Are ICT Policies Addressing Gender Equality?

The UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific held this Expert Group Meeting to inform ICT policy and explore relevant issues, policies and outcomes for gender. Paper prepared by Chat Garcia Ramilo, WNSP-AP Regional Coordinator and Pi Villanueva, WNSP member at the Philippine organization WomensHub. The research focused on a comparative study of six countries' national IT and gender policy frameworks and the extent to which global and regional gender and ICT advocacy have effected local or national policy changes. As ICT policy develops, it is necessary to review the corresponding strategies and programmes which encourage innovation, access and the development of advanced skills and which channel new technologies towards the most urgent needs of the world 's poor people, in order to ensure that the gender dimensions are equally addressed.