These comments on the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)+20 review Elements Paper were submitted by the Gender Digital Coalition, a coalition of civil society organisations comprising the Alliance for Universal Digital Rights, the Association for Progressive Communications, Derechos Digitales, Equality Now, IT for Change and Women at the Table.
The Gender Digital Coalition endorses the vision and commitment presented in the Elements Paper “to build a people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society” in which “everyone can create, access, utilise and share information and knowledge, enabling individuals, communities and peoples to achieve their full potential in promoting their sustainable development and improving their quality of life.” Surely, this approach can be realised only by creating the structural conditions for advancing gender equality, which has the equitable participation of all women, LGBTQIA+ persons and other structurally marginalised communities in shaping the future of the global digital economy and knowledge society at its centre. This could only be achieved through public financing and democratic digital governance models based on the digital multistakeholderist principles that effectively address economic and political concentration of digital power.
There is a critical need for strategic policy focus on ensuring meaningful connectivity – which includes addressing affordability, digital literacy, relevant content, safety online, and overcoming structural challenges to women’s and LGBTQIA+ persons’ participation in the digital economy and society. This holistic approach has been particularly important for individuals who face multidimensional barriers to their participation, while much more needs to be done to integrate this agenda into national digital economy roadmaps through effective strategies for addressing intersectional digital inequalities, including gender-based violence and exclusion.