U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE

WASHINGTON : 

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office

Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800

Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001

97–633PDF 2015

WOMEN AND TECHNOLOGY:

INCREASING OPPORTUNITY AND

DRIVING INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

HEARING

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

NOVEMBER 17, 2015

Serial No. 114–121

Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs

(

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/ or

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/

(II)

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

EDWARD R. ROYCE, California, Chairman 

CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey 

ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida 

DANA ROHRABACHER, California 

STEVE CHABOT, Ohio 

JOE WILSON, South Carolina 

MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas 

TED POE, Texas 

MATT SALMON, Arizona 

DARRELL E. ISSA, California 

TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania 

JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina 

MO BROOKS, Alabama 

PAUL COOK, California 

RANDY K. WEBER SR., Texas 

SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania 

RON DESANTIS, Florida 

MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina 

TED S. YOHO, Florida 

CURT CLAWSON, Florida 

SCOTT DESJARLAIS, Tennessee 

REID J. RIBBLE, Wisconsin 

DAVID A. TROTT, Michigan 

LEE M. ZELDIN, New York 

DANIEL DONOVAN, New York 

ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York 

BRAD SHERMAN, California 

GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York 

ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey 

GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia 

THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida 

BRIAN HIGGINS, New York 

KAREN BASS, California 

WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts 

DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island 

ALAN GRAYSON, Florida 

AMI BERA, California 

ALAN S. LOWENTHAL, California 

GRACE MENG, New York 

LOIS FRANKEL, Florida 

TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii 

JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas 

ROBIN L. KELLY, Illinois 

BRENDAN F. BOYLE, Pennsylvania

AMY PORTER, Chief of Staff THOMAS SHEEHY, Staff Director

JASON STEINBAUM, Democratic Staff Director 

(III)

C O N T E N T S 

Page

WITNESSES 

Ms. Geena Davis, founder and chair, Geena Davis Institute on Gender in 

Media (special envoy for women and girls, International Telecommunication 

Union) ................................................................................................................... 4

Ms. Sonia Jorge, executive director, Alliance for Affordable Internet ................ 6

Ms. Joyce Warner, senior vice president and chief of staff, International 

Research and Exchanges Board .......................................................................... 16

LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING 

Ms. Sonia Jorge: Prepared statement .................................................................... 9

Ms. Joyce Warner: Prepared statement ................................................................. 18

APPENDIX 

Hearing notice .......................................................................................................... 44

Hearing minutes ...................................................................................................... 45

Ms. Geena Davis: Prepared statement .................................................................. 47

The Honorable Alan S. Lowenthal, a Representative in Congress from the 

State of California: Prepared statement ............................................................ 51

(1)

WOMEN AND TECHNOLOGY: 

INCREASING OPPORTUNITY AND 

DRIVING INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2015

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS,

Washington, DC. 

The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:12 a.m., in room 

2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Ed Royce (chairman of 

the committee) presiding. 

Chairman ROYCE. We will ask all of the members to take their 

seats. This hearing is called ‘‘Women and Technology: Increasing 

Opportunity and Driving International Development.’’ And around 

the world, women and girls are, frankly, the hardest hit by poverty. 

I think people realize that, but at the same time, empowering 

women can be the best way to lift them and their families out of 

that poverty. As our guest, Geena Davis, has said, ‘‘believing in 

yourself is the greatest gift.’’

Today, few tools have the potential to empower women and girls 

like the Internet. Whether it is access to online education, or 

whether it is job opportunities, or expanding that social network, 

the Internet can dramatically increase a woman’s access to information, dramatically increase her opportunity for her and her family. 

A recent survey in four developing countries found that of those 

women who reported using the Internet, 75 percent said they used 

the Internet ‘‘to further their education.’’ Many women surveyed 

also noted that the Internet and other mobile applications dramatically reduced the time and dramatically reduced the cost associated 

with tasks like learning about health concerns, arranging transportation, borrowing and saving money. Just ask the female fisherman 

in Kenya who now uses a popular mobile service to store and 

transfer money using just her cell phone that protects her business 

savings, protects her from theft. It enables her to spend her money 

as she chooses. Frankly, it empowers her. 

Yet, while we take the Internet for granted here, more than 4 

billion people, two-thirds of the world’s population, lack access to 

that Internet. And women are more likely to be offline than men. 

Across the developing world, that is 200 million fewer women than 

men that have access to the Internet. And the disparity is particularly great in Asia and in the Middle East, and in sub-Saharan Africa, where women are half as likely as men to be online. 

2

This means women are being excluded from one of the most powerful drivers of personal and economic opportunity of all time. And 

this is a problem for more than just those women who are left out. 

It means that families, communities, states, institutions, are all 

held back as well. 

Study after study has shown that women spend more of their income on their families and communities, prioritizing things like 

what, food, medicine, education, that then improves the outcomes 

for their children. And in terms of broader economic growth, that 

means that it reduces the disparity in women’s online access, and—

what would the GDP boost be if we were able to do this to the portions of the world that do not have that kind of access? It would 

be $4 billion to $5 billion. 

So it seems clear that failing to include women in the technology 

revolution is a big mistake. Likewise, failing to consider technology 

in our aid and in our diplomacy remains another costly oversight. 

The Internet is fast becoming as essential to a country’s economic 

growth as electricity was, as ports are, as the rule of law is, and 

that is why the committee is developing legislation to ensure Internet access is a priority in U.S. development projects. For one, our 

aid agencies could better coordinate to lay fiberoptic cable under 

roads being constructed in the developing world. That is kind of a 

no-brainer. 

In addition to having equal access to technology, it is important 

for women to have equal access to creating that technology. Globally, there are fewer women than men in science, in technology, in 

engineering, in math, in these STEM careers. However, there are 

some countries that have succeeded in having at least 50 percent 

of their STEM degrees awarded to women. Countries like the 

United Arab Emirates, Bulgaria, Oman, are pushing in that direction. They have 50 percent. We need to address what is holding 

women back from entering the sciences in so many other countries, 

including ours, I will add. 

The Internet has changed the way that we buy, that we sell, that 

we educate, that we socialize. It has transacted more international 

commerce than any other marketplace, with trillions of dollars 

pumped across the net daily. It is a tremendous opportunity, but 

it is only an opportunity for those who have access to it. This hearing will help us understand what is needed so that more, especially 

women, more people can take advantage of this revolutionary technology, and in the process, bring a better life for their families and 

communities and more opportunity and hope. 

So I now turn to the ranking member, Mr. Eliot Engel of New 

York, for his opening comments. 

Mr. ENGEL. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for 

calling this hearing. Let me welcome. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman—that is better—for calling this hearing. Let me welcome our witnesses to the Foreign Affairs Committee. Thank you for your hard work, and shining a light on what 

I view as an intersection of two issues critical to our foreign policy: 

The challenges facing women and girls as the growing reach of 

modern technology. I am looking forward to a good discussion. I 

would like to note that for the second time this month, our committee has a panel made up entirely of women. Two weeks ago, AsVerDate 0ct 09 2002 10:31 Dec 18, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\_FULL\111715\97633 SHIRL
3

sistant Secretary Patterson and Assistant Secretary Nuland were 

here testifying on the crisis in Syria, and today we have this distinguished group. 

It is amazing the way technology has changed the way we access 

numbers, respond to crises, or simply communicate with one another. Today, a coffee planter in East Africa with a smartphone can 

know what his produce is worth in London. A doctor anywhere in 

the world can pull up a patient’s medical record with the push of 

a button. Classrooms with broadband access have a gateway to an 

incredible wealth of knowledge, information, and face-to-face connections with people a world away. 

Of course, technology can also be exploited for nefarious purposes. We know that ISIS has taken advantage of everyday 

encryption technology, and even video games to communicate and 

orchestrate attacks like the one in Paris. These abuses underscore 

why we need a full understanding of the way technology is growing 

and changing the global landscape, but they should not blind us to 

the fact that technology has brought massive benefits to billions of 

people around the world. 

At the same time, it is important to recognize that those benefits 

have not been evenly distributed. When we focus on access to technology, we see that women and girls are at a tremendous disadvantage, just as they are in so many other areas. Women in developing 

countries are 23 percent less likely than men to be online. In South 

Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa, the gap is nearly 35 percent. And in sub-Saharan Africa, it jumps to 45 percent. 

