Project Profile
Project Title: Promoting Gender Equality in the Telecommunications Industry for the Inclusive Recovery
Co-Sponsoring Economies: Australia; Canada; Chile; Japan; Republic of Korea; Malaysia; New Zealand; Peru; The Philippines; USA
Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerates digital transformation and brings new work styles to our lives. The need to stay connected in the physically contactless economy has created unprecedented opportunities for the telecommunications industry. However, as the telecom industry is traditionally male dominated, women may be left out of this trend. Therefore, this project aims to understand the current situation of women’s participation in the telecom industry and to explore how to facilitate women’s entry, retention, and promotion in the telecom industry. To achieve the project objectives, this project has conducted a Pilot Survey, a Best Practice Collection, a Workshop, and a Policy Dialogue Webinar.
Objectives
- To understand the current situation of women’s participation in the telecommunication industry;
- To identify the challenges and opportunities faced by women in the telecommunications industry in the COVID-19 era and to discuss how to address these issues;
- To explore how to facilitate women’s entry, stay, and promotion in the telecommunication industry through gender-inclusive policies implemented by both telecommunication companies and relevant government authorities;
- To make policy recommendations for eliminating barriers for women to participate in the telecom industry and elevating women to decision-making positions to promote inclusive recovery in the APEC region.
Outputs
A Project Final Report was published, which comprises the Pilot Survey Analysis, Best Practice Collection, Workshop summary, and Webinar summary, along with the project findings and policy recommendations.
The Final Report can be downloaded here: https://www.apec.org/publications/2023/03/promoting-gender-equality-in-the-telecommunications-industry-for-the-inclusive-recovery
Outcomes
- Update the findings on the current status of gender equality in the telecommunications industry across APEC economies through the collection of sex-disaggregated data. This can help the economies to identify the data they lack and draw governments’ attention on building sex-disaggregated data, echoing the La Serena Roadmap’s call on collecting, updating, and publishing sex-disaggregated data. The data can also inform the telecommunication companies of the importance of data disclosure and adjust human resource management strategies accordingly.
- Present effective gender-inclusive policies and programs for promoting women’s participation in the telecommunication industry. This can raise the participants’ awareness on the benefits of improving gender equality in the telecommunications industry and encourage both the public and private sectors to adopt and improve policies based on the beneficiaries’ experiences to facilitate women’ entry, stay and promotion in the telecommunications industry.
- A Final Project Report will be published. This report can be used as a guide and reference for APEC economies or non-APEC economies (as the publication will be available on APEC website) and policymakers in the private sector to design policies for achieving gender equality in the telecommunications industry.
