Debates of the European Parliament

SITTING OF WEDNESDAY, 5 NOVEMBER 2003

Women in the New Information Society

Karamanou (PSE), rapporteur. – (EL) Mr President, Commissioner, you certainly know that the lack of access to new technologies and digital illiteracy are increasingly developing into new forms of social exclusion which directly endanger women. Evidence to date has revealed huge differences between the two sexes both in education and in the labour market. The report which I have drafted on behalf of the Committee on Women's Rights starts by listing the reasons, such as social stereotyping and cultural preconceptions, which restrict the options of girls and raise barriers to their careers, resulting in general negative consequences in the economy as a result of the non-rational use of human resources.

Over the last decade, we know that three million new jobs have been created, of which 1 600 000 have been taken up by women. However, it should be noted that over 60% of the new jobs created are in the high technology sector, where women are underrepresented, especially at the higher levels of technical specialisation and at the decision-making level. Hence, economic development in the field of modern technologies under present circumstances is exacerbating structural weaknesses and widening the gender gap.

The labour market is still divided by gender, with the men dominating in new technologies and women in lower paid jobs which call for less specialisation and offer less security. In the field of research and science, women are not only seriously underrepresented, they are present in just a few scientific fields and completely absent from others, while they are markedly unequally represented throughout the scientific hierarchy and have less opportunity to secure funding for research. Of the 500 000 researchers working in industry in Europe, only 50 000 are women. In the public sector, universities and research centres, the percentage fluctuates between one quarter and one third, but in higher positions of responsibility the percentage is less than 12% for women. In industrial research, the situation is even worse, and the new technology sector appears to be the worst of all. Better access for women to research would certainly help to enrich scientific methods, themes and subject matters. Similarly, in the field of the media, there is no representation of or participation by women journalists in positions of administrative responsibility, while no attention is paid to the issue of discrimination against women and images of women are often projected in the media which have nothing to do with reality.

At the same time, the Internet continues to be dominated by men and to be directed mainly at men, thereby giving rise to discrimination. Surveys show there are differences in the way in which men and women use Internet services. Similarly, we have worrying evidence about the small percentage of women Internet users in the accession countries.

In order to increase the number of women in education and training in the new technologies, my report proposes the inclusion of computers and the Internet into primary schooling from an early age, so as to encourage young girls to take up lessons in a positive direction. Surveys show that contact with science and technology at an early age could change the attitude of women before stereotyping starts to affect their behaviour. The Lisbon strategy and the employment guidelines should be applied in order to limit the gender division of labour, with women concentrated in certain professions with low qualification requirements, low pay and no prospects of advancement.

That is why both the Commission and the Member States should undertake the commitment, with the full use of Structural Funds and in particular the Social Fund, for training in the new technologies, particularly with regard to the entry or return of women to the labour market, always in the context of the Lisbon objectives.

At the same time, sexual equality policies and programmes need to be implemented that aim especially to vocational training, lifelong learning, compatibility between professional and private life and the equal division of family responsibilities between men and women, which will facilitate women's access to the information society. Special attention should be given to the content of the multimedia, in order to promote positive images of women, such as the amazing performance of women at all levels of education. We are calling on the European Commission and the Member States to promote the full and equal participation of women in the media, including the administration, planning, management, education and projection sectors.

At the same time, policies need to be adopted that will improve working conditions in new sectors, such as teleworking. Special attention needs to be given to improving women's access to the Internet and new technologies by creating an extensive infrastructure and by providing technological equipment in rural and suburban areas, which are poorly served today, especially in the poorer areas and the accession countries. All the policies of the European Union should promote a strategy to safeguard the basic infrastructure which will provide access, equipment and connections for every house, school, public building and library. In order to combat social exclusion, priority must be given to vulnerable groups of girls and women, immigrants, the disabled, the destitute, unmarried mothers, women farmers etc. Similarly, the Commission needs to collate additional statistics on structural differences in the IT sector, so that we can investigate the real participation of women, their representation and trends in the job market.

The Committee on Women's Rights and Equal Opportunities emphasises that, up to now, the gender dimension in the new technology sector has been completely ignored. That is why, within the framework of the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society to be held in Geneva in December 2003, we are calling on the Commission and the Council to submit practical strategy proposals and contribute to the incorporation of horizontal policies for gender equality. The digital economy offers both opportunities and challenges to women, challenges which differ from the challenges to men and are based on their different roles and places in the family and society.

Integrating the gender dimension into the development of new technologies does not only raise the question of access, quantitative participation and the equal representation of women; it also raises a deeper question and presents an opportunity for a critical evaluation of the culture of the information society, with its values, development strategies and objectives and the involvement of human resources. I hope that my report will contribute to the public dialogue on the kind of information society we want.