MEKONG WOMEN IN OPEN DATA
IN CAMBODIA, LAO PDR, MYANMAR & VIETNAM Overall Trends, Case Studies, What Next? Authors: Mia Chung Pyrou Chung Suggested cita on: Chung, M. and Chung, P. (2020). Mekong Women in Open Data. Open Development Ini. a ve.
About the authors: Mia Chung is the Senior Research Manager at Open Development Mekong. She is a writer and researcher with over a decade of social science research and legal advocacy experience, and began working in the Mekong region in 2015, developing environmental law in Cambodia. She has been working in the open data and development sector since 2016, conduc ng research and developing tools to track development in the region. Currently, she heads Open Development Mekong’s research and capacity building support across the five Mekong countries and has spearheaded research into women in open data, as well as Indigenous Data Sovereignty. Pyrou Chung directs the East West Management Ins tute’s programs on natural resource, land and data ini a ves in Southeast Asia under the Open Development Ini a ve. As an ecologist and sustainable development expert, her work has been focused on the nexus between environmental governance, conserva on and human rights, with an emphasis on implemen ng integrated biodiversity, natural resource management and land rights ini a ves with indigenous, forest dependent or rural communi es. More recently this work has intersected with the open data movement to u lise GIS data and informa on on an open data pla orm, Open Development Mekong, which promotes evidence‐based decision making, digital gender inclusion and Indigenous Data Sovereignty. The pla orm is a one‐of‐a‐kind open data portal in Southeast Asia focused upon the Lower Mekong Countries — Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. ODI co‐chairs the Data for Development AsiaHub along with Sinar Project. Editors: Pyrou Chung Manali Purohit Alexandra Zenoff ©Open Development Ini a ve. Licensed under CC BY‐SA 4.0. 2nd Edi on. Visuals, Design and Layout: Nga Nguyen Cover photo: Cruise through Mekong River Delta, taken by Tomáš Malík, shared on Unsplash. All other photos and images are sourced from free/open image stock websites, including Unsplash, Pexels, Rawpixel, and Canva under their licenses. Disclaimer: This work is produced and published by the Open Development Ini a ve. ODI cannot guarantee accuracy, completeness or reliability from third party sources in every instance. ODI makes no representa on or warranty, either express or implied, in fact or in law, with respect to the accuracy, completeness or appropriateness of the data, materials or documents contained or referenced herein or provided. The views expressed in this report may not necessarily reflect the views of IDRC or the Government of Canada.
2 MEKONG WOMEN IN OPEN DATA IN CAMBODIA, LAO PDR, MYANMAR, AND VIETNAM Overall Trends, Case Studies, What Next?
October, 2020
3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Open Development Ini a ve would like The Open Development Ini a ve, to acknowledge and thank the people who conceivedy b the East‐West Management contributed to this research, especially the Ins tute, is a pioneer in open data in the numerous women who spoke of their Mekong region. The Open Development personal experiences with open data with Ini a ve’s approacho t open data was the Open Development team. The Open ini ated in 2011 with Open Development Development Ini a ve is also grateful for Cambodia, and has since expanded into a the support of colleagues at Open regional pla orm that includes a network of Development Cambodia, Open na onal sites (Open Development Development Laos, Open Development Cambodia, Open Development Laos, Open Myanmar, and Open Development Vietnam Development Myanmar, Open Development from researcho t publica on, and at East‐ Vietnam, Open Development Thailand) and West Management Ins tute during the one regional site, Open Development edi ng process. Mekong. The Open Development pla orm relies on impar al presenta on of Special thanks to Drs. Tran Thi Minh Thi and informa on, combining open data, data Trin Thai Quang of the Ins tute for Family journalism, and researcho t increase public and Gender Studies who conducted awareness, enable individual analysis, researchn i Vietnam, and Khin Ma Ma Myo improve informa on sharing, and inform and Pan Myaing of the Myanmar Ins tute rigorous debate on regional development. of Peace and Security Studies who conducted research in Myanmar.
This work was carried out with the aid of a grant from the Interna onal Development Research Centre, O awa, Canada, www.idrc.ca, and with financial support from the Government of Canada, provided through Global Affairs Canada (GAC), www.interna onal.gc.ca.
4 A woman working on a laptop Photo by: Rawpixel
PREFACE
Data are a c entral tool to measuring popula on's conc eptual understanding of progress and impact within the data science and technologys i not very development landscape. The Sustainable nuanced. Addi onally, the means to collect, Development Goals (SDGs) are con ngent consolidate, and maintain data collec on upon u lising data to track and monitor about these countries have been developed progress against key indicators in support of within male dominated, bureaucra c, mee ng development objec ves, hierarchical systems. Data collected within specifically “to leave no one behind”. these systems are then applied to make However, o en less highlighted in these decisions, which are o en not reflece v of discussionss i recogni on that data are not the whole of the popula on. Those who are just sta c metrics, but people themselves. under‐reflected within this system are To quote D’Ignazio and Klein (2020) in Data predominantly women, the rural poor, Feminism, data are “people who offer up migrants, Indigenous Peoples, and other their experienceso t be counted and marginalized communi es. analyzed, people who perform that coun ng and analysis, people who visualise This report presents the results of original the data and promote the inside of any research examining the impactf o gender in par cular project, and people who use the accessing data and informa on across four productn i the end. There are, always, Mekong countries, where cultural prac ces people who go uncounted ‐ for be er or are strongly patriarchal and gender equality worse.” remains work in progress. This research, conductedy b partners of the Open This makes data powerful. In turn, it means Development Ini a ve, sits at the crossing that whoever collects and consolidates this of these two paths and examines the knowledge about others ul mately remains resul ng inequali es. in control over other people’s lives. Equitable access to meaningful data and In the Mekong countries of Cambodia, Lao informa on is at the core of the Open PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam, the general Development Ini a ve mandate. Since its
5 incnep o in 2011, the Open Development changest a a systemic level, from mul ple pla orms serve the region by increasing perspec ves at once. The ingrained gender the accessibility of data by making it and racial biases in the informa on systems available, and also assis ng understanding that drive the development landscape through the development of data products. across the Mekong are complex. Yet, we Working with a network of on‐the‐ground need to first recognise the inequali es built local partners, eachf o the na onal Open into these systems, then strive to change Development teams works to build capacity these power imbalances. for data and in digital literacy across the region, being mindful of local circumstances and needs. This report Pyrou Chung represents an ini al spotlight on some of Director the issues that ground this work, and is Open Development Ini a ve intended to serve as evidence for why this work needs to be con nued as well as a jumping‐off point for further research into the specific contextual requirements of women and other marginalized groups.
While eachf o the Mekong countries are undeniably unique, this research highlights the significant inequali es in the open data landscape and indeed more broadly in the development sector where data and informa on con nually reflect exis ng privilege, class and race.
As temp ng as it may be to try and boil the issues that Mekong women face down to a singular sector, approach,r o interven on, the pervasiveness of the lived impactsf o gender inequali es requires cross‐cu ng
6 CONTENTS
Acknowledgements 4 Preface 5 List of Abbrevia ons 8 Introduc on 9 The Research 10 The Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Vietnam development context 13 Situa ng this work in the Mekong region 16 Policy and legal framework 18 Findings 19 Barriers, Case Studies, and Recommenda ons 22 Lessons learned and next steps 33 A regional approach to women in open data 35 References 37 Annex 1 ‐ Cambodia Women in Data Execu ve Report 40 Annex 2 ‐ Lao PDR Women in Data Execu ve Report 46 Annex 3 ‐ Myanmar Women in Data Execu ve Report 50 Annex 4 ‐ Vietnam Women in Data Execu ve Report 55
Temples in Krong Siem Reap, Cambodia Photo by: Van Trang Ho, Pixels 7 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
ASEAN Assocnia o of Southeast Asian Na ons CLMV Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam CSOs Civil Society Organisa ons CEDAW Conven on on the Elimina on of all Forms of Discrimina on Against Women GDI Global Development Index GSO Vietnam’s General Sta s cs Office ICT Informa on and Communica ons Technology INGOs Interna onal non‐governmental organisa ons IT Informa on technology NGOs Non‐governmental organisa ons Lao PDR Lao People’s Democra c Republic LGBTQI+ Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex + LWU Lao Women’s Union MoWA Cambodia’s Ministry of Women's Affairs ODI Open Development Ini a ve OD4D Open Data for Development (OD4D) OGP Open Government Partnership NACC Cambodia’s Na onal An ‐ Cybercrime Commi ee RGC Royal Government of Cambodia SDGs Sustainable Development Goals STEM Science, technology, engineering, and mathema cs UNESCAP United Na ons Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific UNESCO United Na ons Educa onal, Scien fic and Cultural Organiza on WCCC Women’s and Children’s Consulta ve Commi ee, Cambodia
8 INTRODUCTION
Gender inequality underscores the lives of women all over the world. It is rooted in systems of governance and cultural norms that funcn o to perpetuate this inequality. The systemic roots of gender inequality intersect to createn a underlying web that impacts the ability of women to access data in Cambodia, Lao People's Democra c Republic (Lao PDR), Myanmar, and Vietnam (together, CLMV). The nature of gender inequality is such that women are o en unable to place exactly why they are experiencing injus cesn i their lives. This report explores the various barriers impacg n women‚ and their access to open data in the region, iden fied through primary research conductedn i 2018 and 2019, and desk reviews.
CLMV is not a monolithic group of countries, and each country has a unique context. Yet, the countries are interconnected sociopoli cally, economically, and culturally; as such,t i is possible to consider the countries as a group, and iden fy overarching themes impacg n women and their access to open data in this region. This research, conductedy b the Open Development Ini a ve and its partners, discusses the CLMV context, including the policy and legal frameworks, before going on to discuss the findings of the research that include analysis of the systemic barriers underlying these findings. Finally, the report puts forth the lessons learned and discusses next steps.
The Beauty of Bagan, Myanmar Photo by: Lwin Moe Aung, Unsplash9 THE RESEARCH
Two young ladies working on laptop Photo by: Mimi Thian, Unsplash
Research objec ves Research methodology Researc h was conductedn i Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Vietnam (CLMV) by Research teams in all countries used a partners of the Open Development coordinated, mixed methodology approach Ini a ve to be er understand the data and comprised of a desk review of exis ng technology environment for women‚ and literature as well as primary data collec on their involvement in the open data sector through an online survey, focus group and engagement with technology. discussions, and stakeholder interviews. This work took place beginning at the end The overall guiding research ques ons for of 2018, and all countries completed this work were as follows: analysis by the end of 2019. Not all countries received responses to the online 1. How do women engage within the survey, although an online survey was open data movement in the Mekong deployed in all four countries. Only Lao PDR region? and Cambodia received responses, and 2. What are some examples of open data these respondents were limited in reach,s a and access to informa on being used the majority of them were solicited during by women in the Mekong region to unrelated but gender‐focused events advance their agenda and rights? hosted by the researchers. 3. What ini a ves currently exist that support women's engagement with All countries used the same research open data in the Mekong region? methodology and guidelines, which were 4. What are the barriers preven ng developed in all the na onal languages women in the Mekong region from (Khmer, Lao, Burmese, and Vietnamese), engaging with the open data but adapted them to their na onal movement? contexts. Interviews were conducted primarily in na onal languages, with some conductedn i English where it was either
10 preferable or necessary. English was not the These broader limita ons were apparent in primary language for most of the each country research teams' baseline par cipants and research teams. understanding of open data and gender. Transcrip ons of some interviews were These varia ons were reflectedn i their completed, and in other cases notes were interpreta on of the researchs a well as taken. Transla ons of interviews into English their analysis of the findings. We were made by research team members. acknowledged early on that country research teams varied in their fluencyn i The researchers sought par cipan o from a research methods, methodology, and wide range of people in different sectors, management. This hindered the ability to including private sector, academia, maintain consistency across CLMV resul ng Two young ladies working on laptop Photo by: Mimi Thian, Unsplash government, CSOs and NGOs. While women in a wide range of quality in the research, par cipants were priori zed, in some cases findings, and analyses. However it offered men also provided input, especiallyn i opportuni es to strengthen research skills countries with responses to the online across the network and increased survey. awareness of open data within the region.
Research ques ons were iden fied at the Low study sample numbers, approximately start of the research, but it became clear 250 people, means that it is not possible for that given the low understanding of "open this researcho t confidently represent the data" in CLMV, the research ques ons current situa on for all women in open data needed to be broadened to include across the region. In par cular, the online discussionsn o data and technology use at survey deployed a racted very limited large. This allowed the research teams to responses in all countries: Cambodia's discuss gender issues without being limited survey, which a racted the most by this. One addi onal issue hindering full respondents, only received7 8 responses, comprehension of the topic being studied is the majority of which were from men. that the technical term "open data" does While not the original inten on, this result not have an equivalent in any of the exemplifies the gender gap in online na onal languages. presence. Informants were overwhelmingly urban and well‐educated, and no one For this regional analysis, a desk review was iden fied their gender as other than a conducted,n i English only, for relevant woman or man, so generalized trends literature and policy documents. All country across the countries are based upon known research was given an in‐depth review and barriers for cisgender, binary women in the analyzed for relevant trends. region, supported by exis ng research. Indigenous Peoples and ethnic minori es Limita ons were poorly represented, with the excepn o of Myanmar. In addi on, the This researchs i new and unique in the scope of research originally included Southeast Asia region. Gender remains a Thailand, but due to resource and me nascent issue in the tech sector, while also constraints, as well as the fact that it is lacking mainstream tracn o in the region. dispropor onately more developed than Open data is a concept that remains niche. the four other countries of the Lower
11 Mekong region, it was eliminated from the study.
Addi onally, the word "gender" could represent a great deal more complexity than it is used in this researceh. W primarily requested par cipants based on their iden fica on and presenta on as a cisgender woman, and based our analysis of gender on this. We did not explore gender iden ty across the spectrum, nor its impact on accessing data and technology. A more complex treatment of gender iden ty is relevant, especially for future research, given that a regular lack and suppression of LGBTQI+ voices remains an issue globally, and digital access can be key for marginalized popula ons suchs a these to access community and support. Because the regional analysis is based on the findings of the country studies, it is subjecto t the same constraints.
