The CEPT Network of Women for World Radiocommunication Conference 2023

"EACH ONE OF US CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. TOGETHER WE MAKE CHANGE"

Ahead of World Radiocommunication Conference 2023, a group of women have set up a forum for mentoring and knowledge sharing. Here, the CEPT Co-Chair of the NOW4WRC23, Amela Hatibovic-Sehic details the important reasons behind setting up such a network

It will take about 132 years to completely close the gender gap across the world. That is according to the Global Gender Gap Report 2022 from the World Economic Forum. Its findings were based on a survey of 146 countries.

Gender equality implies not only equal distribution between men and women in all domains of society. It is also about the qualitative aspects, ensuring that the knowledge and experience of both men and women are used to promote progress in all areas.

So, when the World Economic Forum looks at the evolution of gender parity it does so from four key dimensions: economic participation and opportunity; educational attainment, health and survival and political empowerment.

Ahead of the World Radiocommunication Conference in 2023, the ITU Radiocommunication sector (ITU-R) examined gender equality at the conference over the past 20 years. Statistics show that there has been very slight positive development when it comes to the percentage of women delegates participating in WRC-related activities.

At WRC-2000, just 12 per cent of delegates were women. By 2019, nearly two decades later, female delegates at WRC-19 still account for fewer than one in five of those attending. The percentage of female delegates attending was at 18 per cent. This is a clear indication of a very high grade of gender disproportionality in the ITU-R sector.

The conclusion is simple: representation of women at every level of WRC activities both within the ITU-R and CEPT, in general, needs to be improved. If women and men are treated equally in their home organisations, the chances are much greater for women to actively and meaningfully participate in work related to WRC-23. Therefore, it is essential that all the administrations and sector organisations actively work to improve the gender equality.

THE HEART OF CEPT NOW4WRC23

The CEPT Network of Women for WRC-23 (NOW4WRC23) was set up in 2020 as a forum for networking, mentoring and knowledge sharing. It is a regional part of the ITU-R NOW4WRC23 and aims to advance the goals, objectives, and achievement of the NOW4WRC19 into the ITU-R study cycle leading up to the WRC-23.

The activities of CEPT NOW4WRC23 started with the appointment of the CEPT Regional Co-chair in December 2020. By June 2021, the first members of the co-ordination team were gathered. Today, the activities of the network are co-ordinated by the team of 10 women. Members of the team come from administrations, organisations and from the ECO, covering all the project teams that work on WRC-23 preparations.

The co-ordination team is the heart of the network: Amela Hatibovic Sehic (PTS, Sweden), Cath Westcott (BBC, United Kingdom), Denise Urbach (BNetzA, Germany), Doriana Guiducci (ECO, Copenhagen), Eiman Mohyeldin (NOKIA, Germany), Isabel Martinez Ponte (MINECO, Spain), Jale Uzunboy (BTK, Türkiye), Liudmyla Karpenko (UCRF, Ukraine), Nadia Katsanou (EETT, Greece) and Soraya Contreras (BAKOM, Switzerland).

THE STATEMENT DEFINES OUR ROLE

The ECC conference preparatory group (CPG-23) has supported the CEPT NOW4WRC23 initiative from the very start. The CEPT NOW4WRC23 statement was unanimously agreed by the group back in May 2021.

1. The ITU-NOW4WRC23 is a forum for networking, mentoring and knowledge sharing. The main objective of NOW4WRC23 is to improve women’s representation in the radiocommunication sector at every level, by promoting participation of women in the work prior to and during WRC-23, both in terms of quantity and in terms of quality.
2. The ITU activities of NOW4WRC23 are endorsed and further facilitated within CEPT by introducing the regional CEPT NOW4WRC23 initiative.
3. The principles of gender equality, equity and parity are fully supported in the work of CEPT towards the WRC-23.
4. CEPT NOW4WRC23 shall support all efforts in:
   1. addressing the specific needs of women delegates within CEPT;
   2. organising CEPT NOW4WRC23 activities during meetings of CPG and project teams tasked with the preparation of WRC-23;
   3. involving and supporting women new to CEPT;
   4. promoting women’s leadership in CEPT’s preparatory process for WRC-23;
   5. encouraging active participation of CEPT women delegates in the ITU-R preparatory process for WRC-23.
5. All administrations and observers are encouraged to actively work towards the participation of women in CEPT meetings for WRC-23 preparation, at all levels, and to nominate and support women for leadership roles.