Those are really shocking statistics. Some of this disparity is due 

to structural economic inequality. The cost of technology can be 

prohibitive in places where women are not full participants in their 

economies. Some of these problems stem from other norms and 

ideas about women and girls that keep them as second-class citizens. For example, across much of the developing world, Internet 

cafes are the easiest way to get online. The constraints of childcare 

and responsibilities at home make this a difficult option for some 

women. Access to mobile technology could help break down these 

barriers but, around the world, 200 million fewer women than men 

own mobile phones today. 

It is unbelievable. But beyond these practical limitations in many 

countries, Internet cafes, and the Internet in general, are considered inappropriate for women and girls. Even in some of the most 

remote areas, Internet cafes are packed with boys and young men, 

but women and girls are left out. In Azerbaijan, only 14 percent of 

women have ever been online, 14 percent; while 70 percent of men 

have access to the Internet. 

In India and Egypt, 1 in 5 women reported believing that the 

Internet is inappropriate for them. Can you imagine that? Their 

reasons for not getting online range from concerns that their families would disapprove to not knowing how the Internet could benefit their lives. The reality, of course, is that access to technology 

could not only improve the lives of individual women, but could 

help to lift entire communities and entire countries. We know that 

keeping women and girls on the sidelines of society is a major drag 

on growth and prosperity. When women become full economic and 

political participants, the results are huge in terms of driving ecoVerDate 0ct 09 2002 10:31 Dec 18, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\_FULL\111715\97633 SHIRL
4

nomic progress, improving health and education, and raising standards of living. Getting more technology in the hands of more 

women is a critical way to tap that potential. 

According to a recent study sponsored by Intel, getting an additional 150 million women online would add $13 billion to $18 billion to the combined annual GDPs of 144 developing countries. 

They would help countries become stronger, more stable partners 

on the world stage, and add fuel to the global economy. So the 

question isn’t why should we break down the gender divide when 

it comes to technology, but how do we break down that divide? 

What education and training efforts will best provide women 

with the knowledge they need to use technology for their benefit? 

What kind of partnerships will help make technology more accessible and affordable? How do we address the out-of-date taboo that 

technology is somehow inappropriate for women and girls? It is unbelievable. I hope our witnesses can offer their guidance in these 

areas, because I honestly believe that expanding access to technology could help solve so many problems. 

I thank you, again, for all you do, all of you. I look forward to 

your testimony and I yield back, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman ROYCE. Thank you, Mr. Engel. This morning we are 

joined by a distinguished panel. We have Ms. Geena Davis. In addition to acting in multiple critically-acclaimed movies, she is the 

founder and chair of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in 

Media. She also currently serves as the special envoy for women 

and girls at the International Telecommunications Union at the 

United Nations. 

We have Ms. Sonia Jorge, she is executive director of the Alliance for Affordable Internet. She has over 20 years of experience 

in information and communication technologies in both the private 

and the nonprofit sector. 

And we have Ms. Joyce Warner, and she is senior vice president 

and chief of staff at the International Research and Exchanges 

Board. She had a long career of serving in various international organizations with a focus on women’s health, and women’s development. 

So, without objection, the witnesses’ full prepared statements 

will be made a part of the record. Members here will have 5 calendar days to submit any statements or questions that you might 

have, or extraneous material that you want in the record of today’s 

hearing. And so I would suggest that the witnesses would like to 

summarize their remarks. We will begin with Ms. Davis. Thank 

you very much, again, for your testimony today. 

STATEMENT OF MS. GEENA DAVIS, FOUNDER AND CHAIR, 

GEENA DAVIS INSTITUTE ON GENDER IN MEDIA (SPECIAL 

ENVOY FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS, INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATION UNION) 

Ms. DAVIS. Thank you. Thank you, Chairman Royce, very much, 

and Ranking Member Engel and committee members. It is a great 

honor to be invited to testify here at this hearing on ‘‘Women and 

Technology: Increasing Opportunity and Driving International Development.’’

5

The efforts of the committee to ensure that women and girls are 

included and have the same opportunities as men and boys around 

the world are so appreciated, especially when it comes to the Internet. I have spent most of my adult life advocating for women and 

girls as a trustee for the Women’s Sports Foundation, as chair of 

the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls, as 

an official partner with U.N. Women, and, as the chairman mentioned, ITU’s Special Envoy for Women and Girls and ICTs. 

The empowerment of women and girls is an issue I am extremely 

passionate about, and it is why I founded my research institute, 

which studies gender in children’s media to help women and girls 

to be seen, and heard, and valued across the globe. Technology is 

having a huge impact on my community, the entertainment industry, in terms of how content creators are using digital platforms to 

not only serve as the gateway for delivering movies and television 

programming, but also for the creation of new ways of building 

global communities. 

And the Internet is having a profound impact on how the world 

engages with media, and can provide endless opportunities to empower women and girls, and to help create a systemic cultural shift 

by improving how they are portrayed and represented. These are 

the tools that will ultimately raise the value of women and girls 

in society. 

My institute has sponsored the largest body of research ever 

done on gender images in children’s media, covering over a 20-year 

span, and we worked side by side with the leading content creators 

to dramatically improve how women and girls are represented in 

media targeting children 11 and under. Our study of the careers 

of female characters in family films and in prime time in children’s 

TV, conducted by Dr. Stacy Smith of the Annenberg School for 

Communication and Journalism, shows that women are missing 

from critical occupational sectors, such as the STEM fields. 

Out of nearly 6,000 speaking characters in family films, males 

held 84 percent of all STEM jobs. This calculates to a ratio of five 

male STEM characters for every one female STEM character. No 

female leads or co-leads were shown with STEM careers. Looking 

across the categories of computer science and engineering, the ratio 

of males to females in these areas was 14.25 to 1. And in television, 

characters with STEM jobs were 79 percent male, and 21 percent 

female. 

The vast gender inequality in media aimed at children is extremely significant as television and movie images wield enormous 

influence on how cultures perceive the value of women and girls, 

and in establishing societal norms. Improving these perceptions 

can be the real game-changer in achieving greater empowerment 

and participation of girls and women in the technology sector. 

My institute’s tag line is: ‘‘If they see it, they can be it.’’ Technology has tremendous potential to transform women’s and girls’ 

lives, whether through STEM career choices, or by access to services such as e-health, e-education, e-commerce, e-banking, and 

other applications that can help women and girls address their 

day-to-day challenges. We need to vastly improve the gender divide. As the chairman pointed out, there were 200 million fewer 

women online than men at the end of 2013. We need to bridge the 

6

opportunities gap. Women earned only 18 percent of U.S. computer 

science degrees. Women make up less than 20 percent of the U.S. 

ITC workforce, and only 30 percent of the European ICT workforce. 

This cannot stand, given the predicted skills shortfall in the ICT 

sector of at least 2 million jobs globally by 2020. 

Encouraging women and girls to pursue careers in tech is critical 

to closing the economic gender gap. Studies from the ITU have 

demonstrated that companies that have a gender balance of women 

working in high-level positions on corporate boards have shown improved financial results. Women and girls will seek the skills to 

pursue these career opportunities if they can see other women in 

these roles and be inspired by them. The lack of real-world female 

role models in tech careers means that it is imperative for fictional 

female characters in STEM fields to be shown in entertainment 

media aimed at children. 

Technology, and particularly broadband, will be absolutely crucial for achieving all 17 of the U.N. sustainable development goals, 

and all three pillars of sustainable development: Economic development, social inclusion, and environmental protection. They need 

technology as key catalysts. 

We have the opportunity to ensure that women and girls are 

fully included in the expansion of the digital world, and that their 

voices and presence are shaping the agenda of meeting SDG–5, 

which addresses gender equality. 

Access to digital technology will be key to meeting this goal by 

providing women with the means to educate themselves and their 

children, to improve their own health and the health of their families and communities, to start their own businesses, to keep themselves safe, and to innovate to shape the future that they want. 

Because I am privileged to live in this country as the mother of 

three children, I can encourage them to engage in any type of interest that they may want to pursue. I want to see a world where all 

children have the same possibilities and opportunities; a world 

where women and girls are valued equally to men and boys, and 

have the freedom to pursue and achieve their dreams. 

Chairman Royce and Ranking Member Engel, once again, thank 

you very much for this opportunity to testify. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Davis appears in the appendix.] 

Chairman ROYCE. Thank you. Ms. Jorge. 

STATEMENT OF MS. SONIA JORGE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, 

ALLIANCE FOR AFFORDABLE INTERNET 

Ms. JORGE. Thank you, Chairman Royce, Ranking Member 

Engel, distinguished members of the committee. Thank you for the 

opportunity to submit a statement to the committee on opportunities for driving international development through increasing women’s access to technology. 

