WIGSAT is a founding member of the ITF and a member of its international Steering Committee.

The main site of the ITF is hosted by the European Centre for Women in Technology (ECWIT).

ITF in Canada:

The ITF is a consortium of global leaders and practitioners formed to create synergy in efforts to increase women's full participation in ICTs: from engineering and software, to access and use, to literacy and leadership. The network promotes communication and information exchange; increased sharing of research, knowledge and resources; development of a series of collaborative activities; and promotion of recommendations for policy and programming.

Use and Disclosure of Personal Information

Generally we collect personal information in order to provide, or give access to, a particular service. The personal information we collect allows us to provide a better, more customised level of service. We may also use or disclose personal information for purposes related or ancillary to the main purpose for which we collect it and where such disclosure would be reasonably expected. Some examples are: informing users about our products and services, providing services to users, identifying and contacting users, establishing and maintaining user records, internal accounting and administration, and regulatory reporting and compliance.

As well as providing services to international agencies and institutions, WIGSAT works with partners in the non-profit and profit sectors.

We are on the Steering Committee of the International Task Force on Women and ICT (ITF). The Taskforce is a community of excellence made up of global leaders and practitioners to create synergy towards increasing women's full participation in ICTs:. The network promotes communication and information exchange; increased sharing of research, knowledge and resources; development of a series of collaborative activities; and promotion of recommendations for policy and programming. Its four areas of focus are: Education, Employment, Entrepreneurship and Leadership.

Selected available national level data relating to the Gender Equality – Knowledge Society framework:

Argentina
Internet users in Argentina, 2000-2006
Internet users by Gender and Age, 2004-2006
Subscribers of Clarin.com by Gender, 2005 & 2006
Source: D’Alessio IROL and Clarin.com, Internet en la Argentina, December 2006.

Australia
Use of the Internet, selected characteristics, by site (2005-06)

The WIGSAT Group is a consulting company which provides services to WIGSAT. We are a team of senior policy planning staff with a wide range of experience in advising governments and donors on policy and programming.

The team has combined international experience in multi- and bilateral organizations, research institutions, and the non-profit sector.

Sophia Huyer, PhD, Executive Director

Sophia Huyer is the founding Executive Director of WIGSAT. She has published and spoken widely on international gender, science and technology issues policy, including ICTs and social development. She is also Acting Director of the Gender Advisory Board of the UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development, and has worked with international agencies such as the Canadian International Development Agency, the Organization for American States, the Third World Organization for Women in Science (TWOWS), the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), UNESCO, the UN Institute for Training and Research on Women (INSTRAW), and others. Recent reports and publications include "Women, ICT and the Information Society: Global Perspectives and Initiatives" published in the ACM International Conference Proceeding Series; “Women and Gender in ICT Statistics and Indicators for Development” and “"Female Empowerment and Development in Latin America: Use versus Production of Information and Communications Technology”, in the MIT journal Information Technologies for International Development (ITID), the second based on work with the Gender Advisory Board and the OAS in developing recommendations for the Summit of the Americas in 2004. She was also lead author on "Women in the Information Society", in From the Digital Divide to Digital Opportunities: Measuring Infostates for Development published by Orbicom, and "Gender Equality and S&T Knowledge and Policy at the International Level" prepared for the Organization of American States in 2004. She is one of the main contributors to the UNESCO International Report on Science, Technology and Gender, 2007.

Networking in women, knowledge and technology

WIGSAT-L is an Internet mailing list for NGOs, researchers, policy makers and anyone interested in women, science, technology and knowledge. The list regularly distributes information on job announcements, events, and publications.
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ICT for Rural Women, an information and announcement list which circulates information on resources, events and organisations working on issues related to how women can use ICTs to support their grassroots productive enterprises. Topics on the list include:

• National Statistics on Gender Trends on ICT: 2004-2008


• Gender Equality and the Innovation Society Indicator Framework


• Enabled Women in Knowledge Societies , i4d online, by Nancy Hafkin.


• Gender and the Core ICT Indicators, Sophia Huyer, Presentation at the 2008 Global Event on Measuring the Information Society, Geneva, 27-29 May 2008.

Since its inception in 1995, WIGSAT has been actively involved in influencing policy at national, regional and international levels by promoting information, knowledge, science and technology strategies which enable women, especially those living in developing countries, to actively participate in knowledge and technology for development.

WIGSAT members have advised a range of governments, UN agencies, donor agencies, foundations, research institutions and NGOs, including: the United Nations, the World Bank; UNIFEM, UNESCO; IFAD; Economic Commission for Africa; Government of Japan, Canada School of Public Service; the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA); the International Development Research Centre (IDRC); USAID, Harvard University, Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Foundation, and Carnegie Corporation of New York.

WIGSAT is a consulting group which promotes innovation, science and technology strategies that enable women, especially those living in developing countries, to actively participate in technology and innovation for development. Women should be able to benefit from the advantages of technological development equally with men, including access to and use of technologies and full participation in innovation systems.

If they don't, society will be deprived of their creativity, perspective and experience, and women will not be able to play a role in designing, creating and developing the technology systems which affect their lives.

Information and communications technology and gender equality: new opportunities and challenges for public administration to implement the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals - Prepared for the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, ECOSOC, United Nations by WIGSAT in collaboration with FLACSO-Argentina on behalf of the International Taskforce on Women and ICT (ITF), for the 9th session of the UN Committee of Experts on Public Administration, 19 April to 23 April 2010, New York.