In sum, technical difficul es, methodological limita ons, skills and resource gaps with logis cal constraints may have had some impactn o the quan ty and quality of par cipa on, scope of data collec on, data valida on, and analysis. However, it is our opinion that the level of consistency across the region suggests trends that are insigh ul and, at minimum, allow for general anecdotal insight into the reality of some women, their access to data, the open data movement, and the technology sector in the CLMV countries.
12 THE CLMV DEVELOPMENT
CONTEXT River in the middle of forest, Vietnam Photo by: Saya Kimura, Pexels
Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam Vietnam, in contrast, leads development in make up four of the five Lower Mekong these countries as a strong Lower Middle‐ countries, the fi h being Thailand. Together Income Country since 2011. Differing they make up half of the 10 ASEAN member colonial and poli cal histories mean that countries. The Lower Mekong countries are eachs i uniquely situated with regard to grouped together because the Mekong their legal and educa on systems.1 Recent River, the upper reacfhes o which originates and ongoing conflict has also shaped the in China where it is called the Lancang River, current landscape in each of the countries. runs through them all. The downstream Mekong popula on in CLMV are highly All four countries face challenges due to dependent on this waterway for the poverty and inequality, low accountability, provision of everything from energy via transparency, lackf o governance, with hydropower, to food via irriga on and limited openness and access to informa on. fisheries, and transporta on via boat. These interact with economic development to play into the degree of technological CLMV countries share geographic penetra on in each country, which also similari es but they represent a wide range varies significantly. Vietnam is highly of levels of development. Cambodia, Lao developed in this regard, while the other PDR and Myanmar were only recently three countries lag significantly behind. upgraded to being Lower Middle‐Income Despite rapid increasesf o basic internet countries, and despite significant economic and mobile access in Cambodia, Lao PDR development, they remain primarily rural. and Myanmar, they remain at the lower end
Vietnam Myanmar Laos
Cambodia 13
Figure 1: Map of CLMV countries Source: Created by ODI of the specftrum o digital adop on and sectors requiring few or no skills in ICT, and readiness in the East Asia and Pacific so women are expectedo t be impacted Region. However, metricsf o digital adop on more than men. Further, closing the skills and readiness are limited in their gap for women is understood to be even representa on of digital literacy and more difficult, given the impactf o cultural technological sophis ca on, which remain stereotypes overlaid on me poverty, especially low for poor, rural women in all mobility constraints, limited family four countries, who make up the majority of investment, ins tu onalized discrimina on, the popula on in the region. and limited employment choices.5
One key emerging technological issue is Even in urban areas of a country like Industry 4.0, also known as smart Vietnam, where technology infrastructures i manufacturingr o the Fourth Industrial compara vely mature, difficuls e remain. Revolu on. This refers to the shi from Further, technology use has boomed in tradi onal manufacturing and producn o to recent years in Myanmar, Cambodia, and cyber ‐physical systems. For CLMV, which are Lao PDR. Infrastructure for internet and dependent on produc on, along with their mobile use is available, although at present fellow members of ASEAN, this represents a basic n i these countries. A rural‐urban significant hurdle. Despite a strong policy divide remains, exacerbatedy b gendered push to keep up with the Fourth Industrial cultural stereotypes. ICT will enable CLMV Revolu on, CLMV is generally not to keep up with shi s toward a digital and considered ready. The Networked Readiness knowledge‐based economy6, but the reality Index, a World Economic Forum (WEF) is that there remain fundamental gaps in metric which measures a country's both access to physical infrastructure, as readiness to reap the benefits of emerging well the skills of those living in the CLMV technologies, ranks Vietnam 79th, with countries.7 Cambodia, Lao PDR and Myanmar si ng in the bo om third of ranked countries at 109, With respecto t open data, the CLMV 104, and 133 of 139 respec vely. Similarly, countries can be understood as a group: another WEF ranking on the readiness of data openness remains low in the region. countries for the future of producn o The Open Data Barometer, an assessment considers Cambodia and Vietnam nascent. of a country's readiness of open data Lao PDR and Myanmar are not includedn i ini a ves, most recently measured in 2016, this measure.2 puts Vietnam at 17/100, and Myanmar at 1/100. Cambodia and Lao PDR were not Connected is the push in CLMV countries to includedn i this metric.8 Further, equality is shi to a so‐called "knowledge‐based cons tu onally guaranteed in all the economy". While the majority of countries, but access to informa on is not employment reportedly available to people generally enshrined in the law. living in CLMV requires workers with at least secondary school educa on3, the need to Laws across the countries tend to limit improve work‐ready skills in technology has freedoms, giving governments a good deal been recognized.4 However, women are of discren o when it comes to sharing primarily employed in formal or informal informa on, making data public, and
14 otherwise limi ng transparencey. Th World These fac tors contribute to an open data Jus ce Project's Rule of Law Index, which sector that con nues to be niche. ranks countries on rule of law on eight factors including open government, ranks Vietnam 11/15, Myanmar 14/15, and Cambodia (which ranks second to last globally) is ranked last placef o 15 countries of East Asia and the Pacific (Lao PDR is not included). None of the four countries are members of the Open Government Partnership, a global ini a ve to promote accountable, responsive, and inclusive governance.9 Adding to low transparencyn i governances i limited poli cal will to shi a closed ins tu onal culture, and poor digital infrastructure outside of urban se ngs.
Table 1: Benchmarking digital infrastructure of CLMV countries
Source: Compiled by ODI 10‐19
15 SITUATING THIS WORK IN THE MEKONG REGION
Stone on stone Photo by: tVXJN PaZLG, Unsplash
This researcsh i unique at the me of Cambodia and Myanmar and covers a wide wri ng, both in terms of topic and scope. range of topics that relate to the use of As noted elsewhere,20 gender is a recent mobile phones, internet, social media, and topicn i the open data sector, and this is no other pla orms. Another example is excepn o in Southeast Asia. We are aware GenderIT.org, whichs i a project that of only one primary study, conductedt a the considers internet policy and culture from a local level by Jakarta‐based Open Data Labs, feminist and intersec onal perspec ve, and which considered in an intersec onal way priori zes voices from countries in Africa, whether providing be er access to Asia, and La n America, Arabic‐ speaking government data to women in two villages countries and Eastern Europe. Some in Indonesia would help them advocate for interes ng work includes a considera on of more gender‐inclusive policies and a feminist internet. More recent analy cal ac ons.21 Another recent study, published work on the Asia region focuses more on in 2019, considered secondary data to South Asia, for instancen o how the digital understand women’s their par cipan o in divide impacts women in Manipur, India, as the digital economy in ASEAN.22 well as how technology has helped women build a community in Durgadahalli, India. While researchn o gender in open data that The Associan o for Progressive specifically focusesn o the Mekong region is Communica ons supports the work of lacking, research exists on understanding GenderIT.org, and has itself produced a gender in ICT more broadly in the greater paper en tled "Mapping researchn i gender Asia region. This work is led by a few policy and digital technology". This literature think tanks and research networks in Asia. review gave some research One such organiza on is LIRNEasia , a policy recommenda ons related to access to ICTs think tank based in Sri Lanka that focuses which include, among other things, on infrastructure issues, including ICT, in the highligh ng the importancef o Asia Pacific region. Gender, as well as Data, understanding barriers at the local level Algorithms and Policy are two themes of through conduc gn primary research. This their focus. One of the organiza on's most current research fills in that space. recent works on ICT in Asia which considered gender is "A erAccess: ICT Exis ng regional researchn o open data Access and Use in Asia and the Global concentratesn o Southeast Asia and the South (Version 1)". This survey highlighted Asia‐Pacific rather than the smaller sub‐ 16 region of the Mekong.23 Given the wide However, regional‐level events are more range of country contexts (South‐east Asia recent.e Th first Mekong Region BarCamp includes the highly developed economy of was held in Vietnam in 2017,30 and Mekong Singapore, while the Asia‐Pacific includes ICT Camp was held in the same year.31 the economic giants of China, India, BarCamp ASEAN was held in Cambodia in Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, and late 2019.32 A climate‐change focused Japan) regional research understandably hackathon for UNESCO was held in Vietnam paints the sector with a broad brush. in 2018,33 and the Future Ready ASEAN Coding Compe on, a youth‐focused The regional landscape is more populated hackathon, was held in Thailand in late with relevant ini a ves. Yet many of these 2019.34 have a much broader scope than the Mekong. For instance, Open Data Labs While the Mekong region has seen a Jakarta led development of a regional number of these user‐generated strategy for open data in Asia in 2015.24 The conferences, hackathons, and similar ICT Asian Open Data Partnership, an aci v es, women organizers and a endees organiza on founded by partners in Taiwan are usually under‐represented. For example, with members across Asia including photos from a recent BarCamp in Vien ane partnerships with the Open Data for show a predominantly male audience.35 Development (OD4D) Asia Hub, regularly BarCamp ASEAN's advisory team was poorly organizes conferences and hackathons.25 represented by women, although the Work is being done to promote women's organiza onal and volunteer teams had empowerment through ICT ‐ for instance, more equal representa on of men and the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission women.36 However, photos from the event on Human Rights recently led a workshop also show a predominantly male on Promo ng Gender Equality and audience.37 Empowerment of Women through Informa on and Communica ons The Open Development Ini a ve (ODI), a Technology, with a focus toward achieving network of independent organiza ons co‐ the SDGs.26 There is also an Asia‐Pacific managing a centralized open data and regional level ini a ve, led by the UN knowledge pla orm, leads open data Economic and Social Commission for Asia advocacyn i the Mekong region.38 In and the Pacific (UNESCAP) and the Asian addi on to na onal level websites (Open and Pacific Training Centre for Informa on Development Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Communica ons Technology for Thailand, and Vietnam), the project Development, to build and strengthen the produces a regional level website (Open capacityf o UNESCAP members in ICT.27 Development Mekong). ODI and its Other ini a ves include BarCamps, ICT partners, who are involved with this Camps and hackathons. BarCamp has a research, represent the only collec ev of compara vely long‐standing history in the Mekong voices championing open data and Mekong Region (for example, BarCamp open data sharing as a movement to Bangkok first started in 200728 and increase transparency and governance BarCamp Yangon in 2010, with what was within the region. the world's biggest BarCamp at that me29).
17 POLICY AND LEGAL FRAMEWORK
Gender equality is cons tu onally protecnted i all four of the CLMV countries, but implementa on of this right varies. Gender is not mainstreamed in any of the countries' policies and legisla on, and only Lao PDR and Vietnam have laws on gender‐specific issues. Yet, all but Lao PDR have a gender policy framework.
Access to informa on is generally afforded even less protec on, with cons tu onal protec on only in Vietnam. On the other hand, three of the four countries limit the dissemina on of certain types of informa on by law, and laws restric gn the spread of fake news (mis‐ and disinforma on) are o en used to limit the spread of certain types of informa on at the discren o of the government.
As members of ASEAN, CLMV have signed onto a number of relevant policies that feature ICT development and Industry 4.0. For instance, the Blueprint for the ASEAN Economic Community 2025 includes ICT as a major part of their work in connec vity, and ASEAN has developed both an ASEAN ICT Master Plan 2020 as well as a Master Plan on ASEAN Connec vity 2025. In 2018, an assessment of ASEAN Readiness for the Fourth Industrial Revolu on was conducted, and a consolidated strategy for the region is set to be developed.39 All CLMV countries have also launched planning or policy ini a ves in this respect. Vender street des ny Photo by: Adi Perets, Pexels FINDINGS
The future awaits Photo by: Tony Pham, Unsplash
Research respondents and informa on is o en shared using social messaging applica ons suchs a WhatsApp. The women we spoke with in foc us groups Informa on is also accessed offline using and key informant interviews for this radio, newspapers, television, and via research were, as a group, more educated, friends. literate, and knowledgeable about data and technology than most other women in the In all countries, a lackf o relevant data region. Many were at least bilingual and had remained an issue: those searching for accessed higher educa on, both locally and datasets on certain "highly sensi ve" topics, abroad. Some were western, foreign suchs a gender‐based violence and relevant workers. They were also aware of their services, were unable to find what they compara vely privileged posi ons. Our wanted. Further, data and informa on are research showed that the people we spoke primarily only available in English, and data to regularly used data, found it useful, and and informa on are available in some wanted it to support ac ons for change. na onal languages more than others. For They wanted good quality data, but example, there is more available in generally did not know how to assess data Vietnamese than there is in Lao an or to support this. Yet, they also exhibited low Burmese. This is for a number of reasons. data literacy and expressed a limited ability First, the data and empirical research are to use, cri que and analyse data. They also o en being conductedy b external, top‐ had a poor understanding of the conceptf o down interna onal ins tu ons. Another "open data". issue is with regard to non‐Anglo fonts, and the non‐widespread use of universal fonts, Means of access which contributes to the limited amount of content available. In this regard, research The women we spoke to in the region respondents in some of the countries indicated that they most frequently access (Myanmar, Cambodia) indicated that issues data using social media, primarily Facebook. with a non‐Anglo font and non‐universal use YouTube and Twi er are also used, and data of Unicode made it difficult for users to 19 access documentsn i local languages. expressed a greater degree of trust with the Finally, data in na onal languages are o en informa on that is made available, not digi zed, and for the data made especyially b the government. Those in available in a digital format, these are Myanmar indicated less complex knowledge some mes in formats not suitable for about tools to prevent and deal with these analysis (eg. PDF). Generally speaking, there issues of crime and trust, while the topics is very li le available across CLMV in the did not come up with any frequencyn i Lao na onal languages and fewer s ll in PDR. Indigenous Peoples or ethnic minority languages. Expressions of deeply en‐ trenched gender norms with Main concerns about data and local manifesta ons informa on The way that research respondents spoke Respondents unanimously wanted to have about barriers in accessing open data and free, up‐to‐date, publicly available data. technology suggested that they were They were concerned about quality ‐ impacted, some mes unconsciously,y b especially regarding meliness and deeply entrenched gender norms. Similar disaggrega on. They were concerned about gender norms emerged across the CLMV the reliability of data sources and countries, including a preference for women producers, and depending on the sectorn i to priori ze childcare and housework to the which they worked they had different exclusionf o all else, including educa on preferences for data producers (for and careers. These beliefs are referred to as example, if they worked in government they stronger in rural areas. Connectedo t this is preferred government sources, and if they a belief that women should not study worked for the private sector they preferred technology, whether because they are not private sector sources). smart enough to do so (Lao PDR, Cambodia), do not have the skill or me to There is also a high degree of knowledge excel, or that it is unseemly (all countries). about the existencef o cyber‐crimes suchs a In Lao PDR, one respondent even noted that fraud, online harassment, and although technologys i supposed to be misinforma on and disinforma on taught in schools, not all students learn it; (specifically "fake news"). These are highly she then related an anecdote about an all campaigned issues in the region, both by female class that did not learn these skills, government and civil society alike. and she did not know whether it was Gendered predatory behaviour was because the teacher did not have the skill to men oned frequently in the Myanmar do so, or because the teacher felt that the context. However, respondents primarily class could not handle the subject. expressed a fear of being impactedy b such Educa onal materials are dated, variable crimes, but only discussedn i a limited way and gendered. For example, textbooks show about how to prevent these crimes. Those men as doctors, lawyers, engineers and in Cambodia expressed a greater degree of managers, while women are shown as concern with the ability to trust weavers, housekeepers, mothers, and shop informa on, while those in Vietnam a endants 40. This is a context where the
20 "Chbab Srey", a code of conduct that get priority in using laptops and phones, describes a highly gendered vision of the and that women of all ages had to complete ideal tradi onal woman, was only abolished housework before they could start to study from the educa on system in 2007; or use computers, contrary to boys. however, this set of ideals finds new life in a dra law on public order which also All countries suffer from mascculine s ience, legislates the length of women's dress, technology, engineering and mathema cs proposed in 2020.41 Another aspectf o (STEM) environments, including Vietnam gender norms manifested in the restricn o which has the most women in STEM of the of women's movement, highlighted by CLMV countries. This imbalance then respondents in Cambodia and Myanmar. supports and perpetuates the beli ling and For example, in Cambodia, a number of bullying of women in STEM. Connectedo t young women indicated that they or their this is a view that women are not interested younger colleagues have a family‐enforced in studying STEM, and that even if they are, curfew, restricg n their ability to a end it will be difficult for them to pursue this a er‐work and evening events. interest to comple on. Family and friends will try to convincer o pressure them to All CLMV countries have a culturef o change due to cultural norms and how such women's deferenceo t men, and this came a choice might reflect on themselves. out the most strongly in the researchn i Myanmar, with regard to technology use. This is enforcedy b families in all contexts; women respondents across Cambodia, Lao PDR and Myanmar noted that boys would
Figure 2: Mekong women in data - Word cloud
Source: Created by ODI ‐ based on frequently arising themes of the study results, iden fied by the author.