This issue is critical if we are to achieve the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, agreed in September of this year. The 

United States can and should play a leading role in driving this 

agenda forward. The Alliance for Affordable Internet, A4AI, is the 

world’s broadest technology sector alliance working to reduce the 

cost of broadband in developing countries, and through high-level 

advocacy and direct in-country engagement. The over 80 members 

7

or organizations of the alliance identify, research, and advocate for 

the policy and regulatory reforms needed to bring prices down and 

increase access to the Internet. 

The incredible growth of ICTs over the past decade has transformed Internet access into a force that is critical for sustainable 

global development. Indeed, President Obama declared earlier this 

year: ‘‘The Internet is not a luxury. It is a necessity.’’ Research has 

shown the benefits of broadband penetration. Investing in increasing broadband penetration in developing countries could lead to a 

return on investment of up to $21 for each $1 spent. Of course, the 

benefits of connectivity go far beyond the economic, bringing better 

health care to rural, conflict-affected, and other underserved areas, 

helping farmers cope with climate change, and connecting millions 

of children and young people to free online courses and learning 

materials. E-governance and social media are enabling citizens to 

participate more actively in civic life, while also streamlining delivery of public services, a move that, in Africa alone, could result in 

technology-related productivity gains of $10 billion to $25 billion 

annually by 2025. 

Today, over 60 percent of the world’s population, equivalent to 

4.3 billion people, as was already said, remain offline, and these 

billions of people excluded from the life-changing possibilities of the 

Internet are predominantly female, and nearly all in the developing 

world. Mobile broadband, the primary means by which most citizens in the developing world access the Internet, has been critical 

for expanding Internet access. Mobile broadband across the developed world is widely spread with penetration rates reaching nearly 

90 percent. Yet, this rate dropped to about 17 percent in Africa. 

This digital divide exacerbates existing economic and social inequalities, and stifles development across the globe by keeping 

women and other marginalized populations, those who arguably 

stand the most to benefit from an online connection, from accessing 

the empowering potential of the Web. 

While an entry-level broadband connection costs about 1 percent 

of monthly incomes across the developed world, it costs about 10 

percent for most in developing countries, and can reach over 100 

percent of their incomes in many countries. 

High prices hit certain groups harder. Excuse me, high prices hit 

certain groups harder than others, and income inequalities mask 

the true scale of the problem in many countries. For billions living 

in poverty, earning less than $2 a day, the cost of a basic 

broadband connection is prohibitive. Women are nearly 50 percent 

less likely to access the Internet than men in the same community. 

The Web Foundation study found that women are 30 to 50 percent 

less likely than men to use the Internet to increase their income, 

or to participate in public life. We need to change that. We need 

to change the gender gap. We need to work together to change the 

conditions in which women can have access to the Internet. 

Skills and relevance are also another barrier important to address. To boost economic growth, empower democratic governance, 

and advance global development, cannot be overlooked as a key 

component of U.S. foreign policy, and there is a huge potential for 

the Internet to have a role in that space. Here are some concrete 

actions that the U.S. Government can support and invest in: SupVerDate 0ct 09 2002 10:31 Dec 18, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\_FULL\111715\97633 SHIRL
8

port policy reform, based on inclusive multi-stakeholder processes 

that will lead to market growth and lower costs; coordinate 

broadband expansion strategies with development in the energy 

sector; invest in International Telecommunications Union, a U.N. 

agency, that does efforts to expand collection of gender indicators 

and support national statistics agencies to do the same; support the 

development of inclusive and holistic national ICT and broadband 

plans, that address all aspects of the access and use ecosystem; recognize barriers faced by women, and ensure privacy and safety online; education programs and consumer campaigns to increase 

awareness of the utility of the Internet, as well as training on basic 

skills and safety online will be critical to ensuring women can access and fully utilize a safe and open Web without any fear of retaliation. Incorporate digital skills education into education programs 

from primary school onwards. And finally, develop and support programs that provide public access and to target underserved populations. 

I look forward to our discussion here today and your questions. 

And I thank you again for this opportunity. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Jorge follows:]

9


97633b-1.eps
10


97633b-2.eps
11


97633b-3.eps
12


97633b-4.eps
13


97633b-5.eps
14


97633b-6.eps
15


97633b-7.eps
16

Chairman ROYCE. Thank you, Ms. Jorge. Ms. Warner. 

STATEMENT OF MS. JOYCE WARNER, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF OF STAFF, INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH 

AND EXCHANGES BOARD 

Ms. WARNER. Thank you, Chairman Royce, Ranking Member 

Engel, and distinguished members of the committee. On behalf of 

IREX, I am very honored to have the opportunity today to discuss 

our experience and the important relationship between women and 

information and communication technology in the developing 

world. I want to also thank my colleagues for their compelling remarks this morning. And I will try to—you may find some overlap 

because I think we have some similar recommendations. 

Since 1968, IREX has worked in over 125 countries to build just, 

prosperous, and inclusive societies, and we use technology across 

much of our programming. Our work is supported by the generosity 

of the American people through the U.S. Department of State, the 

U.S. Agency for International Development, as well as private donors, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Our approach is to focus holistically on both IT access, but also broadening digital literacy. I 

know we talked a lot this morning about why the issue is important, including improving GDP, and we have also talked about the 

alarming disparity for women and girls, the overall less access to 

the Internet, less mobile ownership. I want to highlight also, 

though, that less training and exposure even where access is available, is an important factor creating the digital divide. And according to the 2015 World Wide Web Foundation report, women are 1.6 

times more likely to report a pure lack of skills as a barrier to 

Internet use. And I think we would all agree that nations cannot 

develop and grow unless they engage their full human resource potential, and closing the gender digital divide will be key to achieving this. 

So I would like to share a few things of what we have learned 

at IREX. First, women and girls need safe public access points. We 

know that girls and women often choose public libraries because 

they are perceived as safe, reliable, and affordable. And we have 

partnered with the Gates Foundation in 11 countries to turn public 

institutions, like libraries, into Internet access points. And we are 

pairing that with providing access and training librarians to support them. 

Second, it is really important to introduce girls to technology as 

early as possible, and definitely no later than their adolescence. 

The after-school tech clubs IREX has created in eight countries 

have helped girls gain digital skills with positive results into young 

adulthood, including increased confidence and employability. By 

supporting girls early on with digital literacy skills, we can help 

stem a lifetime of gender disparity. 

Third, we need to invest and support infomediaries, and by this, 

we mean trusted community members, teachers, librarians, other 

adults who can help coach and train both younger and older women 

to use technology effectively and positively. Infomediaries can also 

help them filter the massive amounts of information that is available. In addition to working with librarians, we have partnered 

17

with the State Department to expand the use of technology by master teachers from across the developing world, the overwhelming 

majority of whom have had no prior training in using instructional 

technology in the classroom. The goal is to make technology a regular part of learning and not only a special subject or an elective. 

And finally, we have learned that women also need to find relevant and valuable information to them, and that is both available 

in their local language, but in addition, it is information they can 

use in their everyday lives. 

In partnerships with USAID and a local Jordanian research organization, we have just recently launched a gender clearinghouse. 

This is the first of its kind in Jordan, and it is allowing women to 

access information on their human rights. 

The core of what we need to achieve gender parity in technology 

around the globe exists today, and so we have a few recommendations. First, we need to expand the notion of literacy to include digital literacy. ICT needs to be included in formal education. It is not 

a side subject. So while we used to have the three Rs, I think now 

we need literacy, numeracy, and digital literacy. We need them all 

working together, and we need to introduce that as early as possible. 

Second, we should prioritize investments in community institutions like schools and libraries where we can build on existing infrastructure for public access. For example, there are 320,000 libraries in the world, and 70 percent of them are in developing 

countries. Imagine if each was connected to the Internet, and 

staffed with a skilled infomediary to support Internet access by 

women and girls. 

Third, we need to balance the overall expanding of IT access with 

better digital literacy and skills, and ongoing coaching, so that 

women and girls can use this technology to better their economic, 

family, and life outcomes, so as to not inadvertently, without those 

skills, expand the divide rather than shrink it. 

And finally, we should look across all of the work we are doing 

in the U.S. Government and among our development partners, and 

make sure that everything we do is taking the gender digital divide 

into account. Whether we are working on health, or food security, 

or environmental issues, are we looking at everything, and making 

sure that we are addressing this wherever it is possible? 

