Women in the New Information Society
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 Minutes of the Meeting – SESSION OF WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2003Women in the New Information Society Karamanou (PSE), Rapporteur. — Mr. President, Madam Commissioner, you are certainly aware that the lack of access to new technologies and digital illiteracy are increasingly becoming new forms of social exclusion, from which women are directly threatened. The data available so far reveal significant gender disparities, both in education and in the labor market. In the report I have drafted on behalf of the Women’s Committee, we begin by documenting the causes, such as social stereotypes and cultural prejudices, that limit girls’ choices and create barriers to their careers, resulting in broader negative consequences for the economy due to the inefficient use of human resources. Over the past decade, it is well known that three million new jobs have been created, of which 1.6 million have been filled by women. However, it is worth noting that more than 60% of the new positions created were in the high-tech sector, where women are underrepresented, especially in the higher levels of technical expertise and decision-making roles. Thus, economic development in the field of modern technologies, under the current conditions, exacerbates the structural weaknesses and disparities between men and women. The labor market remains gender-segregated, with men dominating the new technologies and women occupying lower-paid positions that require less specialization and offer less job security. In the field of research and science, women are not only significantly underrepresented, but they are present in only a few scientific fields, while they are completely absent from others. Furthermore, their representation across the scientific hierarchy is strikingly unequal, and they are less likely to secure research funding. Of the 500,000 researchers working in industry in Europe, only 50,000 are women. In the public sector, universities, and research centers, the percentage ranges between a quarter and a third, but at the highest levels of responsibility, the percentage of women is less than 12%. In industrial research, the situation is even worse, with the new technologies sector showing the worst results. Greater access for women to research would undoubtedly contribute to enriching scientific methods, topics, and subjects. Additionally, in the media sector, both the representation and participation of women journalists in managerial positions are inadequate, while issues of discrimination against women are often overlooked, and images of women are portrayed in the media that do not reflect reality. At the same time, the Internet continues to be dominated by men and primarily addresses them, which leads to discrimination. Studies show differences in the way men and women use Internet services. Moreover, there are alarming statistics regarding the low percentage of female Internet users in the countries in the process of accession to the European Union. In order to increase the number of women in education and training in new technologies, my report suggests the integration of computers and the Internet from an early age. In order to increase the number of women in education and training in new technologies, my report suggests the integration of computers and the Internet from an early age into primary school curricula, so as to encourage young girls to engage with science-oriented subjects. Research shows that exposure to science and technology at a young age could change women’s attitudes before stereotypes begin to influence their behavior. The Lisbon strategy and the employment guidelines should be implemented in order to reduce the gender division of labor, with women concentrated in professions with low qualification requirements, low wages, and minimal career prospects. Therefore, both the Commission and the Member States should commit to fully utilizing structural funds, specifically the Social Fund, for education in new technologies, especially concerning women’s entry into and return to the labor market, within the framework of the Lisbon objectives. At the same time, policies and programs for gender equality should be implemented, specifically targeting vocational training, lifelong learning, work-life compatibility, and the equal distribution of family responsibilities between men and women, to facilitate women’s access to the information society. Particular attention should be paid to the content of multimedia, so that it promotes positive images of women, such as the remarkable achievements of women at all levels of education. We call on the European Commission and the Member States to promote the full and equal participation of women in the media, including in the areas of management, programming, administration, education, and broadcasting. At the same time, policies should be adopted to improve working conditions in new sectors, such as teleworking. Special attention should be given to improving women’s access to the Internet and new technologies, by creating extensive infrastructure and technological equipment in rural and semi-rural areas, which are currently under-served, particularly in the poorer regions and in candidate countries. All European Union policies should promote a strategy to ensure basic infrastructure that provides access, equipment, and connectivity for every home, school, public space, and library. In order to combat social exclusion, priority should be given to vulnerable groups of girls and women, migrants, people with disabilities, the poor, single mothers, rural women, etc. There is also a need for complementary data collection by the Commission regarding structural differences in the information technology sector, so that it becomes possible to research the actual participation of women, their representation, and trends in the labor market. The Women’s Committee emphasizes that, until now, the gender dimension in the field of new technology has been completely ignored. Therefore, at the World Summit on the Information Society to be held in December 2003 in Geneva, we call on the Commission and the Council to submit specific strategic proposals and contribute to the inclusion of horizontal gender equality policies. The digital economy offers both opportunities and challenges for women, challenges that differ from those of men and are based on their different roles and positions in the family and society. The integration of the gender dimension into the development of new technologies does not only raise the issue of access, quantitative participation, and equal representation of women, but also a profound question and an opportunity for critical assessment of the information society’s culture, with its values, developmental strategies, objectives, and the involvement of human resources. I hope that my report will contribute to the public debate on the kind of information society we want. |
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