IMPROVING EQUALITY TAKES HARD WORK

Improving equality takes hard work and time. It takes bold policies that push boundaries, making society more inclusive. It takes legislation that protects everyone’s right to be who they are. And it takes pioneers who challenge the status quo.

Women's empowerment cannot be achieved without equal rights and participation – in society and in family. Here is a short review of some of the activities CEPT NOW4WRC23 initiated in order to strengthen the role and position of women engaged in the CEPT preparations towards WRC-23.

The core of the group's activities are the interactive sessions such as panel discussions and presentations of guest speakers, organised by our co-ordination team. All together we have had 39 NOW sessions and we had pleasure to welcome many prominent guest speakers, from all over the world and from different sectors, who shared their inspiring stories as well as knowledge and experience with delegates.

In September 2021, the CEPT NOW4WRC23 Mentoring Program was successfully launched, promoting gender equality, equity and parity in CEPT by providing development and sharing of knowledge and experience in accordance to the specific needs of mentees.

Through this programme women newcomers in WRC-23 preparations were matched, according to their specific needs for skills or competence, with experienced delegates, without regards to gender. By now 32 participants have joined the programme and 20 mentoring pairs have been arranged. The survey on the CEPT NOW4WRC23 Mentoring Program was conducted during the summer of 2022. Most replies on “the obstacles/difficulties that prevent more women from taking on leadership roles within CEPT and related meetings” are stated as “lack of woman participating in CEPT meetings” and most replies on “the actions that can allow more women to take on leadership roles within CEPT” are stated as "platform to share knowledge, practices and experiences". More information about the CEPT NOW4WRC23 and its mentoring programme can be found here.

At the ITU conference preparatory meeting (CPM23-2) on 28 March and 4 April 2023, CEPT NOW4WRC23 invited all CEPT delegates to an “open house”. Delegates from other regional organisations were also invited and welcome to this event where the co-chair and co-ordinators were available (to women and men) to provide information on our activities and, more importantly, to offer the ad-hoc mentoring support. The open house was also an excellent opportunity to welcome delegates from other regional organisations’ NOW-initiatives.

The CEPT NOW4WRC23 appealed, at several occasions, to the CPG-23 as well as to the individual administrations, to commit themselves to support women delegates to get actively involved at all levels of the organisation of WRC-23. The CPG-23 gathers many competent women who are interested in the work at WRC-23 but support from their home organisations in that engagement is absolutely essential.

THE ITU-R GENDER RESOLUTION IS A MILESTONE

The CEPT NOW4WRC23, in close co-operation with other regional organisations, supported and contributed to the work of the Radiocommunication Advisory Group (RAG) Correspondence Group on the implementation of WRC-19 Gender Declaration. This group prepared a proposal to the Radiocommunication Assembly 2023 (RA-23) for a new ITU-R Resolution “Promoting Gender Equality, Equity and Parity in the ITU Radiocommunication Sector” for submission to RA-23.

The resolution on gender, specifically adopted for the ITU-R Sector, would be of crucial importance and a milestone for empowerment of women in radiocommunications. That is why the CEPT NOW4WRC23 invited all CEPT administrations to actively support the proposal for this resolution at RA-23.

What now?

The CEPT NOW4WRC23 has established its organisation and arranged a large number of activities with the aim to change and strengthen the position of women in the work of the CPG-23 and its project teams. There is an awareness that this is not an easy task, that a lot of time and efforts are required to make that change. That is why this network needs to continue its work even during the next study period.

The CEPT NOW4WRC23 asked for support from the CPG-23 and CEPT administrations to continue this initiative in the next study period by establishing the CEPT NOW4WRC27 after WRC-23.