And increasing mobile subscriptions alone will not actually purely equalize this gender divide. Governments, international agencies, nonprofits, and private enterprises need to work together. And 

I thank the committee for this opportunity. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Warner follows:]

18


97633a-1.eps
19


97633a-2.eps
20


97633a-3.eps
21


97633a-4.eps
22


97633a-5.eps
23


97633a-6.eps
24


97633a-7.eps
25


97633a-8.eps
26

Chairman ROYCE. I thank you, Ms. Warner. We thank all of our 

witnesses here. 

Let me start with a question that goes to this issue of how media 

itself portrays women working in the STEM fields. And my first 

thought here would be, because the studies that you have focused 

on here in industrialized nations, because that is rebroadcast out 

around the world, both are lesser representation on screen and off 

screen, probably impacts the number of women and girls interested 

in STEM in the developing world. And that is the essence of my 

question there. 

Ms. DAVIS. Absolutely. You are right. Eighty percent of the 

media consumed globally is made in the United States. My institute has also researched—done the first global gender-in-film 

study, and it is—the representations are no better in foreign films 

as far as women in these fields. And the importance of it is, I can’t 

overemphasize how powerful media images are. And they can be in 

both a positive and a negative way. For example, there being far 

too much stereotyping and hyper-sexualization of female characters. That is obviously negative. But if you show female characters doing nontraditional and important things, the message 

comes across clearly. 

The most interesting example I have of that is in our study of 

the careers of television female characters. One of the most wellrepresented professions was women in forensic science. There are 

so many female forensic scientists on TV because of the CSI shows 

and everything, that I don’t have to work to get more representation there. And in real life, the numbers of women wanting to pursue this career has absolutely skyrocketed. I think about 75 percent of people wanting to study this field are female, and colleges 

are scrambling to keep up with the demand for the courses. So it 

just shows what I mentioned earlier, the words we live by is, ‘‘If 

girls can see it, they can be it.’’ Because we fail to have enough 

real-life female role models in these fields, in the STEM fields and 

ICT, we need them on screen so that girls can see that, and we 

need them in great numbers as well. We have to have boys and 

girls see that women are good at science and good at engineering 

and math, and that that is viable for them. 

Chairman ROYCE. I have another question here, and it goes to 

the use of technology. 

Some years ago, I passed an Anti-Stalking Act here, but as technology changes, we are now seeing it is not just the phone. It is 

access to the Internet as an area where what you might think 

might make women feel more secure, you also have the online 

stalking, the online hacking that threatens their security. So have 

you seen any evidence for the panel here, any evidence on balance 

that technology is decreasing the overall amount of harassment of 

women, or is technology just a neutral tool when addressing this 

cultural issue at the end of the day? What is your perception on 

that issue, and how can we impact it? 

Ms. JORGE. Thank you. So I am sure that everyone has something to share on that. I think one of the most important things 

to recognize, and a study by my colleagues at the Web Foundation 

just found this clearly through very in-depth research in 10 countries across the developing world, is that the realities and the inVerDate 0ct 09 2002 10:31 Dec 18, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00030 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\_FULL\111715\97633 SHIRL
27

equalities that exist offline are normally transferred to the online 

world, including the challenges, the difficulties, the norms, tend to 

be duplicated online. And what we are doing the way we work, is 

to ensure that, first of all, that is not the case. And that the kind 

of policies, the kind of programs, the kinds of projects to empower 

women, not just through access, but the way they adopt, the way 

they use technology, first of all, are safe, but also are informed by 

policies that will protect women to do that safely, but always giving 

them the voice that they need, as women, to express freely and in 

an open way. And that is very important. 

So it is important that we have the right programs in place to 

not only support, to protect women, but it is not just about the online world. That is just a replication of the huge inequalities that 

around the world we need to deal with as well as in the offline 

world. So it leads us to think about are there disparities that we 

know exist, that Geena already mentioned, that Joyce mentioned 

in terms of education, in terms of the STEM fields, in terms of a 

woman’s ability to have access to information, to understand their 

rights. 

In many countries in the developing world, the ability of women 

to understand and to use and act on their rights is very limited. 

And one thing that the online world and access to technology can 

do is allow women much faster and good access to information that 

they otherwise wouldn’t have. 

And so in that way, we can use online platforms and the Web 

and technology to not only increase women’s ability to have more 

access to information, understand their rights, act on their rights, 

and have more support to have their own agency as women in their 

own societies. 

Chairman ROYCE. Technology is going to be empowering. Mr. 

Sires. I am out of time, we will go to Mr. Sires. 

Mr. SIRES. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for being 

here. This is a very important issue for empowering women in 

many of these countries. I was just wondering, when you talk about 

this stigma that in some of these countries have, women using the 

Internet, and getting good at it, would you call it jealousy, just 

from the male role in some of these countries, or what is actually 

the stigma that you are talking about? Anyone? 

Ms. WARNER. I would mention, you know, stigma may be one element of it, but I think part of what we found effective is making 

sure that men, whether they are in a teaching role, whether they 

are in a family role, whether they are in a policy or employer role, 

understand the value broadly of the Internet for women. And so we 

have done some work with a partner in Nepal and India, in very 

rural areas, and looking at rural community centers, and women 

who did not normally leave the house. Once men were understanding more about how this might contribute economically, more 

financial transaction management for women, then I think once 

that was expressed and they understood that, then they were able 

to embrace the participation of women in technology more. 

Mr. SIRES. Ms. Davis. 

Ms. DAVIS. I think a tremendous amount is attributable to unconscious gender bias. If everyone is raised in a culture that doesn’t 

show that women take up half the space in the world, that doesn’t 

28

show that women do half of the interesting things, men and women 

internalize an unconscious bias that most of us don’t realize the extent of how much we have that. And so that needs to be overcome 

through education and through seeing women involved in this. But 

it is something that is inhibiting progress in so many sectors of society, and particularly in this one. So people just aren’t aware of 

the unconscious bias they have against women in these kinds of positions. 

Mr. SIRES. Yes. Ms. Jorge. 

Ms. JORGE. Thank you. I totally agree with my colleague witnesses. I would like to say that, you know, if you look at some of 

the recommendations that many of us have already made at this 

table, they very much lead to exactly that question. How do we 

change that? And how do we, through education, through targeted 

programs and projects that are addressing some of those inequalities, change that, those ideas, but also that reality, and allow 

women to express and to have new opportunities that they otherwise wouldn’t have? And technology can have a role in that. So I 

would say that by bringing access that is meaningful, that is relevant to women’s lives, that is relevant for them as economic 

agents, as social agents, as creators, as Geena mentioned, is extremely important. And women need to be supported to have those 

opportunities. 

Often, as we know, and in this country, we are very fortunate, 

but we are not at all at the point where we are supposed to be yet. 

Many programs, as you know, also in this country have supported 

women from embarking on STEM fields. And that is something 

that is also very needed everywhere; not just through the profession, but especially through cultural and social environments as 

well where some of these differences, the lack of role models, the 

lack of opportunities, have really kept women back. And we have 

a responsibility, not just as gender advocates, as I assume we all 

are, and I assume all of you are in this committee, to create opportunities for many more women to have those opportunities in their 

lives, being social agents, economic agents, as creators, whatever 

those women decide for their own lives. And that is really important. It is also their choice. 

We are here to create and we want to create opportunities for 

women to be able to act on the choice that they have with technology, however they would like to use it. But we need to make it 

relevant. We need to make it informed. We need to make the technology useful and meaningful. If we don’t do that, we fail at what 

we are doing. 

Mr. SIRES. Well, thank you. I always get jealous in my office 

when I have a staffer come in and teaches me how to work my 

computer, or work my phone. And to me, that is a jealousy factor 

that is not just in my office, but I think in some of these countries 

also, when they see a woman being so good at some of these gadgets. But I thank you very much for being here, and thank you for 

all of your information that you have given us. Thank you. 

Chairman ROYCE. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you. 

Mr. SIRES. Former prosecutor from Florida. 

29

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Be afraid. Thank you so much, ladies. Thank 

you for your testimony, and I apologize that I came late. 

So Ms. Davis, I wanted to ask you if you could give all of us late 

arrivals an overview about what your very interesting institute is 

doing. How do you gauge success? What are the metrics that you 

use to know that you are doing what you seek to achieve? So I 

apologize, but I am so interested in your work. 

Ms. DAVIS. Thank you. Yes, so I have been doing this about 10 

years. My institute has sponsored the largest amount of research 

ever done on gender depictions in children’s media. And the reason 

I wanted the data was I wanted to be able to go directly to my colleagues in the industry. So rather than taking on the mantle of 

educating the public, because I have access to the creators of children’s media, I can just go directly to them with this information. 

