Geneva — Gender activists at the preparatory conference for the Tunis phase of the World Summit on the Information society (WSIS) are bitterly disappointed because their recommendations being ignored.

A statement from the WSIS gender caucus says that mentions about the empowerment of women and gender equality in the text have been cut back, "The Tunis Agenda for Action is completely silent on gender in all aspects of implementation. We find this silence unacceptable and something that must be corrected."

As WSIS moves from Geneva to Tunis, the gender caucus expects that financing information communication technology (ICT) for development must specifically include women's development priorities as well as their information and communication rights.

"Existing financial mechanisms, promoted by markets and private sector investment have not taken connectivity and the gains from ICTs to regions that the Tunis agenda for action calls less attractive. The mechanisms also do not address marginalised populations of which women constitute a large majority," reads the statement.

The gender caucus meetings, taking place every day here in Geneva, stress women empowerment as a pre-requisite for development. They want deliberations about ICTs to be linked to development in ways that empower women.

The statement, read by Magaly Pazello, of Dawn Network to the government plenary, further clarifies that all financing mechanisms need to ensure gender and regional balance in their administrative structures.

"We would like to emphasize that ICTs should be used a catalyst to give women a stronger voice and empower them in democratic processes. We urge that the gender dimension be given its due place in the second phase of WSIS," concludes the statement.