The question of gender perspectives in telecommunications policy is one of the
most important aspects of telecommunications restructuring and planning for developing countries. If the ultimate goal is to provide universal access to telecommunications services, it would indeed be counterproductive, to say the least, to neglect the gender dimensions during the planing process. There need not be any inconsistency, however, between gender specific objectives and development objectives; on the contrary, it is becoming increasingly apparent that one of the most effective means to provide access to communications, including both basic telephony and advanced information technologies such as Internet access, to unserved and lower income areas and populations, is to
encourage the strategic development of micro, small or medium size telecommunications businesses, many of which are run by and/or specifically target women, womens groups or previously disadvantaged and poor individuals. Such an approach can allow for creative and universally reaching telecommunications policies. In fact, allowing for gender perspectives in telecommunications policy means to fully understand how women and men have been socialized differently and, consequently, understand the disparate
impacts of policy on the different genders.
This proposal, to develop a training curriculum on gender perspectives in
telecommunications policy, is one of many tasks defined by the ITU-TFGI to increase gender-awareness at the regulatory and policy environment. Most importantly, it provides an important opportunity for regulators and policy makers to participate in specialized training that will assist them to effectively integrate gender perspectives in telecommunications policy.
The objective of this curriculum is therefore highly appropriate. There is a need
to train telecommunications professionals on gender issues so they can be better practitioners in the field. It seeks to train and teach telecommunications
professionals how to rethink telecommunications policy from a gender perspective and consequently implement gender-aware policies in their work. By doing so, professionals should be able to increasingly integrate gender in their thought process and thereby make policy decisions that are fully gender-aware.
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