BDT Director Doreen Bogdan-Martin led the WSIS High-Level Dialogue around emergency communications, with a special focus on the role and plight of women in a disaster. In times of crisis, information is life-saving. A woman's ability to access accurate information not only has a direct impact on her own survival and disaster resilience, but also on that of the wider community. Yet right now, women are limited in their ability to access digital technologies, and often excluded from disaster preparedness and planning exercises.
To address this issue, ITU in partnership with the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC), used the WSIS High-Level Dialogue to launch an important new report entitled “Women, ICTs and Emergency Telecommunications: opportunities and constraints".
The report argues that the digital gender divide is blocking women from becoming equal stakeholders in society, putting entire communities at greater risk during emergencies. It also highlights the importance of advancing gender equality in disaster risk management, and leveraging context-appropriate information and communication technologies (ICTs) which are critical to deliver essential information to the most vulnerable of communities in a timely manner, before, during and after disasters strike. The report also shows that access to these technologies has a major impact on women's ability to prepare for, survive and recover from disasters. It addresses good practices on how to enable women to have inclusive access to, and use of ICTs, and shows a
According to the report, women are still 17% less likely to use the Internet than men, with an even wider gap in least developed countries. Women in low- and middle-income countries are also 10 per cent less likely to own a mobile phone than men. The global gender gap in mobile ownership is at its widest in South Asia.
In her opening remarks to WSIS delegates, BDT Director Doreen Bogdan-Martin noted that “gender-based inequality shows up in the use of information and communication technology as well as in their design, development and launch – and crucially, in how they are used in disaster risk management." Putting these technologies in the right hands can transform the way women and their communities prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters, she said.
During the Q&A session that followed, Ms Bogdan-Martin emphasized the importance of having national strategies in place before a disaster strikes: “Pre-disaster preparation is critical to effective response and mitigation, and the inclusion of women as equal partners in disaster management efforts simply cannot be over-stressed," she argued. “The relative success of a great many countries led by female heads of state in responding to the COVID crisis should be proof enough of women's capabilities when it comes to strategy and implementation[1]. And, properly engaged and included, women can also guide their families and communities to take the right actions at the right time, saving lives, and livelihoods."
Ms Bogdan-Martin was joined for the Q&A by Ricardo Mena, Director, UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction; Antonio Arcidiacono, Director, Technology and Innovation, European Broadcasting Union; and Enrica Porcari, Chief Information Officer and Director Technology Division, World Food Programme (WFP) and Chair, Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC).
[1] Forbes April 13 cites Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, New Zealand, Norway, Taiwan: https://www.forbes.com/sites/avivahwittenbergcox/2020/04/13/what-do-countries-with-the-best-coronavirus-reponses-have-in-common-women-leaders/
