From: STIRRING UP THE POT? INTEGRATING GENDER INTO POLICY, PRACTICE, AND EVALUATION

Forthcoming as a CRACIN Working Paper

February 22, 2006

New Challenges
Despite the enthusiasm and progressive advocacy for gender equity in Canadian ICT policy in the 1990s, and Canada's commitment to gender equity in the World Summit on the Information Society, gender issues appear to have since been diluted in Canadian ICT policy and programs. Several arenas for research thus are suitable for interrogation within the CRACIN context:

Analysis of evaluations of CAP programs:
Early CAP programs dissuaded some women’s groups from applying for funding, as they were deemed a ‘special interest group’ and thus did not meet program criteria. Were any CAP programs able to meet the needs of women’s groups? In CAP program evaluation, were gender issues considered?

Integrating GEM into selected CRACIN case sites:
Would it be a useful exercise to apply GEM into selected CRACIN case sites? How has GEM been applied in ICTD contexts? A potential case study to explore is Claire Buré’s application of GEM to some of the telecentre.org site.

Where is gender in Canadian ICT policy now?
What TPRP (Telecommunications Policy Review Panel) submissions considered gender issues? How will gender equity issues be addressed, if at all, in the TPRP final report?

Community Informatics and Gender:
What are contributions toward feminist perspectives in CI literature? What can we learn from the ICTD literature, social shaping perspectives, and internet studies in general?