21 BARRIERS, CASE STUDIES, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Sun over the fence Photo by: Jimmy Chan, Pexels
An analysis of the interviews conducted across the region, supported by the primary The fac t that there is no ins tu onal culture research and the literature review, revealed of informa on sharing adds to this barrier, a number of cross‐cu ng barriers. These and prac ces of restric gn the flow of include poor ins tu onal support for informa on through government and increasing access to informa on; deeply ins tu onal censorship normalizes the entrenched gendered cultural norms; and a environment with self‐censorship increasing lackf o true inclusivity.e Th discussion below as constraints narrow civic space within the considers these barriers in the context of region. Government budgetary priori es do how they present themselves in the CLMV not place a focusn o sharing informa on, so countries. there are insufficient monetary resources to support data sharing or to ensure the Barrier 1: Poor ins tu onal quality of data or informa on that is made support for increasing access to available. Thus, there is limited informa on informa on available digitally, or for free.
The CLMV countries suffer from limited Informa on made available is o en poor in access to informa on. Informa on that is quality, hard to access, and hard to use. available is poor in quality and limited in Without governments priori zing data availability. This results in a strong reliance on sharing, it is primarily external en es social media, which is perceived to be (NGOs, civil society for example) that reliable because it is an alterna ve to highly advocate in the data sharing space, leading controlled state media, combined with to a predominancef o resourcesn i English, reliance on wri en resources. Gender which are of limited usefulness to most inequali es in access to educa on, especially women in the CLMV countries. Instead, regarding STEM, results in women having women must rely on informa on sources difficulty analysing informa on and that are readily available to them, including determining whether to trust that news, na onal TV, radio, friends/gossip, and informa on or not. Women have less especially, social media. exposure to specialised concepts and terminology in general, but the term "open data" is arguably novel regardless of gender. Furthermore, there is a lack of voices that support alterna ve narra ves about women and gender in the tech sector.
22 COUNTRY CASE STUDY VIETNAM
The Vietnamese government controls data and informa on in the country. The government is the single sourcef o available public data and has overall approval and dissemina on authority. There are very few independent sources.
At the same me, the government is working on developing an open data system, but with certain boundaries ‐ it does not follow open data principles, for example, a bureaucra c processes (e.g. an applica on and payment process) s ll typify the system. Well developed infrastructure and compara vely high technical capacity support access, although there remains much informa on that is not yet digi zed or shared. The country ranks higher in regard to data openness than other Mekong countries, but openness s ll varies depending on sector, even for leaders and highly educated women.
"We need to use a lot of data from the General Sta s cs Office (GSO), but whether they provide us the data or not is another story. If the concept of "openness" can be understood as for every person to freely access and use, I think there is nothing really "open"‚ like that. For example, if we want to get the data of previous surveys from GSO, we s ll have to submit an applica on for it. We do not need to pay for the data but must do such procedures. In fact, we have a great need for data, but it is not easily accessible because not many documents are included in the open data system. In my opinion, not many industries have digi zed their data. For example, when we need data, we have to look for mul ple sources, the analysis and results will be very different and it is difficult to know which sources are reliable. GSO is a general data source,[...] I could not find gender disaggregated data."
The result is a strong reliancen o official sourcesf o informa on, without a sense of alterna ve sources.n I some cases, official sources were preferred, as a mark of reliability. Yet there was a notable absence of considera on of how these sources might be lacking,r o whether producers could have a bias.
Mountainous view in Northen Vietnam Photo by: Amanda Mini, Unsplash on increasing the accessibility and usability Recommenda ons: Develop of this and other pla orms, includingy b accessible pla orms for gender‐ priori zing visual and audio format op ons based data while pushing for to disseminate data and informa on, policy and legisla ve reform alongside offline approaches for certain types of informa on. Addi onal work to 1. Develop accessible pla orms for support the development of a truly gender‐based data accessible pla orm involves conducg n targeted research with marginalized With ins tu onal difficuls e impacg n popula ons to understand the languages, access to informa on in the CLMV formats, and content that they most require countries, the development of accessible and desire for their advocacy and work, pla orms for gender‐based data is key. bolstered by applied training on data Increasing censorship and circula on of literacy skills that can be used to forward disinforma on across the region is their advocacy. narrowing the scope of reliable and trustworthy data and informa on sources, 2. Push for policy and legisla ve re‐ which were citedy b research par cipantss a form important factorsn i accessing and using data. The ins tu onal environment is While eachf o the CLMV countries making it challengingo t authen cate data cons tu onally protects gender equality, sources, let alone analyze and process data. other legisla on is missing.
An accessible pla orm in this context would Legisla ve provisions on data protec ons, in provide clear provenancef o data to ensure the countries where they exist (Cambodia, authority and offer data and informa on Lao PDR, and Vietnam), are insufficient for that requires li le to no analysis to facilitate considering the broader ramifica ons of evidence ‐based advocacyn o gender rights data rights in the current technological issues. Relevant data and informa on would context. These provisions consider data include disaggregated data, and made protec no only in the criminal context, available in reusable and open formats. An rather than thinking of rights and example of this is the Open Development requirements specific to data itself. Ini a ve's Open Development pla orms. Countries like Myanmar, which do not yet Another is the database of the United legally consider data protec on, have the Na ons Popula on Fund in Asia and the opportunity to move straight into a Pacific on violence against women in the comprehensive piecef o legisla on on data broader Asia Pacific region, kNOwVAW data. rights that meaningfully considers gender. Developing policiesn o data rights and Because gender issues in the CLMV are protec on, nonexistent in the CLMV systemic,t i is necessaryo t pay extra countries, will provide a crucial framework a en on to influencing those with the for governments to operate from, and the power to make change, while also working development of which offers countries an to make behavioural changest a all levels in opportunity to be transparent with their society.n I this sense, work should con nue approacho t technology rights.
24 A complementary area that requires policy Barrier 2: Deeply entrenched reform is access to informa on. None of the and as‐yet unaddressed CLMV countries have an access to gendered cultural norms informa on policy, and only Vietnam has an access to informa on law, which operates Cultural norms across the CLMV are very within a highly constrained informa on gendered, requiring women to stay in the environment. Access to informa on is a home, promo ng the stereotype that women fundamental right, and the reali es of are less intellectually capable than men, and gender inequality mean that even in priori zing the needs of male children over environments where this is legally female children. Although the concept of protected, women have a harder me gender inequality has gained in prominence accessing it. Gender needs to be considered as a result of civil society advocacy, the in legisla on on access to informa on, and implementa on of these concepts in the legisla ve void in Cambodia, Lao PDR legisla on and policy remains quite shallow. and Myanmar and the policy void in CLMV Limited shi in cultural views and prac ces offer a great opportunity to build gender means that gender inequali es are into the policy and legisla on from the entrenched and perpetuated. Cultural ground up. percep ons of women as less mentally capable than men, especially in the field of It is worth reitera ng that the systemic ICT, are mirrored by women themselves, in nature of the issue requires that gender be the absence of strong voices pushing change mainstreamed across all sectoral legisla on, in this view. On the other hand, regular rather than trea ng it as a sectoral, siloed beli ling of women who may show an interest issue. All the CLMV countries except Lao in tech or ICT make the environment PDR do have policiesn o gender equality, dangerous and violent for women a emp ng but Cambodia and Myanmar do not yet to forward change. Gendered differences in have sectoral legisla on. A law against literacy, educa onal level, and access to violence against women exists in Lao PDR meaningful paid work make it even more and needs to be lobbied to complete the difficult for cultural shi . legisla ve processn i Myanmar; such legisla on is helpful, but insufficiento t The restric on of women's movement as a create systemic changef i not effec vely manifesta on of gender norms is jus fied by enforced.n I this sense it is of absolute CLMV society not only by the focus on importance that gender issues are women's work being at home, but also by the ins tu onalized within legisla on that deals explana on that women need extra with digital rights. There remains work to be protec on. This trope is rooted in gendered done in this area for all the CLMV countries. views of women ‐ that they are childlike and naive and thus more vulnerable to abuse (physical, sexual, and financial were some examples men oned), and also that they are highly sexualized beings. Part of this narra ve stereotypes women who go out late as "bad" and "naughty", a stereotype which is then
25 used as a circular jus fica on for gender‐ disempowerment of women, in some cases based violence. The prac cal result of this is even amongst women themselves. that women interviewed, especially in Cambodia and Myanmar, explicitly men oned Recommenda ons: Build data being restricted in being able to a end a er‐ literacy skills, address online work events as a result of externally imposed gender‐based violence, and pressures (e.g. curfews, social shaming, develop a regional mentorship husband preferences). This limits womens and role‐model program opportuni es to be exposed to novel subjects like open data. 3. Build data literacy skills
Prac cally, gendered cultural norms mean Systemic issues interacto t make it such that that women are limited in their ability to digital literacy across the region is low, access formal labour, which also means that par cularly for rural women and women in women have less access to expendable lower socioeconomic circumstances. Data income, and thus do not have the ability to literacys i a necessary basic skill, and purchase technological tools like phones, SIM par cular effort should be made to create cards, and internet access. Nor is their access safe spaces for women to learn these skills, to these tools priori sed. With lower literacy for instancey b providing women‐only and access to educa on, women are also less training sessions, especially for young likely to have a job that requires regular usage women. This allows for open and free of data or to have casually encountered open discussions about the cultural barriers and data concepts, nor are they likely to have the s gmas women face, and to ensure that skill to cri cally assess informa on that is their needs can be appropriately met in a available. On the other hand, women may not safe and representa ve way. In addi on, be permi ed to a end school for tech, as this using a "Train the Trainer" format could be is considered unseemly. Without these useful for suppor ng and developing a opportuni es, women cannot casually obtain network of role models in the region, informa on, interact with colleagues, or promo ng knowledge sharing across a end work events that may bring them borders, and encouraging mentorship closer to data or open data concepts. rela onships for women in ICT. Furthermore, culturally normalized deference to men (whether colleagues, husbands, Ul mately, a great deal of trust needs to be brothers, or fathers) encompasses technology developed, and this will take me. Women use, with a corollary of this being that women are used to certain barriers to sharing and cannot access the tools necessary to improve learning and o en take these as their skill. Womens domes c commitments unchangeable, as systemic inequali es are mean that women are less likely to have me pervasive and may be difficulto t pinpoint. to use technology, or a end events or Furthermore, key open data and gender socialise with colleagues to further careers or concepts may have limited relevanceo t meet role models. certain communi es, especially those whose worldviews are alterna ve to the Ul mately, it is clear that gender stereotypes mainstream. Thus, it is important to work and norms have perpetuated the with women and their communi es to 26 COUNTRY CASE STUDY MYANMAR AND LAOS
Although equality is legally protecnted i both Myanmar and Lao PDR, the reality is that systemic gender issues severely impact the ability to achieve equality. In both countries, gender remains an underexplored barrier significantly hampering the access of women to technology and open data.
In Myanmar, this takes the form of uncri cal considera ons of gendered bullying. “For women, internet use is not safe. Photos are transformed into sexually a rac ve photos and women are asked for money by being threatened that the photos will be put on the internet.” “Young women are more subject to sexual harassment by using internet”
The solu ons to this problem are highly gendered, and verge on blaming women themselves for the issue, despite the fact that perpetrators are men.
“In some villages, men restricted women’s use of mobile phones as they are worried that women might have another rela onship with other men. Some men also give reasons for the safety of women, as women might be abused financially by money lenders.”
In some cases, skill level is given as a reason to restrict Myanmar womens’ access to technology, while at the same me this lackf o skill level is also given as a reason that women are more subjecto t bullying. “Usually, men use laptops to have internet access while women use mobile phones. If computer use is available, men and sons are given first priority to have access to the internet as they are more technically competent." “Women are usually not technically competent in Myanmar so they are more subject to bullying and financial abuses than men, who are more technically competent.”
