Women working the wire

The Non-Governmental Forum at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women was an hour's drive from the main conference in Beijing, China. But with the help of computers and women operators, the NGO Forum managed to stay in touch - and then some.

The NGO groups, which tend to be more radical and more vocal, were located at a distance from the main conference by the Chinese government and were regulated during the conference.

The computer hub used by the entire conference was located in the NGO compound in the rural suburb of Huairou, north of Beijing, and was more for the NGO Forum than the main -- and more mainstream -- group.

A group of 40 women from 24 countries helped provide computer access to women in 18 different languages. Two networks set up by the Women's Program of the Association for Progressive Communications provided email, electronic conferencing, world wide web, news and database access for 12 to 14 hours a day during the conference.

Some 39,000 email messages were exchanged as of Sept. 7 by as many as 40,000 women. Many women used email for the first time, and were encouraged to continue when they return to their countries.

The program outlined the vast potential for exchange of information among women and for "appropriating this technology and harnessing it to serve the needs of their work," their press release said. The program's coordinator, Sally Burch from Ecuador, described ways that women have come together online.

Maureen James of Canada spoke of women "defying geography" to communicate across great distances in her country. Filipino people have used email to overcome the lack of communication between the islands.

Brazilian women's organizations have found it important to create their own communications channel because the media is owned by a few large corporations.
Women in many countries have fully exploited the potential of computer networks. In Zambia and elsewhere, only one women's organization has email access, but they disseminate information broadly to other organizations, government and media, where it then sometimes gets even more play.

Access to information had a great impact on women's ability to lobby and make proposals. Because key documents were quickly made available on the network, women were more informed and able to contribute. As documents were drafted and reworked, they were almost immediately made available, so that no one was left out of the process of drafting proposals.

The networks have been a source of news for women attending the conference, since the Chinese press has been censored and passes were required to move in and out of the NGO area. There were no restrictions, control or censorship on the networks, and ideas and information flowed freely between China and the rest of the world through these services -- perhaps for the first time.

Many women have seen for the first time how computer technology can be an effective tool for sharing information and communicating. Hundreds of women's organizations world-wide got connected to computer networks for the first time and many received training in the use of this technology.

The Chinese government's evaluation of NGOs as potential troublemakers is not unfounded. A coalition of American women demanded U.S. Senate ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, a treaty that was adopted by the U.N. in 1979. President Carter signed it and President Clinton's administration supports it, but the Senate has failed to pass the treaty for 17 years.

The APC has provided such services at UN World Conferences and corresponding NGO Forums since the Earth Summit in 1992. The APC Women's Program is especially interested in providing information to NGOs and ensuring access to computer networks for women in areas with low technology.

APC's popular World Wide Web page can be found at: http://www.womensnet.apc.org/beijing/ and corresponding NGO Forums since the Earth Sum

[ back to Golden Gater Online September 21, 1995 ]

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