And it has proven to be invaluable. 

So many creators were simply not aware of how bereft of female 

presence the movies and television they made for kids was. In the 

area of television, we looked at all of the different sectors, prime 

time, and daytime, and reality, but children’s programs has the 

worst ratio of male to female characters. And that is true in family 

film ratings, also have about the same ratio of male to female characters. And so they are shocked. They are absolutely shocked. And 

I think we can attribute that to everyone having the same unconscious gender bias. We were all raised on the same ratio of male 

to female characters. 

In film, the ratio of male to female has been exactly the same 

since 1946. So it is in all of us, this idea that women do not take 

up half the space in the world, and that they do not do half of the 

interesting things. And as we mentioned earlier, 80 percent of the 

media consumed globally is created in the United States. So we 

are, in fact, responsible for exporting a very negative impression of 

women around the world. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. And in the 10 years, excuse me, that you 

have had the institute and you presented this, have you seen a 

marked improvement? I know I have got three granddaughters, 6, 

3, and 1——

Ms. DAVIS. Right. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN [continuing]. And sometimes I am just appalled by the shows that they watch. 

Ms. DAVIS. Right. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. And they are supposedly on, you know, great 

kids-oriented stations. 

Ms. DAVIS. Right. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. And it is just such a lopsided view of women’s roles in the world. 

Ms. DAVIS. It really is. And the remarkable thing is how unconscious so much—people literally didn’t think about this until we 

had the numbers. In fact, before I had the numbers and I spoke 

to people in my industry, very often they would say, oh, no, no, no, 

no, that has been fixed. That has all been fixed. And they would 

name a movie with one female character——

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. And then whip up another princess. 

Ms. DAVIS [continuing]. As proof that gender and equality had 

been fixed. So they were not aware that the populations were so 

30

bereft of female presence. And, so, there is definitely a shift in 

their consciousness, and we untapped a tremendous desire to do 

right by women and girls, but now they understand in what ways 

they need to do that. And we haven’t been able to measure yet an 

increase in the percentage of female characters. 

As of 2014, it is still exactly the same. But I feel very confident 

predicting that within 5 years, the needle will move for the first 

time in nearly seven decades. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. And the filmmakers and the TV show makers, they will realize that they have got a wonderful audience 

there. I mean, it will be good for their intake and box-office 

hits——

Ms. DAVIS. Absolutely. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN [continuing]. And the ratings for TV shows, 

because parents are very well aware, not just moms, dads too——

Ms. DAVIS. Right. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN [continuing]. They are very aware of the gender disparities that their kids are subjected to. 

Ms. DAVIS. Right. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. So thank you for what you are doing, and 

thank you for the excellent research that backs up what you are 

saying. And I think that you will be seeing the fruit of your labors 

coming up in the coming years. I congratulate all three of you. 

Thank you so much for having this hearing, Mr. Royce. I am sorry 

that I came late. Thank you. 

Chairman ROYCE. Mr. Eliot Engel of New York. 

Mr. ENGEL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ms. Davis, thank you, 

again, for being here, and thank you to all of the witnesses. Ms. 

Davis, in 2012, you were appointed by the ITU as a special envoy 

to promote technology among women and girls, and you have done 

incredible work on gender in the media with your institute. How 

women and girls are depicted in the media, and entertainment industry, affects, of course, how they perceive their ability, talents, 

and their future prospects in life. So it is incredible work that you 

do. 

We have seen some progress on gender equality in the U.S. in 

the media. We have seen you as the role of the first female President on TV. I must say for the record, I would like to see a female 

President. No names mentioned. But obviously, there is more to do. 

Can you comment on the fact that it is important for women and 

girls to access information and communication technologies to end 

gender inequality and to empower them; but, it also seems to me 

that we need to encourage men and boys as well to change their 

perceptions of women’s roles. So if you could comment on that, that 

would be great. 

Ms. DAVIS. Absolutely. Thank you very much. We find that the 

more hours of television a boy watches, the more sexist his views 

become. And that a girl’s perceptions of what she can be in life goes 

down the more media she consumes. So it is a very negative and 

important message that comes through for children. We always emphasize that it is equally important for boys to see women and girls 

engaged in unstereotyped activities, to be engaged in the STEM 

fields. 

31

My theory of everything, and why I am focused on what kids see 

first, is that we are, in effect, creating a problem that we have to 

try to solve later on. We are instilling gender bias in boys and girls 

from the very first entertainments that they consume, and the first 

popular culture they are exposed to. 

So that is why I am so focused on what boys and girls see in the 

beginning. And it will change everything, I think, if we can have 

kids grow up free of these biases, that we would be looking at a 

different world when that happens. And that is why it is important 

around the world that we spread this message, and we show 

women and girls taking up the space that is rightfully theirs. 

Mr. ENGEL. You know, it is amazing because I even see it in my 

own kids who are now in their 20s and 30s, that some of the perceptions or things, not only in this issue, but in many issues that 

I sort of grew up with and saw around me, that they are—it is incredulous to them that such things can even exist, because they 

were raised in a different world——

Ms. DAVIS. Right. 

Mr. ENGEL [continuing]. And so it is really important that we 

change those perceptions. Thank you. 

Ms. DAVIS. Thank you. 

Mr. ENGEL. Ms. Warner, our committee has held a few hearings 

that focus on women’s and girls’ access to education, and if you 

look at these global reports, they indicate that the gender gap in 

primary education is closing, but women and girls continue, obviously, to lag behind in education rates in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, and the result of that is that 

600 million women around the world are illiterate, which is nearly 

twice the number of men. 

So how do we go from promoting access to education to promoting digital literacy? Can we do both at the same time? And how 

important is it to introduce young girls to information and communication technologies at an early stage? Obviously, it is important. 

Ms. WARNER. Thank you. I would make a couple of points. First, 

I think that there is no going back on the technology. So we have 

to find a way to integrate it. And one of the ways we found to be 

effective is to look at what are teachers using around instructional 

technology, and how are they engaging students across the subjects, so that it is not just about teaching it as a separate subject. 

The second point I would make is that as we look at long-term 

engagement for women, and we have done a lot to increase access 

to primary education, that I think we are starting to see the challenges of not investing in secondary education that is stopping 

things at primary. And so to the extent we can both advocate for, 

and even with limited resources, invest in seeing that more women 

receive secondary education, and I should say quality secondary 

education, because I think, as we all know, just being in the classroom may or may not lead to educational outcomes. 

The World Wide Web Foundation has found that women who 

have had some secondary education are actually six times more 

likely to be online than women who have not had any secondary 

education. So I think the combination of not making it just a separate subject—now, that is to say, that we also agree we should expand the number of women in technology fields, in STEM fields, 

32

and make that investment. But, in addition to doing that, we need 

to make technology just not seem like something separate to daily 

life. 

Mr. ENGEL. Thank you. I see my time has expired. Thank you, 

thank you, all three of you, for your great testimony. Thank you, 

Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman ROYCE. Mr. Ted Yoho of Florida. 

Mr. YOHO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the panelists 

being here. And, you know, there is a paradigm shift going on. I 

am a veterinarian by trade, and I graduated in 1983. And up to 

the 1970s, it was a male-dominated field. And when I went to vet 

school, it was about 65 percent male and 35 percent female. Now 

it is about 10 percent male, 90 percent female, and it has changed. 

And I think a lot of professions have done that. And, I think, in 

large part, you know, what they see on television. So I commend 

you for doing that. And, of course, your role in ‘‘The Long Kiss 

Good Night,’’ you know, being a housewife that was a chef. I still 

remember that chefs do those things, you know. And that was a 

great movie, and I am sure that has inspired a lot of people. 

Ms. DAVIS. Hopefully not to become assassins. 

Mr. YOHO. A great movie. Anyway, what I have seen is, you 

know, when we look around, and when we have 60 percent or 

greater of the world’s population as was mentioned, off the Internet, 4.3 billion offline, and primarily women, what experiences do 

you find with the illiteracy rate being that high in relationship to 

using the Internet? 

If you want to—start with you, Ms. Jorge. What do you see with 

that? I mean, is it hard to get people to transition over that, and 

what are you finding as far as problems? 

