BPF Gender & Access
BPF Gender & Access, is an initiative started within the IGF in 2015. BPFs such as BPF Gender were created to produce more tangible benefits and influence within the IGF and global Internet governance and policy. [1]
2015 Work
BPF Gender's first intersessional activity in 2015 was dedicated to online abuse and gender-based violence. At the IGF MAG meeting in Geneva, Switzerland (May 2016), participants analyzed the progress of BPF's 2015 initiatives. The meeting concluded with a unanimous commitment to continued intersessional work and the study of gender-based challenges on and within the Internet.
BPF Gender produced a comprehensive report[2] of its findings and achieved this through a bottom-up process involving a diversity of stakeholders within Internet governance. Members completed and disseminated a survey, attended virtual group meetings, and developed multiple drafts for comments and research purposes.
At the IGF 2015 conference held in João Pessoa, Brazil, BPF Gender held a 90-minute session lead by Jac Kee to discuss the its findings and recommendations for further research. [3]
2016 Goals
- build on and improve the outcomes of the 2015 BPF Gender, which focused on online abuse and gender-based violence against women, and
- investigate women’s access to the Internet (or the gender digital divide).