IGF 2014

According to the 2013 “Women and the Web” report, on average across the developing world approximately 25 percent fewer women than men have access to the Internet. To address the gender digital divide, World Pulse is conducting “WWW: Women Weave the Web,” a campaign to crowdsource solutions, models, and best practices on digital inclusion and empowerment directly from grassroots women leaders from across the developing world.

Through World Pulse’s growing web-based platform, women are speaking out and connecting to create solutions from the front lines of today’s most pressing issues. With a focus on grassroots women, our programs nurture community, provide media and empowerment training, and channel rising voices to influential forums. Previous World Pulse campaigns have generated powerful changes, from influencing the appointment of a US Special Envoy to the Great Lakes to delivering testimonies on gender-based violence to the UN Commission on the Status of Women.

Our proposed IGF session will present an analysis of the hundreds of testimonies we have received from across the globe. We will share recommendations on how key stakeholders should focus their efforts to support women’s full engagement in the information society. The session will generate a discussion and reflection with key ICT actors such as technology companies, international organizations, and governments on how grassroots women leaders’ recommendations can be made actionable within the Internet Governance framework.