Ms. JORGE. Yes, it is, indeed, and education is a key variable 

that determines how women not only engage with technology, but 

use it in a way that is meaningful. So not just for receivers of information, a one-channel way of receiving information, but actually 

acting on the information that they can receive, that they can use, 

that they can learn from. And, in fact, you know, a recent study 

showed exactly that, and proved that, again, education, if you don’t 

have that variable there, if it is not addressed, it really limits the 

way women can engage with information and technology. 

So, and that is why it is so important, and that for us, and for 

IREX, and so many, you know, colleagues like, you know, Geena’s 

institute, to really focus on the education piece, because it is a key 

ingredient to make sure that when women have access, they can 

not only engage with that technology much more meaningfully, but 

they can also use that access in ways that will be more productive. 

Mr. YOHO. Let me ask you this: How much are you using the 

Internet for education,you know, like a classroom to bring the 

world experts to teach if—any of you have experience with that? 

And what are you seeing? Is it more productive than having inroom classrooms, or as an assistant to a person in a classroom? 

Anybody? 

Ms. JORGE. With the caveat that I am not an education specialist, I am, you know, an expert in policy and regulation. I have 

to say that from my experience, also as a mother, and doing a lot 

33

of research, and reviewing a lot of really good research by many of 

our partners, it is important to have both. 

Mr. YOHO. Okay. 

Ms. JORGE. There is never just one kind of curriculum that 

should just be focusing on technology or not. It is the combination, 

and using technology in a way that is useful for implementing the 

curriculum, for bringing skills up, et cetera. It is not that the technology is a silver bullet, but the technology is an extremely useful 

element for education to improve the quality——

Mr. YOHO. It is a tool. 

Ms. JORGE. Exactly. But in developing countries, what is interesting, and it is important for us to highlight here, because we are 

focusing on international development questions. When there is 

very little education, or no access to education at all, it is extremely 

important that the Internet has become one platform to have access to information and educational tools that otherwise wouldn’t 

be there. 

So the gaps and the realities of those environments are also quite 

different than, say, the environments that you would have here as 

privileged where our children go to schools where my children, all 

of them have access to either a Chromebook, or an iPad, or what 

have you. 

Mr. YOHO. Right. 

Ms. JORGE. Those are, you know, exceptions when you consider 

the entire world, and especially the developing world that we are 

focusing on, and the situation of women and girls in the developing 

world. 

Mr. YOHO. All right, let me go to Ms. Warner, because I saw her 

reaching for the button. Let me get a response from her. 

Ms. WARNER. Thanks. I would say that technology, all by itself, 

is neutral. So really what is key from an educational setting is 

making sure that folks know how to effectively use the technology 

in a learning context. So that may be to either supplement with 

newer information in the STEM fields. We use it a lot with English 

language learning, so native speakers’ voices can be brought in 

around the world. 

Mr. YOHO. Right. 

Ms. WARNER. But I think the second issue is using it as a type 

of learning method. Does it engage more for project-based learning? 

Does it teach some of the critical skills, more than the rote learning 

that we want to see that are 21st century skills that so many employers around the world are seeing lacking? 

Mr. YOHO. Ms. Davis, do you have anything to add to that? 

Ms. DAVIS. No. No, you know, I agree with what they said. I am 

not an expert in that field, but it makes a lot of sense. 

Mr. YOHO. All right. Well, I appreciate it. I am out of time, and 

thank you for being here. And keep up the good work. 

Ms. DAVIS. Thank you. 

Chairman ROYCE. Bill Keating of Massachusetts. 

Mr. KEATING. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is great to welcome 

a graduate of Wareham High School, in Massachusetts, Ms. Davis. 

And it is a pleasure to be here. I am in the next town over in 

Bourne, and I am sure we are all proud of your success and the 

work you are doing in this regard. 

34

I wanted to touch base on something I think is just as important 

too, and that is how important your work is for males and young 

men. I mean, a mother is a child’s first teacher, and particularly 

in other countries in the world as well as domestically. Empowering mothers to have this information, to have this access, we 

have found with investments in USAID, that money is better 

served empowering women and mothers, because it goes better to 

the health of the children, the welfare of the child, but also the 

education of that child. So can you speak a little bit about how empowering this is for mothers—how it is for young boys having a 

mother that is more in a position of having these resources? 

Ms. DAVIS. Well, it is incredibly important. And like you said, the 

value of having a mother who is educated is not only important in 

their self-esteem, in their presence, but also, the more a mother is 

empowered, a woman will invest 90 percent of her income back into 

the community and to her family and to everyone’s health and 

well-being. And so it is an incredibly powerful tool that we have to 

empower the mothers and the women in developing countries to 

have this knowledge, have access—the more access to the knowledge that will empower them, the better. 

Mr. KEATING. Yeah. I don’t know if any of the other witnesses 

wanted to touch base on that? 

Ms. JORGE. Actually, I guess I could just share a story that one 

of our colleagues who is here in the room shared that I think is 

quite telling of that, and it is a story based on a case in Madagascar where women have put together a project to allow women 

to report gender-based violence using information and communications technology and using their mobile phones. And not only was 

it important for women, through the project to learn about their 

rights and report cases of domestic abuse, but their sons and their 

daughters became much more aware of the issues that their mothers were being faced with and the rights that their mothers had 

as mothers, and would remind them to report those cases of domestic abuse when they took place. Because they had the ability to 

have a tool that would allow them, and they would remind their 

mothers, you have the right to report and to not have to accept 

what is happening to you. 

And so that is a very powerful example of how not only the children, sons and daughters, can learn about the rights of their mothers, but their rights as children as well and see the potential that 

some of these new tools can provide to them as they engage as people in their own lives. 

Mr. KEATING. Are you aware of any concerns to the—you know, 

this is an enormously powerful tool to mobilize people around a 

common cause, particularly internationally, but are you—not every 

country in this world, unfortunately, has the greatest of missions 

and purposes right now, and there are very oppressive governments and terrorist groups that are out there. 

Do you come across any concerns that in the hands of some of 

these countries or groups with deep packet technology, that they 

can identify who is using these kinds of technological tools and target them? And if that is the case, is there something we can do 

about that? 

35

Ms. WARNER. Yes. I think that this is a concern, that some governments can use this as a way to oppress, to easily identify activists and others who may be trying to produce a counternarrative. 

I think one of the things we have found that is really important 

is in working with activists or journalists or others, is to make sure 

that our work includes really good skill building in digital security, 

that this is an important element for individuals to know. 

And just to add to that, there was a question about general harassment of women, not targeting of activists and others before. And 

I think in Iraq one of the cell phone companies has developed a 

special plan with, like, a bye-bye button to block callers who are 

harassing. So I think to the ability we can engage the mobile companies to understand what types of services would be female 

friendly, that that will both help them gain more customers, but 

also make the service have a more positive value. 

Mr. KEATING. Okay. Thank you very much. I yield back. 

Chairman ROYCE. Matt Salmon of Arizona. 

Mr. SALMON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

First and foremost, I want to go on the record agreeing wholeheartedly with Mr. Engel that Carly Fiorina could make a great 

President of the United States. Just having a little fun. 

Chairman ROYCE. I would just point out that Geena Davis played 

one. 

Mr. SALMON. And since Ted Yoho opened up the door on movies, 

I have two daughters. My oldest is 35, the other one is 30. I think 

they get really angry for me telling their age, but they are both 

very well educated, very successful, and they would both be very 

thrilled to drive a convertible with Brad Pitt in the back. 

So, anyway, you have done some phenomenal work, Ms. Davis, 

raising the profile. Every father that has daughters wants exactly 

the same opportunities for his daughters that he does for his sons. 

I have two daughters and two sons, and I want the same thing for 

all of them. You said that in—maybe confronting is the wrong idea 

or wrong thought, but you have addressed with some of the leaders 

in Hollywood the disparity, and you have said that they have kind 

of referred by citing anecdotes of individual movies or productions. 

Are you making some headway, do you think, with them in general, and what are some of the things that we could do to maybe 

aid in that effort? 

Ms. DAVIS. Right. Thank you. Yes, definitely we are making 

great strides. I am really heartened by the response to the research. It was before we had the research that I found that people 

were, even creators of content, were unaware of how few female 

characters they were including in their products, but once they 

know or once they can engage with the research, they are very motivated to want to make change. 

We did a survey of everyone who has heard my presentation in 

Hollywood in our industry, and 68 percent said what they learned 

had changed two or more of their projects, and 41 percent said it 

had changed four or more of their projects. So we are very excited 

about that. There is lots of movies and TV shows that have come 

out that we know that we have impacted. And it is something that 

is very simple. For example, we were at an animation studio, and 

I mentioned that in some G-rated films, crowd scenes are made up 

36

of only 17 percent female characters, and—you know, which makes 

no sense in the 21st century that we would be showing kids that 

much imbalance. 