In Lao PDR, uncri cal gendered considera ons of women's need for knowledge and informa on contribute to the issue. One research respondent described the mentality that many rural women may have: “If my husband knows and uses it, why do I need to use it?”
Yet, this is not solely a “rural issue”. Secondary educa on programs in Lao PDR recently began to include teaching some technological skills to students, but while one female college student studying IT who grew up in Vien ane was taught IT skills in secondary school, another younger female IT student who grew up in a southern province did not receive this course at all, for unknown reasons. The student believed her teacher thought her class would not understand, and therefore did not teach ICT skills to her class. Regardless of the reason, one result is the perpetua on of gaps in educa on.
Transpor ng on the river, Myanmar Photo by: Julie Recard, Unsplash understand the conc epts that are most the open data sector, it is challenging for meaningful to them in order to help them them to imagine themselves in these "translate" open data principles into sectors. Crea ng mentorship programs recognizable and relevant concepts. where women are supported to network and exchange knowledge allows women to 4. Address online gender‐based vio‐ see and relate to women leaders in the lence sector, which would incen vise engagement within the sector. Promo ng digital literacy Online gender‐based violences i prevalent and gendered data use in women's rights across Southeast Asia. This violence mimics advocacy agendas across the region would tradi onal physical violence but is in some create a knowledgeable cons tuency as ways amplified due to the feeling of well as generate more need for gender‐ anonymity in a virtual se ng. Unaddressed disaggregated data. One‐on‐one, in‐person gendered cultural norms permits, jus fies, approaches are key. and perpetuates this behaviour. Thus, educa on on the gendered nature of this Such a program can also act as an incubator issue is necessary, alongside training and for research and skills development, support for women on how to protect their building on the capacity building and personal privacy and increase digital women's network described above. This in security. Simultaneously, services for turn can support community‐designed women to safely and anonymously report par cipatory research projects, community‐ incidentsf o online gender‐based violence, led data collec on, and responsible with an eye toward seeking jus ce for sovereign data governance, all in support of viola ons, need to be developed and made empowered and inclusive community available. Such a space could be physical ‐ a advocacy by women for women. However, woman‐only mee ng area ‐ or it can be a while offering digital skills training is digital network, whether a web applica on essen al, standalone skills are ineffec ve. or an SMS network. Training should thus include development of leadership skills and conversa ons on The baseline work to support the intersec onal gender issues to aid in effec veness of such training includes breaking down gender norms. In me this ini a ng both programming and research should lead to greater representa on of on areas where gender data has been women in senior and managerial roles generated or collected, then using this data within the ICT sector. as examples in advocacy approacheso t shi policy.e Th reality is that gender‐based Breaking down gender stereotypes is a key violences i evidencef o a systemic issue underlying aspect of all of the above which requires value‐based change recommenda ons. Gender inclusivity is not towards women across society. women's work alone; behaviour change programming for men is crucial to shi 5. Develop a regional mentorship culturally entrenched gender norms for and role‐model program systemic change. Even while safe spaces are made for women, men must be included in If women are not represented in ICT and the broader work; however, women should
28 be especially supported to take on training in cri cal thinking is a systemic leadership roles to drive the agenda. issue in the CLMV educa on systems, the addi onal biases women face compounds Barrier 3: Lack of true inclusivity the difficultyn i developing the ability to think cri cally about informa on. Despite progress toward equality in the laws and policiesf o the CLMV countries, the Marginaliza on is magnified for women reality is that inclusivity remains to be who iden fy as ethnic minori es, whose enforced.e Th most obvious is in the reali es add an addi onal layer of difficulty con nued gender inequali es in in accessing data, informa on, and accessibility of educa on, par cularlyn i technology. For instance, they are less able science and technology, despite mandates to access educa on and meaningful paid for gender equality in educa on. labour, making it harder for them to be able Assessments on inequality with regard to to access technologyr o the internet. For educa on point to the difficultyf o achieving those who have the tools, they are even gender equality in this area, especially more limited in their ability to find data or when faced with deeply entrenched informa on that reflects the reali es of gendered cultural prac ces that impact the their communi es or needs, whether as educa on being provided by underqualified regards to language, content, or format. teachers.42 This was evident in this research Inequali es in the availability of data and as well, as some indicated that women may biases in available data then inform non‐ a end school, but be at the behest of inclusive policies, limi ng the uptake of teachers who believe that they will not alterna ve voices and narra ves. understand technological concepts, and Furthermore, there is a gap between what therefore not be taught the subject.t A the is available and what is needed, whichs i same me, teachers themselves may not more basic than what is being offered. have been trained in technological Companies, governments, and NGOs alike concepts, and therefore skip this part of the con nue to push online, internet‐focused curriculum. technological solu ons. This remains limited in usefulness for people who cannot read, Prac cally, this results in a variety of who do not have smartphones, are not scenarios. Women may choose science as a connectedo t the internet, and whose subjectf o study, but find themselves in reali es are otherwise not reflectedn i any discouraging and toxic environments, where of the solu ons. there are limited women ICT professionals and role models. Women may want to This lackf o inclusivity extends beyond the a end school but are likely to drop out and CLMV countries and into the tech are more likely to be forcedo t miss classes community as a whole, where gender and or stop a ending due to limited family race have only begun to be meaningfully income, to help with caregiving, or due to discussedn i the sector. This, in part, health concerns unique to women. This also perpetuates the gap between what is means that women are less likely to have available and what is needed, especially encountered open data concepts and are with regard to the promo on of social less likely to have data literacy. While limited media as a compara vely affordable service
29 to access the internet without addressing gaps in skill or access to hardware. The Recommenda ons: result is a more deeply entrenched and extreme digital divide, and an exclusive 6. Priori ze marginalized reliancen o social media by poor and communi es marginalized communi es who do not have an understanding of its limita ons, risks and The CLMV countries contain a diversity of biases. Indigenous Peoples and ethnic minori es who are perpetually marginalized due to Further, the tech community relies on having no access to the right to self Western‐developed tech concepts — such determine, alongside geography and as "open data". This means that key cultural barriers that limit their ability to concepts need to be translated before they access relevant data and informa on. can be used in the CLMV countries, and Ensuring the implementa on of Indigenous because they were developed in a different Data Sovereignty under the CARE Principles "Companies, governments, and NGOs alike continue to push online, internet-focused technological solutions. This remains limited in usefulness for people who cannot read, who do not have smartphones, are not connected to the internet, and whose realities are otherwise not relected in any of the solutions." cultural context, may not be fully for Indigenous Data Governance (Collece v translatable, or reflect the needs of local benefit, Authority to control, Responsibility, communi es. Advocacy primarily from Ethics)43 would set the necessary baseline foreign en es further magnifies this gap, to dialogue on cri cal considera ons for as data and informa on are made available Indigenous rights and interests in data. primarily in the languages of foreign donors (English), limi ng the ability for local Further, including marginalized communi es communi es to understand the relevance in all stages of the data lifecycle (design, of this data and informa on. This also collec on, access, analysis, repor ng, means that there are few Asian‐language storage, protec on, use, and reuse) and compa ble tools, as well as few local throughout data ecosystems (digital advocates for inclusive tech. infrastructures, analy cs, and applica ons) would enhance benefits, especially for Indigenous Peoples and ethnic minori es, who are underrepresented in mainstream collected data whichs i then used to guide
30 policy. This would also minimize the poten al of harm from misrepresenta on and disinforma on. In the Asian context this requires a decentralised approacho t ensure data protec no and securitys a well as control within ghtening constraints of civil liber es.
This, too, will require me to build trust with these communi es. The importance of understanding the worldviews of these communi es to be able to "translate" relevant data concepts and principles into recognizable and relevant ideas cannot be overemphasized. For these communi es, who regularly have lower access to the necessary technological infrastructure and resources,n i ‐person interac ons and offline dissemina on of informa on are absolutely crucial.
31 COUNTRY CASE STUDY CAMBODIA
Cambodia is a pioneer in the open data community in the CLMV countries, with an open data ini a ve in‐country sinc e 2011. Yet, the country remains primarily rural, and digital infrastructure remains basic despite significant improvements in the last decade. Despite this gap, the government con nues to push to meet Industry 4.0. With advocacyn i the sector origina ng primarily from foreign NGOs and donors, available data and informa on is o en not in Khmer, perpetua ng privileged access to informa on by foreigners and foreign‐trained na onals.
"If you know English then a whole world is open for you, but if you only speak Khmer then you are very limited."
A lackf o government support perpetuates the lackf o inclusivity. More than one par cipant noted a lackf o poli cal support in making certain types of data and informa on accessible. Further, there is a strong belief that certain types of informa on should not be made available to the public. This, combined with strong gendered norms, makes for a very non‐inclusive environment in which women need to fight for their right to access informa on.
"Our sociocultural norms are also one of the indicators which limit fe‐ male's access to informa on. Considering the family case, will parents buy a smartphone for the son or the daughter first? The ques on will be raised against the female, why do you need a smartphone ‐ playing on Facebook, communica ng with your love? But this ques on won’t be asked of males."
Headless statue, Cambodia32 Photo by: Colton Jones, Unsplash Looking ahead Photo by: Streetwindy, Pexels
LESSONS LEARNED AND NEXT STEPS
Choice of Methodology not know that the researc h project existed, despite research partners and the Open The methodology c hosen for this project Development Ini a ve proac vely reaching includedn a online por on (survey), as well out to as many people as was feasible as focus groups and interviews. Overall, the within the reali es of the research scenario. project did not a ract a significant number The limited response provided useful insight of par cipants, par cularly with respecto t for the project.t I illuminated the gender the survey. Those who did par cipaten i the gap in access to and use of the internet, as survey were primarily men, despite the fact well the con nued need to bridge analog that the research was intended to primarily and digital approaches.t I confirmed the solicit the percep ons of women. existencef o digital access issues, and was a Ul mately, responses were only received useful reminder that offline approaches from Cambodia and Lao PDR. remain necessaryn i order for researcho t fully encompass the perspec ves of While an online survey was chosen because marginalized popula ons. of its poten al to reach a greater number of par cipantst a a lower cost, in hindsight, Moving forward, we suggest using an online the limited number of par cipants suggests survey as one part of a mul ‐ medium that a different medium of survey should survey approach that also includesn i ‐ have been chosen. This is for a number of person surveys; and solicitan o of reasons. First, an online survey limited the par cipants from non‐urban centres and researcho t those who already have access outside of open data events. to internet, effec vely elimina ng the views of all others and perpetua ng the lackf o Varia on in strengths and representa on of difference seen in the weaknesses of research teams region. A wri en survey, even in na onal language, limits those who do not have This research project was designed with the comfort with the language. In addi on, it is inten on of having partner na onal teams likely that poten al par cipants simply did conduct researchn o the ground. However, 33 it became c lear through the research wide range in the skills of teacshers, a well process that each partner had a variety of as not‐yet‐considered gender norms mean different strengths and capacity gaps with that as a prac cal ma er, what is actually regard to the research topic, process, and taught in schools varies widely. implementa on. Analy cal researchn i open Considera ons about gender, both data requires both knowledge in the topic regarding educa on policys a well as more area and skills that allow for cri cal thinking broadly, remain more at the level of making around the impactsf o open data. In services available to women and girls, hindsight, the project needed to be rather than working to change the systemic designed in a way that be er matched the reasons that lie behind the inequali es. As strengths of those who would be involved, already iden fied in this paper, a nuanced while also adding opportuni es for capacity understanding of gender issues pertaining building and skills sharing on open data to open data and technologys i not experience between research teams. The prevalent in the CLMV, and this should be teams would also have benefited from taken into accountn i future research. support to build key analy cal and cri cal thinking skills to push for stronger research Moving forward, we see a need to provide in the region. partner coordina on support; priori zing research management training and support; The data collected supported a more hiring external transla on services; sophis cated analysis of the issue than providing seminars on data analysis and na onal teams had originally proposed, yet visualisa on; and organizing regular the original wri ng more accurately workshops for peer review of dra work. reflected the capacity level of the teams. Part of this conundrum lies in the educa on system available in the CLMV countries. Cri cal thinking skills are not typically part of the curriculum of CLMV schools, and a
