Gender and Sexuality Studies

Abstract

As global gender mainstreaming policy strategy enters its third decade of operationalization, IOs, international development organisations (IDOs) and national states can be moving discursively beyond mainstreaming to address gender inequalities in the ICT sector. The past decades reveal  enduring asymmetrical gender representation in the ICT professions and decision making roles within the sector. The contested nature of mainstreaming and limited visibility of these professions in Section J of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA) factor into the dynamics of IOs support. Drawing from critical International Relations, Feminist and Development theory, IOs support and activities in the ICT sector are framed to support feminist and emancipatory social forces with mainstreaming practices. This presentation engages ideas about counterhegemonic movements aiming to overcome gendered status quo in the ICT sector, buttressed by mainstreaming strategies in the Global North and South. It concludes that in this contested period of dominant global neoliberal practices, IOs can nonetheless use transformative mainstreaming practices while disaggregating data at intersections of identity relevant to the status of gender representation in the ICT sector in national state contexts for targetted interventions. Moreover, IOs can increase the visibility of their projects, practices and collaborative activities to intervene in national state, civil society and business contexts to support national and transnational ICT movements. Such activities can lay the groundwork to transform existing mainstreaming practices and promote strategies to counter global neoliberal practices and their predominant focus on integration more than inclusivity in the ICT sector.

Biography