And at the meeting, the head of the studio said, hey, guys—because it was 99 percent men around the table—could we just stop 

doing that? Could we just agree right here that we are going to 

make crowds 50 percent? And they all said, of course, because it 

was so unconscious. So I think a tremendous amount of our work 

is done simply by awareness. And as you suggested, it is not a 

confrontational way that I approach the studios at all, it is as a colleague in a very private and supportive environment, and we partner with them basically to bring it to the front of their minds, and 

it seems to be working, so I am very optimistic. 

Mr. SALMON. I think diplomacy is something we all need a little 

bit more of, and congratulations on that. 

Ms. DAVIS. Thank you. 

Mr. SALMON. Ms. Jorge, as access to the Internet increases 

around the globe, how can we leverage distance learning to help 

empower women and girls in the goal of increasing educational opportunities? Can we do more to encourage the development of country-specific distance learning in both basic education as well as university instruction? What specific steps would you recommend? 

Ms. JORGE. Yes, absolutely. Thank you for the question. As I 

said, you know, those specific target programs to help women and 

girls have access to education would be very important. It is also 

very important that education integrating technology starts very 

early on, and it is not just left at the primary level, as Joyce already made the case, but should continue and be very clearly expanded. 

I think actually the work of IREX and Joyce’s, you know, team 

in education is actually quite relevant for your question, especially 

we are partners in some of the work that we do, and one of the 

reasons why is because we believe in the power of libraries and 

public access in developing countries to be not only centers of 

knowledge, centers of education, but also centers for people to have 

access to these opportunities that they otherwise wouldn’t be able 

to have on their own. 

Because access is so important, the reality is, as you probably 

understand, it is very difficult, as it is now and especially despite 

the growth in the sector, to make sure that all populations are covered with the right type of coverage that Internet requires. And so 

because of that and because clearly competition and markets by 

themselves have not been able to ensure that everyone has access 

to a connection, let alone being able to have the income to afford 

a connection when that might be possible, it is very important that 

public access is there and it is strengthened to be way to not only 

bring education opportunities, but to strengthen the kind of education programs and projects that are out there. 

And I would say—I would really love Joyce to add to that, because IREX has done some really fantastic work in that area integrating the education field and needs with libraries as a platform 

to improve education. 

Ms. WARNER. Thank you. I did mention that. I did want to actually add one thing that we are just starting to do now with Course 

37

Talk, which is kind of the Yelp of MOOCs, I don’t know if they 

would say that is their official term, but that is how I describe 

them, and USAID, and that is, we are trying to look at what 

MOOCs are looking like in the developing world. This is research 

that is just starting. 

We are also partnering with the University of Washington 

Tascha Institute on this. And one of the things we are trying to figure out, and we have three countries we are looking at right now, 

Colombia, Philippines, and South Africa, is how are people engaging with MOOCs, how could they be used for development. Most 

people are showing that people who take MOOCs are trying to advance their careers, their employability. So what factors increase 

that, what are the challenges, what are some of the gender issues 

there. And I think the research is ongoing right now, so maybe it 

is more of a preview that this is something we are concerned about. 

I think that when you look at engaging women and really all 

learners online, the ability to combine blended learning can also be 

very effective. So what does that mean? Maybe folks are online and 

they are remote from the main educational institution providing it, 

but there is an infrastructure in place for them to meet together 

in their village, the same people who maybe are learning together, 

and how do you blend that in person with the online learning. 

Mr. SALMON. Thank you. I yield back. 

Chairman ROYCE. Thank you. We go now to Lois Frankel of Florida. 

Ms. FRANKEL. Thank you, Mr. Royce. And thank you so much for 

this hearing. I consider myself pretty well informed on women’s 

issues, but I have to say, this is very shocking to me, and I thank 

all of you for being here, because I know I often—every day I say 

to myself, how did we live without the Internet? It is really something. 

And, you know, even my own—my mother is 90 years old, and 

she loves her pink iPad. I mean, she is on that iPad all day. And, 

you know, my niece has this little 2-year-old, I don’t think he is 

even 2 years old, and we go out and he grabs the phone and he 

is playing games. So it is just—it is—I will say it is pervasive, 

but—so, anyway, I have a few questions. 

I just want to say to Ms. Davis, I am a great fan. I am glad to 

see you are alive and well. I have been worried about you. I know 

you went over the cliff—I see you go over the cliff and then I think 

you just went blind and died on Grey’s Anatomy. Did you live or 

did you die? 

Ms. DAVIS. Well, I didn’t die. I only was—I had a——

Ms. FRANKEL. Oh, you had the brain tumor. 

Ms. DAVIS [continuing]. A brain tumor and then I went blind, but 

I didn’t die, no. 

Ms. FRANKEL. Okay. That is good. I couldn’t remember. Well, I 

knew you had the brain tumor, and anyway, I was worried about 

you. But I am glad you are doing well. 

And so my first question is to you, which is how do you fight—

with what you are doing with the media, where does the box office 

come in and how do you, you know, get around the fact that I am 

sure everybody—they look at the bottom line and making money? 

38

Ms. DAVIS. Yeah. Absolutely. So research shows that films about 

women or directed by women, are equally successful once you adjust for the budget, but it is something that people are hesitant to 

embrace. There is this belief in Hollywood that women will watch 

men, but men won’t watch women, so our hands are tied. That is 

why I don’t talk to them about making more female stars, I say 

whatever you are already making, add more women to the population. And the interesting thing is, there is a test called the 

Bechdel Test, which has a very low threshold; it is, are there at 

least two women who talk to each other about something other 

than men, and you would be amazed how many films do not pass 

this test. However, a study has shown that films that do pass that 

test make more money. 

So there is definitely evidence that adding more female characters is not only a good idea for our population, but is a profitable 

idea as well. 

Ms. FRANKEL. Thank you for that. Now, I have heard a couple 

of ideas for solutions, because I try to write them down. One, of 

course, is the whole media thing, Ms. Davis, that you talked about. 

But I heard you say expanding literacy to digital literacy, build on 

existing infrastructure, expand coaching opportunities. 

So my question is this, have you done an analysis at all of what, 

for example, USAID is doing? Is there a list of recommendations 

of how we—you know, the Congress can engage either with budgetary items or policy? 

Ms. JORGE. Yes. Thank you for the question. That is extremely 

relevant and exactly the reason why we are here. USAID has done 

some really fantastic work in supporting many of the programs 

that many of us are actually working on, both not through just 

NGOs, but also the private sector or private sector organizations, 

in trying to come up with better solutions to address this problem. 

Including addressing the kinds of systemic problems around the 

gender income gap and other kinds of inequalities that exist in society in general. 

But coming back specifically to ICTs and technology and access 

to the Internet, what can be done, what can be done better, and 

what can USAID and other agencies of the U.S. Government do to 

support that? A few things: One, give high priority to establishing 

time-bound targets for gender equity in ICT, access and use. There 

was an attempt to do that by the Broadband Commission at the 

U.N. level, a group that I was—you know, I was honored to be part 

of, in fact, inspired by a request by Geena here a few years ago. 

I am afraid to say that we haven’t done much headway into that, 

and the reality is that the gap still exists and we don’t see very 

clear gender equity in ICT access and use, but neither do we see 

it in the kind of policymaking that needs to be supported at the 

international level to ensure that not only gender analysis and gender considerations are included, but that policy is developed to address the gaps that exist. 

And so we have not made enough progress, and we need to, and 

it would be very important for the U.S. to have an important role 

to ensure that that moves and that we can actually move the needle and ensure that policies are focusing on women. 

39

Affordability is an issue. The fact and the reason why I mentioned income gap is that women across the world earn on average 

from 30 to 50 percent less than men. And by default, they are 

given a lot less opportunity, just from an income perspective, to be 

able to access, to purchase, to afford the kind of access that the 

Internet requires, and so that is a huge problem that needs to be 

addressed. And by reducing costs and reducing prices to the end 

users is very critical to make sure that the reality of women’s lives, 

that we hope continues to improve, is recognized when developing 

policy. If you are developing policy for the average person that 

doesn’t exist, obviously a large group of the population is going to 

be left out of the impact of that potential policy, especially if they 

start from a different point. 

It is also very important to work with civic women’s groups to 

find ways that technology can enhance civic participation. One of 

the most empowering effects of technology and access to the Internet and the information that the Internet brings to women, is by 

allowing women to become more active citizens in their societies, 

with their governments, something that we here not only take for 

granted, but are able to exercise and enjoy the benefits of that benefit. 