34 Water lily boats Photo by: Quang Nguyen Vinh, Pexels REGIONAL APPROACH TO WOMEN IN OPEN DATA
The analysis of the country research include one on gender equality via the 2030 highlights the fact that women encounter Agenda, the reality is that progress is not barriers to their engagement with open advancing nearly as fast as it needs to.44 data as a result of deeply ingrained systemic Thus, any work to either further understand issues: highly tradi onal cultural norms, the needs of women in regard to data, or to alongside briskly and uninclusively increasec a cess for women will require developed ICT infrastructure, significantly simultaneously bridging systemic gaps while hinder access to open data. The day‐to‐day addressing the need for universal experiencesf o women are enforcedy b infrastructure with the engagement of a these systemic issues. Open data principles variety of stakeholders. Open data s ll will not solve the systemic issue of the remains a viable tool for some women to unaffordability of smartphones, or more use in working toward gender equality and insidiously, these tools being kept from in advocacy for their rights and the rights of women by the men in their lives. At the other marginalized women; with some same me, even for those women who can encouragement, data could be made more access the necessary tools, available accessible to more women. resources are limited, of poor quality, and do not meet the needs of the women Government support is necessaryo t wan ng to use them. promote systemic change. Significant changes i already ongoing in the region to These systemic issues are not easily support technological transforma on. The changed.t I requires intersec onal thinking inclusionf o open data principlesn i policy beyond the business‐as‐usual scenario, and and the development of regula ons that a true commitment to inclusivity. While promote greater transparency and data governments have agreed, in principle,o t sharing through open standards will provide globally relevant development goals that policy and legisla ve incen ve to shi
35 behaviours. Implemen ng this also requires systemic change both in regard to liberalising access to informa on, and informa on sharing and gender. The second ensuring these rights are accessible by is to support women to access technological REFERENCES reducing barriers and penal es for online tools, skills, and informa on through expression while protec gn against online capacity and network building, as well as gender‐based violence and hate speech. addressing women's issues suchs a gender‐ [1] Raja Mikael Mitra. 2019. Digital transforma on and [8] 2016. Open Data Barometer. h ps:// Bureaucra c processes that hinder access based violence. Finally, meaningful industry 4.0 in Southeast Asia in Digital Asia. h ps:// opendatabarometer.org/4thedi on/? to informa on, paywalls and other fee inclusivityn i technologys i crucial, through www.kas.de/documents/288143/4843367/ _year=2016&indicator=ODB®ion=:PA. Accessed ‐ panorama_digital_asia_v5a_Mitra.pdf/2309433a January 31, 2020. structures restricgn access should be providing informa on in non‐mainstream f1dc‐5c59‐18be‐20375225ea67. Accessed January 31, eliminated. Government sta s cal languages; making visual, audio and non‐ 2020. [10] Open Government Partnership. Our members. capacis e should be enhanced, along with digital formats available, and priori zing h ps://www.opengovpartnership.org/our‐members/. manda ng data interoperability and marginalized communi es, including [2] World Economic Forum and AT Kearney. 2018. Accessed January 31, 2020. Readiness for the future of produc on report 2018. disaggrega on, following responsible data through the implementa on of data h p://www3.weforum.org/docs/ [11] World Economic Forum and AT Kearney. 2018. principles, and requiring transparent public sovereignty approaches. Systemic FOP_Readiness_Report_2018.pdf. Accessed January Readiness for the future of produc on report 2018. disclosures a a default. implementa on of data ecosystems that 31, 2020. h p://www3.weforum.org/docs/ allow women, especially disenfranchised FOP_Readiness_Report_2018.pdf. Accessed October
[3] World Economic Forum. 2016. Human Capital 2020. Work must be done to further understand minori es, to have greater agency will lay Report. h p://reports.weforum.org/human‐capital‐re‐ the physical tools and infrastructure, along down the necessary founda ons to be port‐2016/. Accessed January 25, 2020. [12] Open Data Barometer. 2016. Open Data with the skills required for marginalized equitable in the data landscape in Mekong. Barometer 4th Edi on. h ps:// popula ons, suchs a women, to fully gain [4] See for example, ASEAN's Ha Noi Declara on on opendatabarometer.org/4thedi on/? Narrowing the Development Gap for Closer ASEAN the benefits of technological transforma on. _year=2016&indicator=ODB®ion=:PA Accessed Integra on. h ps://asean.org/?sta c_post=ha‐noi‐ October 2020. Governments need to be open to declara on‐on‐narrowing‐development‐gap‐for‐ conduc gn applied research with women closer‐asean‐integra on‐hanoivietnam23‐july‐2001‐3. [13] Open Government Partnership. Our members. and other marginalized popula ons at the Accessed January 25, 2020. h ps://www.opengovpartnership.org/our‐members/ Accessed October 2020. forefront and in posi ons of power. CSOs Studies have also shown this: h ps:// and NGOs can help to support this effort news.microso .com/uploads/2018/03/Digital‐ [14] Interna onal Telecommunica on Union. 2018. both by conduc gn their own researchn i Transforma on‐study‐March‐2018.pdf. Accessed Measuring the informa on society report: Volume 1 this way, as well as suppor ng advocacy for January 25, 2020. 2018. h ps://www.itu.int/net4/ITU‐D/idi/2017/ index.html. Accessed October 2020. changen i this direc on. [5] The Sasakawa Peace Founda on and Dalberg. 2017. ICT Skills for girls in Southeast Asia. h ps:// [15] Interna onal Telecommunica on Union. 2018. Moving forward, there are a number of www.dalberg.com/system/files/2017‐07/ICT‐Skills‐for‐ Global cybersecurity index (GCI) 2018. h ps:// things that women and the open data Girls‐in‐Southeast‐Asia.pdf. Accessed January 25,2020. www.itu.int/pub/D‐STR‐GCI.01. sector would benefit from. The first is a [6] Raja Mikael Mitra. 2019. Digital transforma on and [16] Cable. 2020. Worldwide broadband speed league con nued effort to push for ins tu onal, industry 4.0 in Southeast Asia in Digital Asia. h ps:// 2020 h ps://www.cable.co.uk/broadband/speed/ www.kas.de/documents/288143/4843367/ worldwide‐speed‐league/ Accessed October 2020. panorama_digital_asia_v5a_Mitra.pdf/2309433a‐ f1dc‐5c59‐18be‐20375225ea67. Accessed January 31, [17] Economist Intelligence Unit. 2020. Inclusive 2020. Internet index. h ps://theinclusiveinternet.eiu.com/ Accessed October 2020. [7] Raja Mikael Mitra. 2019. Digital transforma on and industry 4.0 in Southeast Asia in Digital Asia. h ps:// [18] World Bank. 2019. World development indicators. www.kas.de/documents/288143/4843367/ Available from: h ps://data.worldbank.org/indicator/ panorama_digital_asia_v5a_Mitra.pdf/2309433a‐ IT.NET.USER.ZS?loca ons=VN‐MM‐LA‐KH&view=chart f1dc‐5c59‐18be20375225ea67. Accessed January 31, Accessed October 2020. 2020.
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[1] Raja Mikael Mitra. 2019. Digital transforma on and [8] 2016. Open Data Barometer. h ps:// industry 4.0 in Southeast Asia in Digital Asia. h ps:// opendatabarometer.org/4thedi on/? www.kas.de/documents/288143/4843367/ _year=2016&indicator=ODB®ion=:PA. Accessed panorama_digital_asia_v5a_Mitra.pdf/2309433a‐ January 31, 2020. f1dc‐5c59‐18be‐20375225ea67. Accessed January 31, 2020. [10] Open Government Partnership. Our members. h ps://www.opengovpartnership.org/our‐members/. [2] World Economic Forum and AT Kearney. 2018. Accessed January 31, 2020. Readiness for the future of produc on report 2018. h p://www3.weforum.org/docs/ [11] World Economic Forum and AT Kearney. 2018. FOP_Readiness_Report_2018.pdf. Accessed January Readiness for the future of produc on report 2018. 31, 2020. h p://www3.weforum.org/docs/ FOP_Readiness_Report_2018.pdf. Accessed October [3] World Economic Forum. 2016. Human Capital 2020. Report. h p://reports.weforum.org/human‐capital‐re‐ port‐2016/. Accessed January 25, 2020. [12] Open Data Barometer. 2016. Open Data Barometer 4th Edi on. h ps:// [4] See for example, ASEAN's Ha Noi Declara on on opendatabarometer.org/4thedi on/? Narrowing the Development Gap for Closer ASEAN _year=2016&indicator=ODB®ion=:PA Accessed Integra on. h ps://asean.org/?sta c_post=ha‐noi‐ October 2020. declara on‐on‐narrowing‐development‐gap‐for‐ closer‐asean‐integra on‐hanoivietnam23‐july‐2001‐3. [13] Open Government Partnership. Our members. Accessed January 25, 2020. h ps://www.opengovpartnership.org/our‐members/ Accessed October 2020. Studies have also shown this: h ps:// news.microso .com/uploads/2018/03/Digital‐ [14] Interna onal Telecommunica on Union. 2018. Transforma on‐study‐March‐2018.pdf. Accessed Measuring the informa on society report: Volume 1 January 25, 2020. 2018. h ps://www.itu.int/net4/ITU‐D/idi/2017/ index.html. Accessed October 2020. [5] The Sasakawa Peace Founda on and Dalberg. 2017. ICT Skills for girls in Southeast Asia. h ps:// [15] Interna onal Telecommunica on Union. 2018. www.dalberg.com/system/files/2017‐07/ICT‐Skills‐for‐ Global cybersecurity index (GCI) 2018. h ps:// Girls‐in‐Southeast‐Asia.pdf. Accessed January 25,2020. www.itu.int/pub/D‐STR‐GCI.01.
[6] Raja Mikael Mitra. 2019. Digital transforma on and [16] Cable. 2020. Worldwide broadband speed league industry 4.0 in Southeast Asia in Digital Asia. h ps:// 2020 h ps://www.cable.co.uk/broadband/speed/ www.kas.de/documents/288143/4843367/ worldwide‐speed‐league/ Accessed October 2020. panorama_digital_asia_v5a_Mitra.pdf/2309433a‐ f1dc‐5c59‐18be‐20375225ea67. Accessed January 31, [17] Economist Intelligence Unit. 2020. Inclusive 2020. Internet index. h ps://theinclusiveinternet.eiu.com/ Accessed October 2020. [7] Raja Mikael Mitra. 2019. Digital transforma on and industry 4.0 in Southeast Asia in Digital Asia. h ps:// [18] World Bank. 2019. World development indicators. www.kas.de/documents/288143/4843367/ Available from: h ps://data.worldbank.org/indicator/ panorama_digital_asia_v5a_Mitra.pdf/2309433a‐ IT.NET.USER.ZS?loca ons=VN‐MM‐LA‐KH&view=chart f1dc‐5c59‐18be20375225ea67. Accessed January 31, Accessed October 2020. 2020.
37 [18] We are social, Hootsuite. 2020. h ps:// [28] Barcamp Bangkok: What is Barcamp. h ps:// wearesocial.com/digital‐2020 Accessed October www.barcampbangkok.org/about‐us/. Accessed 2020. August 10, 2020.
[19] United Na ons. 2018. United Na ons e‐ [29]About BCY. h ps://www.barcampyangon.org/ government survey 2018. h ps:// about‐bcy. Accessed August 10, 2020. publicadministra on.un.org/en/Research/UN‐e‐ Government‐Surveys Accessed October 2020. [30] VNA. 2017. BarCamp Mekong 2017 to be held in Can Tho. h ps://en.qdnd.vn/social‐affairs/news/ [20] Ana Brandusescu and Nnenna Nwakanma. 2019. barcamp‐mekong‐2017‐to‐be‐held‐in‐can‐tho‐ Issues in Open Data ‐ Gender Equity. In T.Davies, S. 481863. Accessed January 24, 2020. Walker, M. Rubinstein, & F. Perini (Eds.), [31] Mekong ICT Network. Abour. h ps:// The State of Open Data: Histories and Horizons. mekongict.org/about/. Accessed January 24, 2020. h ps://stateofopendata.od4d.net/chapters/issues/ gender‐equity.html. Accessed August 7, 2020. [32] BarCamp ASEAN 2019. h ps:// 2019.barcamp.asia/. Accessed January 24, 2020. [21] Open Data Labs Jakarta and World Wide Web Founda on. Can we use open data to advance gender‐ [33] UNESCO Hackathon in Vietnam. h ps:// inclusive development? h p://labs.webfounda on.org/ unesco.sciencehack.asia/. Accessed January 24, 2020. wp‐content/uploads/2019/01/Gender‐Development‐ EN‐Online.pdf. Accessed January 31, 2020. [34] UNESCO. 2019. Future Ready coding compe on for youth. h ps://en.unesco.org/news/future‐ready‐ [22] Fitriani Nengsi. 2019. Women's par cipa on in asean‐coding‐compe on‐youth. Accessed January the digital economy in ASEAN in Journal of Islamic 24, 2020. World and Poli cs (2019, 3:1). h p://journal.umy.ac.id/ index.php/jiwp/ar cle/view/5524/pdf_7. Accessed [35] Barcamp Vien ane ‐ Photos. h ps:// January 24, 2020. www.facebook.com/pg/barcampvien ane/photos/. Accessed August 10, 2020 [23] See State of Open Data Book (h ps:// www.stateofopendata.od4d.net/chapters/regions/ [36] Teams: BarCamp ASEAN. h ps:// seasia.html) as well as the 2014 Review of Asia 2019.barcamp.asia/teams/. Accessed August 10, 2020 (h ps://knowledgedialogues.files.wordpress.com/ 2014/07/open‐data‐asia‐09‐2014.pdf) and the 2016 [37] BarCamp Phnom Penh: BarCamp ASEAN 2019 Book on Open Data in Southeast Asia (h ps:// photos. h ps://www.facebook.com/barcamppp/ www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783319321691). photosa.10158841437094692/10158841438744692/? type=3&theater. Accessed August 10, 2020. [24] Open Data Labs. Open Data Asia. h ps:// labs.webfounda on.org/projects‐2/open‐data‐asia‐ [38] Open Development Mekong. h ps:// 2020/. Accessed January 24, 2020. opendevelopmentmekong.net/background/. Accessed January 24, 2020. [25] Asia Open Data Partnership. h ps:// opendata.tca.org.tw/asia/. Accessed January 31, 2020. [39] ASEAN. Briefing on the outcomes of the 51st ASEAN economic ministers's mee ng and related [26] ASEAN Secretariat News. 2019. AICHR Promotes mee ngs. h ps://asean.org/storage/2019/09/ gender equality and women empowerment through Briefing‐51st‐AEM‐and‐related_FINAL.pdf. Accessed ICT. h ps://asean.org/aichr‐promotes‐gender‐ January 31, 2020. equality‐women‐empowerment‐ict/. Accessed January 24, 2020. [40] Mary Booth. 2014. Educa on and Gender in Contemporary Cambodia. h p://www. cambodia.org/ [27] Asia and Pacific Training Center for Informa on library/wp‐content/files_mf/ and Communica on Technology for Development. 1437034712Educa onandGenderinContemporaryCa h p://www.unapcict.org/aboutus. Accessed January mbodia.pdf . 24, 2020. [41] MY Sambath. Women would be vic ms of
38 Cambodia's modesty law. h ps:// thefron erpost.com/women‐would‐be‐vic ms‐of‐ cambodias‐modesty‐law/. Accessed August 11, 2020.
[42] UNESCAP. 2018. Inequality of opportunity in Asia and the Pacific: Educa on. h ps:// www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/ Educa on%20report%2018042018.pdf. Accessed August 19, 2020.
[43] CARE Principles. www.gida‐global.org/care. Accessed August 10, 2020.
[44] The Sustainable Development Agenda. h ps:// www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/development‐ agenda/. Accessed August 10, 2020.
