As we approach Beijing+30, taking place in New York from 10 to 21 March 2025, civil society has a significant opportunity to review the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. We will be weighing the changes of the past 30 years – particularly the impacts of widespread digital advancements not anticipated during the initial drafting – against the challenges and the milestones achieved, and calling for increased accountability, transparency and gender-responsive policies. In parallel the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) is celebrating 30 years of advocating for women’s rights, building a feminist internet and ensuring that gender is at the heart of our work and activism.
Founded in 1990 by a small group of rights-focused activists exploring ways for everyone to have equal access to the internet – an exciting new technology at the time – APC has evolved into a diverse and resilient global network of members. What was clear at APC's inception was that digital technologies would inevitably have an impact on women and gender-diverse people as well as the potential to amplify existing inequalities, thereby necessitating a deep commitment from civil society to shaping the future of the internet.
In 1993, the creation of the APC Women's Networking Support Programme (APC WNSP), today known as the APC Women’s Rights Programme (WRP), was a crucial stepping stone toward participation in the Fourth United Nations World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. The conference was a key turning point for the global agenda on gender equality and APC saw it as a critical space to strategically engage and influence the resulting Platform for Action. A retrospective article describes how “the two years in the run-up to Beijing – the APC WNSP’s first major project – were spent strengthening and linking existing women’s networks through a long, slow, solid process of trust and relationship building.”
APC’s long history of policy advocacy and rights-based engagement is rooted in our commitment toward inclusion and protecting the rights of women and gender-diverse people. This is historically evidenced in Section J of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which APC was involved in drafting in 1995, outlining the need for equal and safe participation of women in the media. Reflecting on these early days, Dafne Sabanes Plou, who started working at APC in the early 1990s and retired 25 years later as the GenderIT.org Spanish editor and PARM advocacy coordinator, observed, “Through all the years I worked with APC, I could see that we were becoming more sophisticated on the kinds of issues we wanted to tackle. It was interesting how we truly wanted to introduce gender issues and a gender perspective on whatever we did and on APC’s policies.”
This approach continues to cross-cut APC’s work on gender and technology. “The intersection really comes from being given the opportunity in APC to always know what’s going on in other sectors, not just in the work that you do,” remarked Fatima Bhyat, who joined the APC staff in 1992 and is currently the senior finance associate and Local Access Programme administrative coordinator. “APC is amazing in that kind of respect. I don’t know that I’ve seen any other organisation that is able to do that as seamlessly and almost as fluidly as APC does.”
A forward-looking approach has proven to be instrumental in creating inclusive spaces and drawing in diverse perspectives. “APC has always been incredibly open about challenging identities and bringing in structurally marginalised voices, and I think that dialogue of sharing among different contexts has been incredible,” said Jennifer Radloff, who joined the APC team in 1997 and recently retired from her role as the WRP capacity building strategy lead.
30 years of collective journey: Tackling present challenges
Today the APC Women’s Rights Programme has a long-term goal of “ensuring that women and people of diverse sexualities and genders participate in, shape and co-create the internet and digital technologies that reflect and respond to their lived realities.” These technologies are embedded in and impact every area of concern of the Beijing Platform for Action, necessitating deep consideration of our history, the elements that continue to connect us and our role in the changes. “We know that there continue to be barriers for women in our involvement with technology,” noted Chat Garcia Ramilo, APC’s executive director. “Unfortunately it is the reality that violence, misogyny and stereotyping continue to be expressed online in the digital world, from the design to the online spaces.”
To know where we are going, we must remember our roots, and take time to reflect on the priorities and strategies, the dedication and activism, the milestones and achievements that have propelled APC and the Women’s Rights Programme to where we are today. Over the years we have advanced policy, built knowledge, influenced the women’s rights movement and strengthened capacities. A central thematic priority for APC is a feminist internet that “works towards empowering more women and queer persons – in all our diversities – to fully enjoy our rights, engage in pleasure and play, and dismantle patriarchy.” Although the challenges are growing, these 30 years of our collective journey demonstrate the power of joint action and highlight that profound transformations are indeed underway.
On the occasion of Beijing+30, as we come together to evaluate, plan and consider how we want to engage in the process, we present a timeline depicting 30 years of APC’s evolution and commitment to gender justice and the acknowledgement that digital rights are human rights.
Click here to see the interactive timeline: APC since Beijing 1995: Shaping a feminist internet