Most women in developing countries don’t have the ability to 

enjoy that, not only civic participation, but free and open civic participation without fear that their actions, their thinking, their ideas 

may not be retaliated against. And so we need to support that kind 

of civic engagement and civic participation by women and especially by women’s groups that are much closer to the—live the realities of women in developing countries. 

And as some of our colleagues already mentioned, I would say always put women at the center of policymaking. Here we are in this 

room, people come in and out, but I can tell you I have been counting how many of you women policymakers have been on the bench, 

and there are very few of you, and if there were more, many more 

of these issues would be considered. It is no different in any other 

part of the world. 

When women are at the center of decisionmaking, issues are 

thought differently from a different perspective, they are imagined 

in new ways. And so more women at all levels of planning, development, policymaking is absolutely critical to ensure that those concerns come through in the final result of policymaking, in international development, in the kind of support that we as a government here in the United States can make international development, and the kind of impact that we want to see taking place as 

a result of our actions. Thank you. 

Ms. FRANKEL. Thank you very much. 

Chairman ROYCE. And, Lois, last month on our hearing on the 

anti-poaching bill, we had the academy award winner for best director, we had Kathryn Bigelow here, who directed ‘‘The Hurt 

Locker’’ and also directed ‘‘Zero Dark Thirty,’’ so——

Alan, Alan Lowenthal. 

Mr. LOWENTHAL. From California. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And 

thank you, witnesses, for being here. And I apologize for coming a 

little late. 

40

Last night as I was going through preparing for this, and I know 

we are kind of looking at both developing and developed nations 

and kind of—I was shocked by something, and it was the last paragraph of the memorandum that was put out by the chair of the 

committee, where it said that in the United States, fewer women 

are now completing technology engineering degrees than what occurred 30 years ago. So there are fewer now, and half of all that 

enter technology companies leave them by mid career. These are 

staggering statistics, and it really just knocked me for a loop when 

I read that. 

And so what are we going to do from a policy standpoint here 

within the United States to really reverse this? Less than 30 years 

ago: It is just a shock. And I just want to know if you can help us, 

as we begin to kind of grapple with this, both the idea of both access, but also retention. How are we going to deal with this issue, 

and—which is just shocking, absolutely shocking. And I ask for any 

help, me not knowing kind of where to go from here. 

Ms. WARNER. So in full disclosure, it is not my personal expertise, but I would say——

Mr. LOWENTHAL. Not mine either, so you can say anything you 

want. 

Ms. WARNER. Okay. Thank you. I would say a couple things. One 

is I think many of the technology companies as they look at how 

their family policies and others are designed, and what it takes to 

advance and stay in the field is very important. 

There was a report done a few years ago by the Department of 

Commerce actually, that looked at women in STEM and what is 

going on and why people go in and study and then leave the field, 

and I think that that might be something that really looks at some 

of the patterns. 

Mr. LOWENTHAL. Are there some things that you remember from 

that, that really stand out——

Ms. WARNER. Yeah. 

Mr. LOWENTHAL [continuing]. Why we are going in the wrong—

we are not even talking about being flat, we are talking about 

going in the wrong direction? 

Ms. WARNER. I don’t remember if this was the number one reason, but I think a lot of it had to do with the scheduling and the 

work and being able to balance, once you had a family, the workload and the hours and——

Mr. LOWENTHAL. I got it. 

Ms. WARNER. Yeah. 

Mr. LOWENTHAL. Anybody else want to give some help? 

Ms. DAVIS. I would just say that I think there is so little encouragement for women in this field that—you know, there was a study 

at Yale not too long ago where they sent out resumes from—it was 

actually a woman’s resume to apply for a position in the science department at colleges, and they—so they sent out identical resumes 

except the first name was changed on some of them to a male first 

name, and it turned out that the man got far more offers for a position at a higher salary and he was judged to be more likable and 

somebody that you would want to work with. 

So in the face of that, that your teachers from grade school on 

and your professors in college have bias against women in the 

41

STEM fields, it kind of makes sense that that is reflected in how 

many women pursue it, how many—you know, that we are not 

making—sorry we should have made—been building on——

Mr. LOWENTHAL. That is right. Rather than building, we are 

going in the wrong direction. 

Ms. DAVIS. Right, right. 

Mr. LOWENTHAL. And that is what is so shocking. I can understand beginning to build, to deal with some of these issues——

Ms. DAVIS. Right, right. 

Mr. LOWENTHAL [continuing]. But to be going in the wrong direction is just shocking. 

Ms. DAVIS. Yeah. We just need a cultural shift as far as this is 

concerned, and this hearing is bringing a lot of attention to it, 

which I think is very welcome. 

Mr. LOWENTHAL. Well, thank you. Any other thoughts? 

Ms. JORGE. I will just share a quick story——

Mr. LOWENTHAL. Yes. 

Ms. JORGE [continuing]. A personal story that I think is telling 

of the realities that we face as parents, as citizens. I was looking 

just recently with my older daughter at different school options, 

and when I went to visit a particular school that I cannot disclose 

the name, I was asked—you know, my daughter is very interested 

in math and science, but also she is a musician. And so we were 

talking about her qualities, et cetera, and the kinds of things that 

she wanted to get out of the school. The assistant headmaster 

asked me, oh, so what does your husband do? What is his profession? And so I told her, and she carried on the conversation. 

And so my daughter asked me, she didn’t ask you what you did? 

And so, you are right. So I turned back to the assistant headmaster 

and said, are you interested in what I do? And she was pretty 

shocked and kind of embarrassed, so much so that she tried to 

overcompensate in even more embarrassing ways. But the truth is 

that is the reality that we face, women, girls, face in many environments, including in what are, you know, largely perceived as very 

well educated, very important and nice schools, very privileged 

schools, I must say, and still the stereotypes and the kinds of 

things that we have to address are so ingrained, as Geena and 

Joyce have been saying, that are flabergasting. 

And so I can tell you that none of my daughters would ever go 

to that school until another person changes. But this is the reality 

that women and girls face on their daily lives regardless of where 

we are in the world, and in some places more so than others because of other issues. And so can we do something about it? We 

can, and that is why we are here. And I hope that you through 

your, you know, actions, through your policymaking, through your 

support in international development support programs that can 

help change these realities that should not exist. 

Mr. LOWENTHAL. And I think that is a wonderful reason for having this hearing, and I agree, but I think the narrative, just for us 

to be aware of just how serious the problem is in the United States, 

not just in developing nations when we are talking about developing nations, that we are going in the wrong direction real clearly, 

raises the red flag, that this is an amazing—you know, this is such 

an important area, that we need to be using our resources wisely, 

42

bringing all people into the system, and making sure that everyone 

really is able to function as we move forward. 

And the fact that we are losing women and not having them go 

into the most important professions, and the data is clearly going 

in the wrong direction, is really cause for great alarm, great alarm. 

Ms. JORGE. May I? 

Mr. LOWENTHAL. Yes. 

Ms. JORGE. I just want to add one more thing just so that we 

also complete the thought, is that I think it is also important to 

think of these issues not just from an overall gender perspective, 

but thinking of all the different kinds of women and men in the 

world from different backgrounds. Because the kinds of things that 

we are discussing in terms of inequalities based on gender are even 

more exacerbated for women and some men, but especially for 

women of different races, different socioeconomic groups. And they 

face even greater barriers and greater, you know, obstacles in their 

lives. 

And so it is important to not just be aware from a general gender 

perspective, which is clearly very important, but also to be very 

aware of other differences that affect the way people have access 

to opportunities, including their backgrounds, whatever that might 

be. 

Mr. LOWENTHAL. Thank you. And I yield back. 

Chairman ROYCE. Thank you, Congressman Lowenthal. 

And we will be incorporating the testimonies of our witnesses 

here in the legislation that we are writing in the committee. 

And we want to again thank our witnesses for their trips out 

here today and all the work they have put into this testimony. It 

is now part of the official record and will be part of our legislation. 

We stand adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 11:40 a.m., the committee was adjourned.] 

(43)

A P P E N D I X 

MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD

44

f


97633n.eps
45


97633m-1.eps
46

f


97633m-2.eps
47


97633c-1.eps
48


97633c-2.eps
49


97633c-3.eps
50

f


97633c-4.eps
51

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE ALAN S. LOWENTHAL, A REPRESENTATIVE

IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

Æ


97633d.eps