39 ANNEX 1 - CAMBODIA WOMEN IN DATA EXECUTIVE REPORT
A lack of true inclusivity im‐ gardless of sex.7 It also recognizes equal pacts an environment with rights for men and women par cipag n in long‐standing open data ini a‐ the poli cal, economic, social and cultural ves. life of the na on, amongst other provision‐ s.8 It also “abolishes” any discriminan o Context against women.9
Cambodia is a lower middle‐income country There are no specific laws on data, licens‐ whose popula on is primarily rural. It con‐ ing, and copyright, although the 2015 nues to face serious challenges due to Telecommunica ons Law indicates that “all high levels of poverty and inequality, low ac‐ telecommunica ons operators and persons countability and transparencyf o govern‐ involved with the telecommunica ons sec‐ ment, limited freedom of expression, and tor shall provide to the Ministry of Post and environmental degrada on, among others. Telecommunica ons the telecommunica‐ Cambodia is considered one of the least ons informa on and communica on tech‐ open countries in the world in terms of data nology service data”, with no limits on how available for ci zens,1 and a gender gap long data is stored.10 Moreover, secret sur‐ makes this worse. Women have less access veillancey b the government is permi ed.11 to the resources they need for their eco‐ nomicc a i v es than men do, especiallyn i ‐ Growing fear of cyberc ‐a a ks and online forma on about laws and regula ons.2 threats has prompted the government to establish the Na onal An ‐ Cybercrime Despite a rapid increasef o basic internet Commi ee (NACC) through the Cybercrime and mobile access,3 4 the country remains Law, s ll being dra ed.12 Together with the low on being ready for digital adop on e‐Commerce Law, it is being promoted as a compared to the rest of the East Asia and way to ensure secure online transac ons Pacific Region.5 At the same me, Cambodia and protect consumer rights. has increased restric ons and surveillance on online speech and communica ons.6 An inter‐ministerial prakas on website and social media control came into forcen i Legisla on and policies 2018.13 This is considered to lay the ground‐ work for censorshipf o online content and Gender equality is guaranteed by the Con‐ provides what is considered by Freedom s tu on of Cambodia. It recognizes all House to be excessive surveillance powers Khmer ci zens as equal before the law, re‐ to the government.14
40 Policy ‐wise, gender is addressed in the Findings Neary Ra anak, a five‐year strategic plan for gender equality, first developed in 1999 by Those interviewed expressed an under‐ the Ministry of Women's Affairs (MoWA). It standing that data and informa on are use‐ aims to support women in both formal and ful for everyday life, but their skill level informal sectors through capacity and skill varied depending on educa on and voca‐ development and provision of employment on. Many expressed limited technical abil‐ opportuni es. ity to process and analyze data. Misunderstandings of the conceptf o open Keeping pace with the so‐called Fourth In‐ data were present regardless of skill level, dustrial Revolu on, which refers to the shi especiallys a it is a technical concept that from tradi onal manufacturing and produc‐ does not translate well into Khmer. The is‐ on to cyber ‐physical systems, is an impor‐ sue of language was especially relevant, as tant aspectf o the Royal Government of most data and informa on resources are Cambodia’s (RGC) agenda. Technologys i a available only in English. key integrated aspectf o Cambodia’s Indus‐ trial Development Policy 2015‐2025,15 and Interviewees accessed data and informa on the country aims to be a digital economy by via a variety of media and informa on 2023.16 The Na onal Science and Technol‐ sources including newspapers, TV, radio, ogy Master Plan (2014‐2020), on technolog‐ and friends, but the most popular digital ical compe veness,17 expires this year and source was Facebook. People also used will be replacedy b the Na onal Policyn o other social media including Twi er and Science, Technology and Innova on 2020‐ YouTube. 2030.18 The government has also developed the Cambodian ICT Masterplan 2020.19 Research par cipants expressed a desire for trustworthy, reliable data, but showed lim‐ None of the current government master ited skill in making this assessment. There is plans are gender‐responsive in addressing a recogni on of the need to cri cally con‐ the development of the digital economy sider data. This skills gap led to uncri cal even though relevant implemen ng min‐ usage of inherently unreliable sources, such istries are aware of the importancef o re‐ as Facebook, whichs i considered to be reli‐ ducing gender dispari es in ICT.20 able for sharing and ge ng informa on and news as it is perceivedo t be more mely The government has established a Ministry than other sources.n I addi on, different of Women’s Affairs (MoWA). In addi on, the sectors showed different biases toward Women’s and Children’s Consulta ve Com‐ sources ‐ for example, government workers mi ee (WCCC) is the ins tu onal mecha‐ preferred government data over ci zen or nism responsible for the promo on of CSO data, while private sector workers gender equality and women's empower‐ specifically tried to avoid government data. ment at provincial, municipal, district and The open data organiza on, Open Develop‐ commune levels.21 ment Cambodia, has been ace v in Cambo‐ dia since 2011, and there is knowledge of the existencef o this pla orm. However, re‐
41 spondents did not express a broader knowl‐ made freely acocessible t all. edge of the movement or other pla orms. Civil Society Respondents’ answers suggested a strong Priori ze trainings in digital literacy,n i ‐ underlying fear of surveillanc e. Combined cludingn o privacy and confiden ality of with vague understandings of issues which informa on, especiallyn i the provinces; the government has drawn awareness to suchs a iden ty the , human trafficking, An ins tu onal culturef o confiden ality and hacking, respondents expressed con‐ and lackf o transparency limits the chan‐ cerns about accessing and sharing informa‐ nels of access to data. Data is not available on online. from officialr o trusted sourcesn i a mely manner, and may need to be directlye r ‐ Interviewees expressed themselves in ways quested, introducing me delays, the poten‐ that suggest deeply entrenched gender al for human error, and the need for a norms that impact women’s lives in ways strong personal social network. Data that is that have not yet been cri cally considered. available may be limited in reliability and At the same me, they also expressed completeness. Not all data is disaggregated. themselves in ways that ac vely under‐ Furthermore, data and informa on is fre‐ mined other women. quently only available in English, limi ng those able to understand it. Barriers Low skill level actss a a barrier to accessing Recommenda ons open data at all. Low data literacy, limited Government skill in data analysis, and low technicalx e ‐ Promote transla on of resources (includ‐ per se prevented people from adequately ing videos, datasets, and training materi‐ assessing and fully using data they found. als) into Khmer an ethnic minority This is made worse by living in rural areas, a languages; factor not fully understood or considered by interviewees. Other factors preven ng ac‐ Encourage clarity and transparency in cesso t data include language literacy (both data through the use of metadata, and Khmer and English), low educa onal a ain‐ include tools to assist with risk analysis ment, having limited me, and having lim‐ and data analysis; ited purchasing power. The impactf o Priori ze disaggrega on of datasets ac‐ gender is to augment these other barriers. cording to gender, sexual orienta on, age, disability and other categories; Recommenda ons Priori ze addressing ICT limita ons, Government includingp o ons to digitally connect Target youth – middle school, high rural areas independently; school and university students – to en‐ Civil Society sure that the upcoming workforces i dig‐ Organize public engagements that aim to itally literate and knowledgeable about promote use of government data for data; decision‐making, especiallyn i rural Private Sector areas. Develop training videos that can be
42 Pervasive stereotypes about women impact women by showing that support for their engagement with open data. These in‐ women will be suppor ve of the family; clude the stereotype that women should Private Sector not study ICT or use technology, and that Increase visibility of women role models women should priori ze caring for the in the technology sectory b pushing for home, family, and children.e Th result is that equal representa on within senior women are prevented from using technol‐ management, teams, and as ogy, even while men are permi ed without representa ve leaders at events (e.g. on ques on. This difference between what is panels); considered appropriate for men compared Encourage story sharing from successful to women limits women’s ability to engage women professionals in the technology in basic educa on, let alone professional de‐ sector; velopment and skills training. Because ICT is Civil Society considered an unseemly line of work for women, there are few women role models Teach women to use smart phones, es‐ in the sector.n I addi on, a hypersexualized pecially those in rural areas; view of women, combined with an Ensure educa onal programs, trainings, infan lia on of women, leads to men and capacity building are presented in considering it necessaryo t protect women the provinceso s that women are not by limi ng their ability to access technology, limited by travel me; impacg n women's ability to develop skills. Ensure that training includes childcare and playgrounds, and ensure that ming Recommenda ons of training and events are scheduledt a a Government me that does not prevent women with Provide support for women interested in curfews from a ending. studying in the ICT sector via a mentor‐ ship and working group program, devel‐ opment of a peer and professional network contact list, and provision of scholarships; Encourage shi s in thinking around gen‐ der norms, for example by including men in discussions even while ensuring safe women’s discussion spaces; Government should work with mul ple stakeholders, including civil societyo t enforce policies and strategies that are gender responsive and promote women in society; Support women in developing economic power to lessen her dependencen o a male breadwinner; Encourage men to provide support to
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[16] Cambodia Development Resource Ins tute. Cambodia Outlook Brief. h ps://cdri.org.kh/wp‐ content/uploads/OB2018e.pdf. Accessed December 19, 2019.
[17] Royal Government of Cambodia. 2013. Cambodia’s Na onal Science and Technology Plan. h p://snt.gov.kh/wp‐content/uploads/2016/03/ Master‐Plan‐2014‐2020.pdf. Accessed December 19, 2019
[18] Royal Government of Cambodia. 2019. Na onal Policy on Science, Technology and Innova on. h p:// snt.gov.kh/wp‐content/uploads/ 2019/12/%E1%9E%82%E1%9F%84%E1%9E%9B%E1 %9E%93%E1%9E%99%E1%9F%84%E1%9E%94%E1% 9E%B6%E1%9E%99%E1%9E%87%E1%9E%B6%E1%9 E%8F%E1%9E%B7_%E1%9E%9C%E1%9E%B7%E1%9 E%91%E1%9F%92%E1%9E%99%E1%9E%B6%E1%9E %9F%E1%9E%B6%E1%9E%9F%E1%9F%92%E1%9E% 9F%E1%9F%92%E1%9E%9A_%E1%9E%93%E1%9E% B.pdf Acessed January 28, 2020. Available only in Khmer language.
[19] Telecommunica on Regulator of Cambodia. 2016. Informa on and Communica ons Technology Master Plan. h ps://www.trc.gov.kh/wp‐content/ uploads/2016/10/Cambodian‐ICT‐Masterplan‐ 2020.pdf. Accessed December 19, 2019.
[20] Telecommunica on Regulator of Cambodia. trc.gov.kh. Accessed January 29, 2020.
[21] Royal Government of Cambodia. 2010. Na onal Program for Sub‐Na onal Democra c Development (NP‐SNDD) 2010‐2019, h p://ncdd.gov.kh/wp‐ content/uploads/2017/10/NP‐SNDD‐Final‐28‐05‐ 2010‐_En_.pdf. Accessed December 19, 2019.
45 ANNEX 2 - LAO PDR WOMEN IN DATA EXECUTIVE REPORT
Deeply ingrained gender norms re‐ Internet and social media use is rising, pre‐ main an unexplored barrier to dominantly on Facebook. Mobile connec v‐ women’s access to data ity remains a challenge, and people are less likely to have access to technologyn i rural Context areas, especially women and ethnic minori‐ es. A gender gap remains in all loca ons in Lao People’s Democra c Republic (Lao PDR) terms of access, use and skill. Data is not has a popula on of 6.5 million, with two open, with gender data openness ranked at thirds of the popula on living in rural areas. zero.2 It is the most ethnically diverse country in Southeast Asia, with 50 officially recognized Relevant policies and legisla on ethnic groups that can be broken down into more than 200 subgroups.1 It is considered While the Lao PDR Cons tu on protects a least developed country, with high equal rights to all, the reality is that this is poverty, significant income inequality, and implemented narrowly. Policies consider persistent gender inequality as measured by gender sectorally, without considering how the UN’s Gender Development Index. Liter‐ it intersects with other aspects of life, in‐ acy and higher educa on rates are lower for cluding access to technology.3 There is a Na‐ women than men, and even more so in rural onal Acn o Plan on Preven on and areas for ethnic minori es. Women are less Comba ng of Violence Against Women likely to be employed in formal labour, and (2021‐2025),4 as well as two women‐spe‐ less so in rural areas for ethnic minori es. cific laws and a recently adopted gender Women are underrepresented in profes‐ equality law.5 While these laws address gen‐ sions, management, and government. The der equality, legisla on protec gn other ICT sectors i par cularly male‐dominated. rights that are necessaryo t support equality are limited, suchs a educa on, or non‐exis‐ Cultural values consider domes c work the tent, suchs a access to informa on. The Law exclusive domain of women, and under‐ on the Media (No. 01/NA, 2008)6 and a De‐ value women’s par cipan o in educa on. creen o Internet Informa on Management This is even more so in rural areas. Women (No.327/GOV, 2014)7 give people the right are considered incapable of studying STEM, to media, but indicates that media is party‐ and technology use for women is consid‐ focused, with the party having discren o to ered unnecessary. determine what media and informa on is disseminated. Some newer laws address ICT
46 (The Law on Informa on and Communica‐ that have not yet been cri cally considered. ons Tec hnology (No. 02/NA, 2016))8 and Addi onally, thinking around gender is very data protec on (Law on Electronic Data Pro‐ siloed and o en considered a problem for tecn o (25/NA, 2017))9. others. Some expressed that not all data and informa on were relevant for women, One of the central organiza ons repre‐ and that it depended on their profession. sen ng women in Lao PDR is the party‐or‐ Some noted that women primarily accessed ganised Lao Women’s Union (LWU). Women media for entertainment purposes, sug‐ Techmakers Vien ane supports women in ges ng that this was because women did tech, while BarCamp is a venue for civic tech not see the relevancef o news or informa‐ engagement that is held annually. Aside on. One woman agreed with the common from Open Development Laos, at the me rural percepn o that if a husband could ac‐ of wri ng there are no other ini a ves spe‐ cess technology, a wife didn’t need to. Some cific to open data. interviewees had also experienced gen‐ dered bullying related to a desire to learn Findings and use technology.
