By Brenda Zulu

ACCRA- Gender is still an issue in the WSIS process said Lettie Longwe from the WSIS - Gender Caucus secretariat.
“How many African women have to come to attend the WSIS? There’s still a gender imbalance. Look at the opening ceremony, it was only men speaking,” said Longwe.
She said the information society cannot be complete without the active engagement and involvement of African women, who play a major role in reaching out and disseminating information to diverse communities.
Longwe added that the current expansion of the information society, and ICTs in Africa through the funding of infrastructure was mainly economic, leaving behind a whole host of barriers that African women face, and alternatives that could be pushed forward.
“At present, African women lack information, especially those living in rural areas. Information on human rights, health, agriculture, credit facilities, economic opportunities, education (as well as) technology training which is very scant and randomly provided or totally non existent,” said Longwe.
She added that the main issue in the information society was not whether African women could use ICTs, but rather whether they could control the access, use, adoption, adaptation, innovation, design and development of new technologies. It is also important that they should be able to be in control of their own destinies by reducing their marginalisation and exclusion from the mainstream.
Manju Chatani a member of the Association of Progressive Communicators (APC) also observed that there was a glaring absence of gender issues on the WSIS African agenda.
“It is time for the fundamental issue of gender inequalities within ICTs to be addressed-lest this powerful tool for empowerment and self determination while diminishing the digital divide, deepens the gender divide,” said Chatani.