APC welcomes this opportunity to contribute to the work of the ITU Council Working Group-Internet (CWG-I) Open Consultation on Bridging the Digital Gender Divide.
APC considers the gender digital divide as both a symptom and cause of violations of women’s human rights. It is a symptom, in that the discrimination that women face on the basis of social and cultural norms is one of the most pronounced causes of the gender digital divide. To put it simply, all disparities in internet access are situated within other disparities that women face in society, be they based on location, economic power, age, gender, racial or ethnic origin, social and cultural norms, education, or other factors. These are causes of violations of women’s human rights, because the internet can be a critical enabler of human rights, and the gender digital divide leaves women who are without meaningful internet access less equipped to exercise their human rights and participate in public life/society