Although all women interviewed felt that Barriers data and informa on was important for ev‐ eryday life, and that technology could make A key underlying barrier for women is the life easier, skill varied with educa on, in‐ deep entrenchment of gender norms in so‐ come, geography, and voca on. “Open ciety. This results in women needing to do data” was poorly understood, especiallys a it more unpaid work than men and therefore is a concept that does not translate well into having less leisure me to use technology, Lao an. Interviewees noted that informa‐ combined with being less likely to have the on is commonly only available in English, purchasing power and skill to access and and that state control limited their access to use technology and data. Women are also informa on. less likely to be literate and educated and are discouraged from pursuing STEM be‐ Interviewees accessed a variety of media cause women are considered less capable and informa on sources including newspa‐ of doing so. A related issue is that women pers, TV, radio, and friends, but the most are not openly challenging any of these popular digital source was Facebook.t I is gender norms. In this context, this silence used as a social and entertainment amounts to acceptance of these norms. pla orm, although it is considered to be re‐ liable for sharing informa on and news as it Recommenda ons is perceivedo t be an alterna ve to state‐ Government controlled media. As the government has Create programs that promote women in campaigned against “fake news” and misin‐ leadership in informa on, research and forma on, people were aware of these risks technology to mentor and be a role on social media. model for other women. Such a program should also include exchange opportuni‐ Interviewees expressed themselves in ways es for women involved in technology that suggest deeply rooted gender norms and data to learn from each other.
47 Private Sector development partners, etco.) t be trans‐ Raise awareness among people working parent and embrace open data princi‐ in and interested in informa on technol‐ ples, suchs a by removing requirements ogy (IT) about open data and its rele‐ to createn a account for access and REFERENCES vanceo t their work, including through making all data accessible, available in developing a case study that effec vely open access formats and downloadable. demonstrates the value of data; Civil Society Civil Society Make efforts to link the emerging tech‐ Build women’s technical capacityn i in‐ nology and web development scenen i ternet and computer/mobile phone use Lao PDR with the open data movement; through trainings and workshops. These Encourage publica on of key informa on efforts should focusn o women govern‐ in languages other than Lao an and in ment employees, students, and general non‐wri en formats (such as video or ci zens; audio).
Another key barrier is a closed ins tu onal culture, which leads to lower open data availability and ins tu onal transparency.
Recommenda ons Government Strengthen government‐led sta s cal collec no and publishing efforts that are upheld by principlesf o open data, par‐ cularly principles of responsible public disclosure of informa on and accessibil‐ ity for all; Enshrine access to informa on as a right of Lao ci zens, either through amend‐ ments to the Cons tu on or through specific laws and policies; Reduce bureaucra c and financial barri‐ ers to accessing data and informa on by the general public from government ministries; Strengthen exis ng e‐government ser‐ viceso t ensure that online database sys‐ tems are open, standardized and interoperable; Private Sector Encourage exis ng private databases (run by the private sector, civil society,
48 REFERENCES
informa on and communica ons technology. [1] Open Development Laos (2019). Ethnic minori es Accessed at: h ps://www.laoofficialgaze e.gov.la/ and Indigenous People. Accessed at: h ps:// kcfinder/upload/files/ laos.opendevelopmentmekong.net/topics/ethnic‐mi‐ %E0%BA%81%E0%BA%BB%E0%BA%94%E0%BB%9D nori es‐and‐indigenous‐people/. %E0%BA%B2%E0%BA%8D%E0%BB%80%E0%BA%95 %E0%BA%B1%E0%BA%81%E0%BB%82%E0%BA%99 [2] Open Data Watch (2019). Country profile: Lao %E0%BB%82%E0%BA%A5%E0%BA%8A%E0%BA%B5 PDR. Accessed at: h p://odin.opendatawatch.com/ %E0%BA%81%E0%BA%B2%E0%BA%99%E0%BA%AA Report/countryProfile/LAO?appConfigId=5 %E0%BA%B7%E0%BB%88%E0%BA%AA%E0%BA%B2 %E0%BA%99.pdf [3] Ministry of Planning and Investment. (2016). 8th Five‐Year Na onal Socio‐economic Development Plan [9] Government of the Lao PDR (2017). Law on 2016‐2020. Accessed at: h p://www.la.one.un.org/ electronic data protec on. Accessed at: h p:// images/publica ons/8th_NSEDP_2016‐2020.pdf www.laoservicesportal.gov.la/index.php? r=site%2Fdisplaylegal&id=289. [4] United Na ons Popula on Fund (2019). Net na onal plan of ac on priori zing mul ‐ partner coordina on in comba ng violence against women in Lao PDR. Accessed at: h ps://lao.unfpa.org/en/news/ new‐na onal‐plan‐ac on‐priori zing‐mul ‐ partner‐ coordina on‐comba ng‐violence‐against
[5] Na onal Assembly of Lao PDR (2004). Law on the development and protec on of women (No. 08/NA, 2004). Accessed at: h ps://www.ilo.org/dyn/travail/ docs/1425/ Law%20on%20the%20Development%20and%20Prot ec on%20of%20Women%202004.pdf;
Na onal Assembly of Lao PDR (2014). Law on the Resistance and Preven on of Violence Against Women and Children. Accessed at: h ps:// www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/docs/ELECTRONIC/ 100542/128494/F1006481424/ LAO100542%20Eng.pdf;
United Na ons Popula on Fund (2019). Net na onal plan of ac on priori zing mul ‐ partner coordina on in comba ng violence against women in Lao PDR. Accessed at: h ps://lao.unfpa.org/en/news/new‐na‐ onal‐plan‐ac on‐priori zing‐mul ‐ partner‐coordi‐ na on‐comba ng‐violence‐against.
[6] Na onal Assembly of Lao PDR (2008). Law on the media. Accessed at: h p://www.laoservicesportal.‐ gov.la/index.php?r=site%2Fdisplaylegal&id=92
[7] Government of the Lao PDR (2014). Decree on Internet informa on management. Accessed at: h p://www.laoservicesportal.gov.la/index.php? r=site%2Fdisplaylegal&id=56.
[8] Na onal Assembly of Lao PDR (2016). Law on
49 ANNEX 3 - MYANMAR WOMEN IN DATA EXECUTIVE REPORT
Systemic issues perpetuate proved, and SIM and internet penetra on persistent inequali es in has inc reased significantly. However, access accessing open data and to this is gendered. Women are 28% less technology likely than men to own mobile phones, which are the primary means of accessing Context the internet in the country.4 Of about 21 million Facebook users in the country, 62% Myanmar is a lower‐middle income country, are male and, at almost half of the number with almost three quarters of the popula‐ of male users, 38% are female.5 on living in rural areas. The popula on is made up of more women than men. Open data, par cularly with regard to open government, was gaining tracn o in 2012. Gender equality is considered middling, However, no progress has been made since ranking higher than Cambodia and Lao PDR the 2016 assessment of Myanmar’s mem‐ but lower than Thailand and Vietnam, as bership applica on to the Open Govern‐ measured by the Global Development Index ment Partnership (OGP) which determined (GDI). The reality is that significant inequali‐ that the country does not meet the eligibil‐ es remain, ranging from lower literacy ity criteria for any sec ons of OGP member‐ rates for women, to fewer women repor ng ship.6 At present, Myanmar’s open data themselves as “employed” even as they rep‐ ecosystem consists of actors from govern‐ resent higher numbers of informal workers. ment, civil society,a n onal/interna onal Gender imbalances remain systemicn i development organiza ons and the private Myanmar due to gender‐based power sector. differen als, gendered roles and expecta‐ ons, and a lackf o ins tu onal incen ves.1 Relevant policies and legisla on Gender inequality con nues to impact high‐ level decision ‐making, with fewer than 10% The Myanmar Cons tu on protects Myan‐ of seats in parliament held by women, and mar ci zens from discriminan o based on a only 5% of ministerial level posi ons held by number of characteris cs, including sex.7 women.2 However, ci zenship rights are mul ‐ leveled and eligibility is based on race.8 Women are Freedom of informa on, openness, and subject to these constraints, as well as prac‐ transparency are generally ranked quite cal and customary constraints. Aside from poorly.3 Affordability of the internet has im‐ cons tu onal protec on, legal protec ons
50 for women’s rights are limited, although an a common percnep o amongst all Burmese. an ‐ domes c violence law has been dra ed This indicated the perceived divide between and is currently awai ng Hlu aw urban, educated people and rural, less‐edu‐ (Parlimentary) debate.9 cated people.
Freedom of expression has cons tu onal Though interviewees accessed informa on protecn o but is limited to the extent that it using a variety of tools, they indicated that does not impacta n onal solidarity, na onal women primarily use smartphones for social security,r o public order.10 Ci zen communi‐ media, since mobile internet packages that ca on is also protected. A dra law on the offer access only to social media are Right to Informa on was released in Decem‐ cheaper. Women’s access to money is lim‐ ber 2017 but has not progressed. ited as men control finances, and since women more commonly work in the infor‐ There are no specific laws on data rights or mal sector and do unpaid work, they have protec ons, although there are some basic less money to spend. criminal provisions preven ng demand of data without a warrant,11 and intercepn o Interviewees who regularly access data and of online communica ons without permis‐ informa on found that it was difficult,s a sion.12 Despite an indica on that the gov‐ they did not know where to go, had diffi‐ ernment would consult on a new culty collec gn all the data they needed, or cybersecurity policy and legisla ve frame‐ knew it was either unavailable or untrust‐ work, there has been li le progress in this worthy. There was a heightened awareness regard.13 of hate speech, internet safety, and disinfor‐ ma on, which are issues that are heavily Policies are limited with regard to technol‐ campaigned in‐country by civil society. ogy, although the 2013 Na onal Strategic Plan for the Advancementf o Women 2013‐ Interviewees indicated an understanding of 202214 does men on gender as it relates to limita ons due to gendered cultural norms, technologyn i a general way. Gender is not but not how these layered with other in‐ well mainstreamed across Myanmar’s poli‐ equali es to produce greater inequali es cies. for certain women in accessing data and technology. Interviewees expressed a Myanmar is a signatory to a number of in‐ knowledge of exis ng inequali es, but did terna onal and regional declara ons, in‐ not consider that there were any ac ev ac‐ cluding Conven on on the Elimina on of All ons taking access away from women. This Forms of Discriminan o Against Women indicates an underlying framework of ins ‐ (CEDAW). tu onal, systemic, and cultural gendered views that impact all aspectsf o society,n i ‐ Findings cluding access to technology. This resulted in circular logic being used to jus fy in‐ Women who par cipatedn i this researchn i ‐ equali es in accessing technology. For in‐ dicated that they believed that data and in‐ stance, women’s naivety and lackf o forma on was important and relevant to technological skill was perceiveds a the rea‐ everyday life but did not think that this was son why gendered cyber ‐bullying and sexual
51 harassment happened to women, and thus a reason that men citedo t limit women’s Recommenda ons access to technology. Yet, by limi ng this ac‐ Government cess, women are unable to gain the neces‐ Government should incen vise women sary skills. Nor was there any considera on to engage in STEM and ini ate skills en‐ of what changes men should make, as the hancement programs for women who bullies and harassers in this scenario. are interested in data sciences Investment into women’s par cipan o in The findings also suggest a gap between the open data movement in Myanmar what is needed to help marginalized women should be encouraged, for instance in bridging the digital divide, and what is through building technical literacy and available. Women have limited skills and ac‐ targe ng women’s issues contextually cesso t tools; they need informa on on ba‐ Civil society sic services, not just data; they need prac cal steps they can take to use informa‐ CSOs and NGOs should set up data liter‐ on (suchs a on repor ng domes c vio‐ acy schools and programs to educate lence)n i everyday life; and these need to be women on data‐relevant skills, including provided in languages (ethnic minority lan‐ safety and security online guages) and formats (visual) that are acces‐ sible. The responses of interviewees suggest Poor accessibility of data and informa on ‐ that gender norms play a major part in per‐ ranging from a lackf o physical digital infra‐ petua ng this gap: technologys i used by structure and hardware; to issues with husbands and men to control women. affordability; to a lackf o data at all; to few, unreliable, and poor quality channelsf o ac‐ Barriers cess ‐ is another major barrier. While this barrier impacts all people in Myanmar, it Low skill level in language and digital liter‐ has an addi ve effect with gender norms. acy actss a a major barrier for women in ac‐ For example, men’s control over money, and cessing open data. Only a narrow subset of the norm of giving men priority of use of women ‐ urban, educated ‐ have the neces‐ technology before women, means that sary skills to use technology.n I some cases, women regularly have less access. this barrier interacts with systemic issues, par cularly gendered social norms, creag n Recommenda ons a cycle of disempowerment. Lackf o skill Government level is used as a reason, by men, to prevent Make quality data available, by disaggre‐ women from accessing technology, and ga ng data and publishing comprehen‐ women are then prevented from accessing sively in a mely and open way; the necessary skills to use technology, jus ‐ Set up public funds to make the internet fied as protec no of the "weaker" women. more easily accessible for women; Enforce and provide incen ves for use of Unicode to avoid font issues; Mandate the collec on of disaggregated data, includingn o age and gender;
52 Create an effec ev data management perpetuates inequali es in women’s overall system and have channels for people to freedoms to access open data and informa‐ access and use the data. on. Private sector Contribute to the open data ecosystem Recommenda ons by sharing datasets openly and on a Government streamlined, easy‐to‐access pla orm; Ini ate efforts to become a member of Encourage government to open the data the Open Government Partnership; environment by reques ng openly ac‐ Adopt gender‐responsive open data pol‐ cessible data with interna onally recog‐ icy; nized standards; Review dra legisla on and bills related Support women’s engagement with digi‐ to the right to informa on, with the in‐ tal tools beyond communica on apps ten on to progress it through the parlia‐ and social media though digital literacy mentary process; campaigns; Review and pass gender‐relevant legisla‐ Work with government to offer internet on, suchs a the law against gender‐ access packages that provide access to a based violence; broader range of online pla orms at an Provide educa on for women on parlia‐ affordable rate; mentary func ons Partner with academic ins tu ons and Civil society governments to provide ICT training to Improve awareness on the relevancef o women and girls and their families. data to daily life, as well as open data; Civil society Mobilize open data ini a ves among CSOs and NGOs should push for quality women communi es, suchs a through data to be made available in many lan‐ ci zen science projects; guages, including ethnic languages; Advocate for Open Government Partner‐ All civil society stakeholders should advo‐ ship and Open Data policieso t govern‐ cate for quality data, disaggregated by ment officials and MPs; gender, to be made openly available; Help Myanmar women use new tech‐ All civil society stakeholders should help nologies to promote peace and ensure the government and private sectoro t the sustainability of open data portals by standardize data in such a way that data providing sustainable funding and capac‐ from different sources can be merged ity building; and used for further analysis; Facilitate collabora on between govern‐ Build a cons tuencyf o women who are ment, women’s organiza ons and the driving data genera on that meets their private sector for open data ini a ves, contextual needs. suchs a by developing an online pla orm Systemic constraints, suchs a closed ins tu‐ for communica on. onal data culture and gendered cultural norms, are an addi onal and significant bar‐ rier, interacg n with the other barriers iden‐ fied. This results in an environment that 53 REFERENCES
[10] The Republic of Union of Myanmar. (2008). [1] Sheila Sco . (2017). Ending the Gender Digital Cons tu on of the Republic of the Union of Divide in Myanmar. Available at h ps://www.irex.org/ Myanmar. Available at h ps:// sites/default/files/node/resource/gender‐digital‐ data.opendevelopmentmekong.net/laws_record/ divide‐myanmar‐assessment.pdf. Accessed January 2008‐cons tu on. Accessed January 28, 2020 28, 2020 [11] The Republic of the Union of Myanmar. (2017). [2] World Bank. (2019). Gender Data Portal: Law Protec ng the Privacy and Security of Ci zens, Myanmar. Available at h p:// at Ar cles 5(1) and 8(d). Available at h ps:// datatopics.worldbank.org/gender/country/myanmar. www.myanmar‐responsiblebusiness.org/pdf/Law‐ Accessed November 2019 Protec ng‐Privacy‐and‐Security‐of‐ Ci zens_en_unofficial.pdf. Accessed January 28, [3] Freedom House. (2019). Freedom in the world 2020 2019. Available at h ps://freedomhouse.org/report/ freedom‐world/2019/myanmar. Accessed January [12] The Republic of the Union of Myanmar. (2017). 28, 2020. Law Protec ng the Privacy and Security of Ci zens, at Ar cle 34(b). Available at h ps://www.myanmar‐ Interna onal Budget Partnership. (2017). Open responsiblebusiness.org/pdf/Law‐Protec ng‐Privacy‐ Budget Survey 2017: Myanmar. Available at h ps:// and‐Security‐of‐Ci zens_en_unofficial.pdf. Accessed www.interna onalbudget.org/wp‐content/uploads/ January 28, 2020 myanmar‐open‐budget‐survey‐2017‐summary.pdf. Accessed January 28, 2020. [13] U Yan Naung Soe. (2019). Data protec on: Balancing convenience, privacy and security. [4] Sheila Sco . (2017). Ending the Gender Digital Available at h ps://www.slideshare.net/ Divide in Myanmar. Available at h ps://www.irex.org/ ethicalsector/data‐protec on‐balancing‐ sites/default/files/node/resource/gender‐digital‐ convenience‐privacy‐and‐security. Accessed January divide‐myanmar‐assessment.pdf. Accessed January 28, 2020. 28, 2020 [14] Myanmar Na onal Commi ee for Women’s [5] Hootsuite and WeAreSocial. (2019). Digital 2019 Affairs and Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Myanmar (January 2019) v01. Available at h ps:// Rese lement. (2013). Na onal Strategic Plan for the www.slideshare.net/DataReportal/digital‐2019‐ advancement of women (2013‐2022). Available at myanmar‐january‐2019‐v01. Accessed January 28, h ps://data.opendevelopmentmekong.net/ 2020 library_record/na onal‐strategic‐plan‐for‐ advancement‐of‐women‐2013‐2022. Accessed August 18, 2020. [6] Open Government Partnership. (2019). Open Government Assistance to Myanmar (DK0048). Available at h ps://www.opengovpartnership.org/ members/denmark/commitments/DK0048/. Accessed January 28, 2020
[7] The Republic of Union of Myanmar. (2008). Cons tu on of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. Available at h ps://www.burmalibrary.org/ docs5/Myanmar_Cons tu on‐2008‐en.pdf. Accessed January 28, 2020.
