UNESCO’s Conceptualization of Women and Telecommunications 1970-2000

This article examines UNESCO resolutions and programs on women in relation to telecommunications in the time period 1970-2000. It argues that in those three decades, UNESCO responded to the four UN world conferences on women by incorporating women into its programs of information and communication. The organization’s conceptualized relations between women and telecommunications are critiqued as simple and naive. Women are alloted only three roles in relation to telecommunications: as representations, as media professionals and as active participants of communication technologies. It is argued that if women are not seen as owners of telecommunications and inventors of technologies, women’s advancement and women’s empowerment will not be fully achieved.