IGF 2019 Dynamic Coalition on Gender and Internet Governance Main Ses

The Dynamic Coalition on Gender and Internet Governance (DC GIG) works towards integrating gender into the internet governance space and bring in the diverse perspectives of women and queer and trans persons. A session dedicated to the DC GIG, the intersection of gender and internet governance is crucial to the larger conversation on digital inclusion.

The Gender Report Cards from the 2017 IGF revealed that only 41% of the participants were women. 45 out of 81 sessions had no engagement with gender, about 50% of the speakers were women, and less than 50% of the total number of moderators were women. The Gender Report Cards themselves were filled in only for 40% of the sessions. When we speak about digital inclusion, it is very important to start the conversation from the IGF spaces themselves. The DC GIG session imperative for this.

This session will also be a space to discuss other barriers to which restrict women and queer and trans persons access to technology and internet and their effective use of the space. This includes technology-enabled violence, privacy, surveillance, and the influence of algorithms and artificial intelligence, which are also some of the key emerging issues at the intersection of gender, sexuality, internet governance, and technology. Discussions around digital security and privacy in the age of data and algorithmic decision-making, and technology-enabled violence, through a gender and sexuality lens is crucial in this dialogue. It will take into account the current sociopolitical climate prevalent in various countries, and the increasing clamp down on digital rights, dissent, and freedom of expression in the online space.

Every year at the global IGF and at some of the other regional IGFs, Gender Report Cards are filled in for each of the workshops and sessions which take place at the Forum. Gender Report Cards are a mechanism used to determine the gender diversity and relevance of gender at workshops at an Internet Governance Forum. We will be presenting the results from the past years and discussing the main outcomes which will help us track progress from one forum to another, and also determine areas which require more work, both from those in the Dynamic Coalition as well as others working at the intersection of gender, internet and technology.
The DC GIG session will examine the need and ways to further expand the purview of gender in the context of internet governance and the IGF and actively include queer and trans persons, especially from global south economies. It is particularly essential to have this diversity when we discuss emerging issues in the larger gamut of digital rights and internet governance.

To facilitate a space of sharing perspectives and learnings, the session will be in the form of a roundtable. There will be speakers who have worked at the intersection of gender, sexuality, and technology who will input from their work with diverse demographics, as well as bring to light the specific challenges which they face.

One of the main outcomes will be the presentation of the results from the Gender Report Cards from the past IGFs. This will be directly indicative of areas which need work in the internet governance and IGF spaces. Discussion of emerging issues from a gender and sexuality perspective as well as sharing of knowledge from different economies will be set pace for the work to be done in the coming year, both by the DC as well as in collaboration with other DCs.

This session will be live tweeted so that the learnings from the session are also publicly captured and available. This would be a more accessible way to take the conversation forward, both immediately as well as on a longer run.