[8] The Republic of the Union of Myanmar. (1982). Burma Ci zenship Law, at Ar cles 3 and 4. Available at h ps://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex4.detail? p_lang=en&p_isn=87413&p_country=MMR&p_cou nt=86. Accessed January 28, 2020
[9]h ps://theananda.org/en/blog/view/ backgrounder‐summary‐PoVAW‐Bill. Accessed July 17, 2020.
54 ANNEX 4 - VIETNAM WOMEN IN DATA EXECUTIVE REPORT
An informa on environment A gendered divide remains in Vietnam in highly controlled by the regard to access to technology, regarding government impacts access both mobile phone ownership and internet access.3 A divide also exists between urban Context and rural areas, partly due to poor economic and infrastructure condi ons. Vietnam is a lower middle‐income country. However, in 2017 women made up 41% of While Vietnamese womens’ overall access graduates in science, technology, to resources suchs a educa on and health engineering, and mathema cs (STEM).4 have improved, ins tu onal and cultural gender inequality remain. The percentage Legisla on and Policies of women in government and poli cal managerial posi ons are low, and despite Vietnam’s cons tu on5 protects equality for high par cipan o in the labor force, official all ethnicis e and between men and sta s cs indicate that the average woman’s women. It also states that all ci zens are income is lower than that of the average equal before the law. The right to access man.1 informa on is also enshrined in the cons tu on. The Vietnamese government has control over data and informa on in the country. There are two laws directly addressing The government is the single sourcef o gender, the Law on Gender Equality 20066 available public data and has overall and the Law on Preven on and Control of approval and dissemina on authority. It Domes c Violence 2007.7 does not follow open data standards. There are very few independent sources. Vietnam has ra fied the Interna onal Conven on of Elimina on of All Forms of Based on informa on collected from Discrimina on Against Women. Vietnam’s official General Sta s cs Office, Open Data Watch has calculated Vietnam to There are a number of relevant laws in have a ranking of 106 out of 178 countries regard to access to informa on,8 although in terms of openness. The country ranks there is no legal framework for open data. higher in this regard than other Mekong The most relevant legisla on is the Law on countries. However, openness varies Access to Informa on, which was issued in depending on category.2 2016 and took effectn i 2018. It allows the
55 restric no of access to informa on in regard poli cal organiza on represen ng the rights to na onal defense, na onal security, social of women in Vietnam. order and safety, social ethics, and public health, although this must be prescribedy b Findings law. There is also a 2006 Law on Informa on Technology9 and a series of implementa on Interviewees understood the importancfe o decrees relevant to this law. Finally, an data and were able to express its relevance Ordinancen o Na onal Secrets Protecn o 10 to work, advocacy, and accessing rights, as (and the relevant decrees and circulars for well as everyday life. Data was considered implementa on) interacts with the Law on more useful for those who work in research Access to Informa on to restrict access to or policy, versus manual labour or the certain types of informa on. service industry. Interviewees, primarily urban and educated, use data but also The 2015 Law on Cyberinforma on access informa on more generally: online Security11 gives the State broad powers over shopping, videos, childcare, healthcare, the country’s digital informa on networks. educa on, and others. Some interviewees Data privacys i addressed in this law, as well considered that urban loca on and as in the Law on Informa on Technology. educa on was perhaps a bigger factor than The Decree No. 72/2013/NĐ‐CP issued in gender in accessing data. 2013 on management, provision, and use of internet services and online informa on Despite a recogni on of the importancef o (amended and supplemented by Decree No. data, there is also varying skill in data 27/2018/NĐ‐CP), deals with informa on literacy and analysis. Interviewees had security online, among other things. limited awareness of openness and priori zed making informa on available Vietnam has strategies relevant to gender as over increasing data literacy. There was well as technology. There is a Na onal greater understanding among women with strategy on gender equality 2011‐2020. more educa on. Work sectors also made a Technologys i not specifically men oned difference: for example government workers here, although educa on is a big aspectf o had greater understanding versus other the strategy. Regarding technology, there is sectors. a na onal strategy on “Transforming Viet Nam into an advanced ICT country”12, as Related to this was a desire for reliable well as two decisionse s ng targets for informa on. Women felt they could get this relevant infrastructure and technology via government verified, licensed sources. development through to 202013, primarily For some, the preference for using on investment. In addi on, the Prime government data was seen as necessary Minister issued a direc ev in 2017 on when advoca ng for policy reforms, due to progress towards the 4th Industrial a percepn o of its authorita veness and a Revolu on14, also through to 2020. Gender view that government data legi mized their is not an explicit part of any of these arguments. policies. Some women expressed themselves in ways The Vietnam Women’s Union is a socio‐ that suggested that they had considered
56 gender issues, inc luding how it might interact with other factors, suchs a loca on Civil society and economic condi ons, to impact access Work with government to enhance to technology, while others took these awareness of gender equality. issues at face value. Women also placed a high level of trust in the quality of data from Ins tu onal aspects, par cularly a closed the government, with no explicit ins tu onal culture, acts a a barrier to considera on of whether informa on women’s access to data and informa on. received might be constrained in some way. There is extensive government control over Yet, some women were also able to informa on and li le independencef o describe specific ways to improve data and informa on providers. A siloed research and informa on, including disaggrega on, ins tu onal environment results in the interoperability, and presenta ons of need to engage in bureaucra c processeso t applied, alongside raw, data. access even the informa on that is considered most accessible. More o en, Barriers there is a need to look at many sources, not all of which are interoperable, with users Cultural requirements for women are coming up against the issue of low deeply entrenchedn i Vietnamese society, digi za on of informa on. broadly centred around priori zing family. Stereotypes include that women should be Recommenda ons more focusedn o their family du es and Government that men should dominate the public Promote policies on ICT that reflect sphere. There is the gendered presump on womens’ reali es, ensuring that these that men are more invested in their careers, policies are reflece v of the needs of the and thus need to expand their knowledge, most disenfranchised communi es as a and therefore need to use informa on baseline;17 more. Introduce a gender quota system for Recommenda ons personnel at the decision ‐making level Government within government ins tu ons;18 Establish, implement, and expand social Develop regula ons to encourage services suchs a childcare and companies to implement gender equal kindergartens while also suppor ng policies. flexible work schedules for working parents;15 Private sector Enhance awareness of gender equality, Include incen ves internally for through regular campaigns and gender‐ companies to implement gender equal sensi ve educa on.16 policies.
Private sector Civil society Ensure that hiring policies promote Work to develop a group of data gender equality at all levels. advocates who are able to advocate on
57 behalf of the public for more with other girls;19 government data to be made available Establish support groups for women, REFERENCES openly. people with disabili es, people living in rural areas, and minority ethnic groups This exacerbates the issues for women who to build networks that support their lack skills and the means of access. Poor, demographic needs.20 less educated, and rural women face more difficuls e in access due to poorer Private Sector economic condi ons and informa on and Develop scholarships, mentorship communica ons technology (ICT) programs and campaigns to promote infrastructure. Furthermore, for these studying and working in STEM.21 women, who may have to spend a lot of me on making a living, they may not have Civil society the knowledge of, or the me to explore, open data, and may have no means to Support women to improve their digital access informa on. For these women, competence, including through digital having access to informa on is only the first literacy trainings and making step; not knowing how to use informa on technological tools readily available effec vely acts as an addi onal barrier. directly to women. Recommenda ons Government Con nue to promote the construc no of informa on and communica on technology infrastructure, especiallyn i rural areas; Promote digital skills educa on in schools, targe ng gender‐segregated lessons which focus upon girls learning
58 REFERENCES
[1] h ps://www.gso.gov.vn/Default_en.aspx? 2030‐and‐2045/resource/92254144‐508f‐406c‐ tabid=766 b01a‐d7bc94ef5b46. Accessed September 2020.
[2] h ps://odin.opendatawatch.com/ [16] Ibid.
[3] h ps://theinclusiveinternet.eiu.com/explore/ [17] Ibid. countries/VN/performance/indicators [18] Ibid. [4] h ps://e.vnexpress.net/news/business/data‐ speaks/vietnam‐among‐leaders‐in‐apec‐countries‐ [19] Ibid. for‐female‐science‐graduates‐3649900.html [20] Ibid. [5] h ps://data.opendevelopmentmekong.net/ laws_record/hi‐n‐phap‐nu‐c‐c‐ng‐hoa‐xa‐h‐i‐ch‐ [21] Based on a recommenda on from Asia‐Pacific nghia‐vi‐t‐nam‐2013 Economic Coopera on. 2018.
[6] h p://ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex4.detail? Women’s Economic Empowerment and ICT: Capacity p_lang=en&p_isn=76089&p_count=96243&p_classi for APEC Women’s Entrepreneurs in the Age of the fica on=05&p_classcount=3262 4th Industrial Revolu on ‐ Seminar Highlights and Policy Recommenda ons. [7] h ps://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/‐‐‐ ed_protect/‐‐‐protrav/‐‐‐ilo_aids/documents/ h p://publica ons.apec.org/‐/media/APEC/ legaldocument/wcms_177877.pdf Publica ons/2018/12/Womens‐Economic‐ Empowerment‐and‐ICT/218_PPWE_Seminar‐ [8] h p://vbpl.vn/TW/Pages/vbpqen‐toanvan.aspx? Highlights‐and‐Policy‐Recommenda ons.pdf. ItemID=11040. Accessed September 2020. [9] h p://vbpl.vn/daknong/Pages/vbpqen‐ toanvan.aspx?ItemID=4773
[10] h p://vbpl.vn/TW/Pages/vbpqen‐toanvan.aspx? ItemID=16
[11] h p://vbpl.vn/bothong n/Pages/vbpqen‐ toanvan.aspx?dvid=322&ItemID=11048.
[12] h ps://vanbanphapluat.co/decision‐1755‐qd‐ g‐development‐strategy‐of‐vietnamese‐cultural‐ industry‐2020‐2030
[13] h ps://dautunuocngoai.gov.vn/detail/5732/ POLICIES‐TO‐BOOST‐INVESTMENT‐IN‐THE‐DIGITAL‐ ECONOMY‐IN‐VIETNAM
[14] h ps://vanbanphapluat.co/decision‐149‐qd‐ g‐ program‐development‐broadband‐ telecommunica ons‐infrastructure‐2020
[15] Based on a recommenda on from Commonwealth Scien fic and Industrial Research Organiza on. 2019. Vietnam’s Future Digital Economy: Towards 2030 and 2045.
h ps://data.vietnam.opendevelopmentmekong.net/ dataset/vietname‐s‐future‐digital‐economy‐towards‐
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