International Council of Distance Education - Women International Network (WIN)
The International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE) is recognised by the United Nations (UNESCO), and serves as the global umbrella membership organisation in online, flexible and blended learning, including e-learning and distance education.
The Women's International Network (WIN) of the ICDE began in 1982. The ICDE World Conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, had 374 delegates, but women made up only 25%. Those women delegates experienced various examples of professional gender-related marginalization, evident also in general knowledge production and publishing, especially in sexist language. The women delegates decided therefore to establish WIN for sharing experience and promoting gender-sensitive educational development. Gisela Pravda (Germany), Eila Öhrmark (Finland), and Susan D'Antoni and Liz Burge (Canada) formed the steering group. Some funding came from ICDE for setting up a Newsletter (Editor, Liz Burge) and surveying (in 1983) all women members of ICDE. WIN's goals were enlarged to include research activity and significant publishing efforts. The ICDE 1984 Melbourne conference showed some effects of WIN's work since 1982: non-sexist language guidelines for print and speech were now being taken seriously (even in the conference), WIN sessions revealed both ongoing expert work in the field by and for women and the urgent need for research and publications that addressed the huge imbalance of gender-lens perspectives on all aspects of distance education.
To begin countering the print-based near-invisibility of women's experiences, two WIN books emerged in 1988. Dr. Karlene Faith's editing of 19 chapters for the book Toward new horizons for women in distance education: International perspectives (London: Croom Helm) was followed by Dr Gomathi Mani's edited collection from India, Women in distance education - Issues and prospects (UNICEF funding). After that time, generally journal-based publications from WIN members predominated. The final book relating to members of the first generation WIN was edited by Liz Burge and Margaret Haughey and published in 2001 by Routledge: Using learning technologies: International perspectives on practice. A Commonwealth of Learning publishing grant assisted the whole book development process.
Part of the network's purpose is also to ensure that there are presentations on gender issues at every ICDE Conference. Reports and newsletters prepared by WIN are published by ICDE 1.
Written by Elizabeth Burge 2
Indian Distance Education Association - Indian Women Distance Education Network (WIDEN)
In 1996, Indian Women Distance Education Network (WIDEN) was launched at the fourth IDEA conference. (The conference was held at the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Open University (BRAOU) in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh.) The Indian Distance Education Association (IDEA) is a national-level professional body of academics, administrators, policy makers and other stakeholders in the field of open and distance learning. The Association has been organizing national conferences since 1992, providing an opportunity for academics, researchers and other stakeholders involved in distance education to network, share their research, innovations and ideas. Since their launch, WIDEN has hosted a session at every IDEA conference.
References:
- Phyllis Olmstead reported the proceedings of the tenth anniversary of the Women's International Network Session held at the 16th ICDE World Conference on Distance Education, November 1992 held at Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University, Bangkok, Thailand. See http://www.ed.psu.edu/acsde/deos/deosnews/deosnews2_24.asp
- Dr. Elizabeth (Liz) Burge is a Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of New Brunswick, Canada.