learned through socialization processes. They are context/ time-specific and changeable. Gender is part of the broader socio-cultural context. Office of the Special Advisor on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women

Gender Equality Refers to the equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities of women and men and girls and boys. Equality between women and men is seen both as a human rights issue and as a precondition for, and indicator of, sustainable people-centered development.

Objective of the Study Identify main global challenges related to gender rights, highlighting specific regional or national issues, Share best practices adopted to overcome those challenges, Highlight areas of public policy or social aspects that need to be addressed, Provide suggestions to improve digital rights of women.

Challenges Socio Cultural Challenges Issues of Literacy, Digital Skills & Resources Challenges related to Access Lack of understanding of Gender Equality and inadequate Gender based Policies and Strategies Economic Issues Workplace gender equality Issues Lack of role models Relevance of the content Inadequate research to base evidence on 1. Socio Cultural Challenges such as Patriarchial mindset, social attitutes 2. Issues of Literacy, Digital Skills & Resources: Literacy, digital literacy, lack of women taking up STEM education 3: Challenges related to Access: Infrastructure, cost, devices, safe environments, local content 4. Lack of understanding of Gender Equality and inadequate Gender based Policies and Strategies: concept and knowledge about gender equality, acknowledgement, Limitation of government rules and regulations and inadequate policy implementations and Lack of gender based policy and strategies; 5. Economic Issues: Perception women taking away job, financial limitations, lack of economic access, of effective financing policies for women entrepreneurs 6. Workplace gender equality Issues:Lack of gender equality in the workplace, limitations to career growth, 7. Lack of role models: Privacy, cyber crime, Relevance of the content Inadequate research to base evidence on

Recommendations Reform Education Policy by promoting literacy, ICT skills and Science Technology Engineering and Maths (STEM) studies amongst women and encourage digital literacy; Develop policies to ensure gender inclusive access to the Internet Build trust online, including better legislation and enforcement of laws against online harassment; training law enforcers, e-forums for support; Promote economic incentives at the workplace to encourage diversity Encourage more engagement amongst women networks; Promote content in local language. Focus in promoting literacy, ICT skills and Science Technology Engineering and Maths (STEM) studies amongst women and encouraging digital literacy; Policy reforms for ensuring gender inclusive access to the internet; Building trust online, including better legislation and enforcement of laws against online harassment; Economic incentives to encourage diversity in the workforce; Encouraging more engagement amongst women networks; Promoting content in local language.

INTERACTIVE EXERCISE!

Activity description We will have 4 groups Each group will be given a scenario Please identify the different roles and act out the scene Please present 1-2 policy recommendations after You have 3 minutes to act the scenario

Part 1: Audience Interaction What is the problem in this scenario? How is this an example of online violence? Why is this abuse gendered?

Policy recommendations Scenario 1: To fill in as they act out the different “policy recommendations”

Policy recommendations Scenario 2: To fill in as they act out the different “policy recommendations”

Policy recommendations Scenario 3: To fill in as they act out the different “policy recommendations”

Policy recommendations Scenario 4: To fill in as they act out the different “policy recommendations”

Part 2: Audience Interaction What do you think about the policy recommendation (s)?

Thank you!