Visitor: login Signup

STRATEGIES OF INCLUSION:

GENDER AND THE INFORMATION SOCIETY (SIGIS)

For a long time there has been a concern that women are excluded from computers and thus from the information society. Still, women are relatively absent from computer science and the design of ICT products. However, there are important changes going on: the transformation of ICTs and their penetration into the home, education and the workplace means the level of use of computers, the internet, mobiles phones and other systems by women and men is converging. Moreover, in many European countries this is the result of explicit public and private initiatives to include women.

This website provides the results of a major European project conducted during 2000-3 that analysed 30 such initiatives and related processes of inclusion. The aim was to study the strategic features of inclusion, partly to learn from relative successes, and partly to provide a knowledge base to support and encourage development of new inclusion efforts. This knowledge goes towards safeguarding the development of an information society for all, and to improve the chances of commercial success of commerical ICT projects.

The case studies cover education, training, and support networks for professional women in ICT sectors; training and empowerment of the social excluded; design of new products, including mobile phones, web publications and games for female audiences; and experiences of ICTs and the meanings that they have for men and women in everyday contexts. The analysis of these cases will help policy makers, businesses, NGOs at local and national levels, and individuals deal with the challenges of new and not so new technologies. They illustrate the diverse ways that women and men think about and use new technologies, and the continuing imbalance in the employment of women in this most dynamic sector.

Autumn 2005: SIGIS Book coming soon

Reports Now Available

August 2004:Final Report - Public Version: Summary of main issues and analysis from the SIGIS research

Gender and Inclusion Policies for the Information Society: policy conclusions based on all the SIGIS research

Practionner and Policy Briefings on a range of issues raised by the SIGIS research.

Extensive Case Study reports and detailed analysis of Strategies and Issues

SIGIS is a project funded by the EU Information Society Technologies Programme (IST)