This document is also available in French and Spanish A mind-boggling revolution in communication is taking place across the world. Much has changed even in the five years since the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action. These changes have huge potential, both negative and positive, for furthering or impeding a more just and equitable gender order. Depending on how they are deployed, they can become a key factor for women's empowerment, or they could drive an irreconcilable wedge between the digitally powerful and the digitally deprived multitude of women and other marginal groups. Communication is fundamental for achieving the objectives in the Platform for Action.
Information becomes a commodity and the function of media as a public service is swept aside.
Under the sway of the mass media, women are portrayed to the public view in a highly selective and disempowering manner, and a majority of the world's women are simply invisible. Their viewpoints and concerns are grossly underrepresented. Meanwhile, international communications regulation and policy are concentrated in bodies such as the World Trade Organization and International Telecommunications Union, which are dominated by business interests. Women's access to the means of communication is not represented in their decisions and is given little weight. To guarantee women the fundamental human right to communicate, civil society must be empowered to hold national and international media accountable.