WOMEN S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT THROUGH ASIA-PACIFIC INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY

Transcription

1 WOMEN S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT THROUGH ASIA-PACIFIC INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY Policy Dialogue on Women's Economic Empowerment in the Changing World of Work 24 February 2017 Atsuko Okuda ICT and Development Section/ IDD ESCAP

2 2 Contents Gender Digital Divide? Initiatives to Bridge the Divide Way Forward

3 3 Challenges: Digital Divide in Asia and the Pacific

4 Challenges: Digital Divide in Asia and the Pacific 4

5 5 Fixed Broadband Penetration Rates

6 Percentage (%) Percentage of men/women using the Internet (2015) Worst Affected in AP Developed Developing World LDCs Africa Arab States Asia & Pacific CIS Europe The Americas Female Population Male Population Total Population

7 7 Gender Issues in ICT Education (1/2) LIRNEasia & ESCAP recently conducted gender-sensitive case study analysis of ICTD in five countries Important area for inclusive and sustainable development Gender divide in ICT education tend to be passed on from one generation to another For women to become ICTD leaders, institutions for higher education should have a sufficient number of female graduates in ICT to start with and encourage their active participation in ICTD initiatives

8 8 Gender Issues in ICT Education (2/2) Recent LIRNEasia / ESCAP analysis shows that women s participation in ICT education is low in various countries in the Asia-Pacific region Student enrolment and full-time faculty headcount across five surveyed universities (case study analysis) Cambodia Sri Lanka India Thailand Republic of Korea CS (Yr. 2-4) CS&E CS&E CS&E CS&E No. of students % Female ~7-8% 20% 15% - ~30% No. of faculty members 45 20* % Female 4% 35% 10% 28% 3% Student-teacher ratio CS = Computer Science; and CS&E = Computer Science and Engineering * 28 if visiting faculty members and those on study leave are included. Source: LIRNEasia & ESCAP: Planning processes, policies and initiatives in ICTD education at institutions of higher learning in Asia and the Pacific (forthcoming)

9 SME integration in GVC in CA Azerbaijan Kazakhstan Types of businesses: Micro Small Medium Micro Small Medium Proportion of businesses (%) using the Internet for: Interacting with general government organizations Sending or receiving Getting information from general government organizations Internet banking Instant messaging, bulletin boards Getting information about goods and services Providing customer services Delivering products online Missing Missing Missing Telephoning over the Internet/VoIP, or using videoconferencing Accessing other financial services Missing Missing Missing

10 10 Women in SMEs in CA Country Kazakhstan Women headed 41% of SMEs in Kazakhstan in % of women were self-employed in 2006; 16.3% in 2009; 16.8% in Azerbaijan Women accounted for 14% of SMEs key owners in Women accounted for 11% of individual firms key owners in Kyrgyzstan Women accounted for 30.3% of employed people in medium enterprises in Women accounted for 12.3% of employed people in small enterprises in Tajikistan Women accounted for 36% of individual entrepreneurs and 16% of SMEs in Uzbekistan Women accounted for 34% of full-time workers in small enterprises in 2010 and 36% in medium-sized enterprises.

11 11 Gender Divide/Opportunities in numbers The share of women working in ICT sector is low at 33% globally. (UN Stats, 2015) In Europe, only 30% of the around 7 million people working in ICT sector are women. They are under-represented at all levels in the sector, especially in decision-making positions (European Commission, 2016) Brunei Darussalam is among the top-performing countries in tertiary education indicator, with more females than male enrolled in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics studies with more female PhD graduates (ADB, 2015) In India, 42 percent of computer and engineering undergraduate students are women. 30 percent of programmers in India are women. (Council on Foreign Relations, 2016)

12 12 The Asia-Pacific Information Superhighway (AP-IS) initiative aims to increase the availability and affordability of broadband Internet across Asia and the Pacific, by strengthening the underlying Internet infrastructure in the region. Promote terrestrial and submarine fibre-optic connectivity Provide a regional intergovernmental platform focusing on the missing fibre-optic links between ESCAP countries

13 Affordable Broadband Access? Country IPB 2014 Fixed telephone subbasket as % of GNI pc, 2014 Mobile-cellular sub-basket as% of GNI pc, 2014 Fixed broadband sub-basket as % of GNI pc, 2014 GNI pc., USD, 2014* 13 Rank Singapore Iran Russian Federation Kazakhstan Malaysia Turkey China Indonesia Viet Nam Thailand India Bangladesh Pakistan Kyrgyzstan Lao PDR Cambodia

14 14 What is AP-IS? : Four Pillars of AP-IS Connectivity E-Resilience Network Management Broadband for all Bridging digital divide, including gender digital divide Promoting affordable access to underserviced areas Policy and technical support to governments

15 15 SDG 5: Gender Equality and Women s Empowerment WSIS Action Line: Gender and ICT Gender and ICT = critical factors in achievement of WSIS Goals and SDG = contribute directly into AP-IS Pillar 4 on Broadband for All

16 16 Women ICT Frontier Initiative (WIFI) WIFI aims to strengthen capacity of: Current and potential women entrepreneurs to utilize information and communication technologies in support of their businesses Government leaders and policymakers to create an enabling environment for ICTempowered women entrepreneurship Includes a training programme in two tracks: women entrepreneurs and policymakers 16

17 17 WIFI Rollout WIFI Regional Launch held on 9 June 2016 in Incheon, Republic of Korea; strong interest from member States to adopt the WIFI programme Sri Lanka was the first country to launch WIFI (September 2016) followed by Cambodia (December 2016) APCICT to continue the roll-out and institutionalization of the WIFI programme at the sub-regional and national levels in 2017 CIS Sub-regional Launch in Kyrgyzstan on April 2017 Kyrgyzstan National Launch on 27 April

18 Gender & ICT at Committee on Information and Communications Technology, Science, Technology and Innovation Event on 3 October 2016: Gender Mainstreaming in Internet and Development in the Asia-Pacific Region Event on 4-5 October 2016: Expert Group Meeting on Enhancing Capacity to Promote E-Government for Women's Empowerment in Asia and the Pacific Event on 5-7 October 2016: Consultative Meeting on Women and ICT Frontier Initiative National Implementation 18 Committee called upon ESCAP to take action in strengthening ICT human capacity development and promoting ICT-enabled entrepreneurship of women

19 19 Questions Less access among women? Access People Money Ideas Input Internet E-commerce E-government E-learning E-agriculture Jobs Businesses Profits Engagement Knowledge Output Less outputs for women?

20 20 Way Forward at Steering Committee Gender and ICT taken forward at the next meeting of the AP-IS Steering Committee in September 2017 in Dhaka, Bangladesh AP-IS pillar 4 Broadband for All strives to reduce digital divides and provide affordable broadband access to underserved areas May 2017: 73 rd Session of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific more information on events available soon on

21 21 Asia-Pacific ICT & DRR Gateway News and updates on Asia-Pacific Information Superhighway (AP-IS) Gender and ICT WSIS Regional Review Partnership and collaboration opportunities

22 22 Navigate to the ICT & DRR Gateway Access the Gateway on

23 23 Thank you! Sources: ESCAP (2016), State of ICT 2016 in Asia and the Pacific