Stirring up the pot? : Integrating gender into ICT policy, practice, and evaluation

This working paper traces Canadian policy initiatives whose goals have been to insert a gender-based analysis into universal access policy to the Internet. Early policy formulations on what was then dubbed the "information highway", by both public interest groups and the Canadian federal government, recommended that initiatives consider gender as an important category to include in universal access definitions. Although reflected in the final report of the Information Highway Advisory Council (IHAC), gender mainstreaming of Canadian Internet projects never materialized, nor did the creation of a "National Access Strategy" as recommended by IHAC's final report. Instead, emboldened by the promise of dot.com ventures, the government switched gears and pushed for a national strategy on e-commerce. Rhetoric changed to creating opportunities in a "knowledge-based economy". Canada's "national access strategy" thus coalesced around Industry Canada's Connecting Canadians agenda.