Cogburn, Addom, and Mwangi – Gender in Global ICT Governance
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GENDER IN THE GLOBAL GOVERNANCE OF ICT:
A DESCRIPTIVE EXPLORATION OF WOMEN IN TRANSNATIONAL POLICY
NETWORKS IN THE UN WORLD SUMMIT ON THE INFORMATION SOCIETY
Abstract
The fiftieth session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women explored the continued efforts
by national governments to increase the participation of women in various levels and processes of
decision-making and power. True and Mintrom (2001) suggest that a majority of the world’s
governments have now instituted mechanisms for mainstreaming gender into national policy. Some
argue that in large part, this progress is due to women’s transnational advocacy efforts. However, to
what extent have these advocacy efforts been diffused into the ongoing policy contestation around
the emerging international regime for the global governance of information and communications
technologies (Krasner, 1986, 1991; Cowhey, 1992; Cogburn, 2003; Braman, 2004)? This paper
explores the participation of women in transnational policy networks and epistemic communities
active in global policy formulation for information and communication technologies taking the first
phase of the UN-Sponsored World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and its various
preparatory processes as a case study. We examine three key questions: (1) to what degree did
women participate in the WSIS processes?; (2) do women differ from men in their participation in
transnational advocacy networks and epistemic communities active in WSIS; and finally (3) are the
policy preferences of women in WSIS different from men? The paper uses a descriptive analysis of
international survey data (N=322) and participant observation. Much to our surprise, we find that
on each of these three questions, there are very few differences between the male and female
delegates participating in the WSIS processes. The paper concludes with suggestions for a growing
research agenda that may enhance the character of multi-stakeholder policy processes.
Convention