Women in Parliaments Global Forum (WIP) organised the roundtable discussion “Communication 2.0 and Social Media. An opportunity for more women in politics?”, on 18 October, at the Italian Senate. This debate was hosted by Linda Lanzillotta, Vice-President of the Italian Senate and Member of the WIP Executive Board.
“Communication 2.0 and Social Media. An opportunity for more women in politics?”
Technology and social media are fundamentally changing the ways that people work, opening up new opportunities and questions. Technology has powerful disruptive effects on political decision-making and traditional power structures and it can open up political processes to previously uninvolved sections of society. Leadership paradigms are also being reshaped by digital and social media platforms, which can be beneficial for women in politics.
With this in mind, the round table discussion will address key questions such as, what is the full potential for new technologies in facilitating greater diversity in our leadership? How are female leaders currently using social media to their advantage? What impact does technology have on the careers of global leaders? How can we harness the transformative potential of digital innovation to advance women in politics?
Women in Parliaments will present the WIP-Harvard-Facebook study on the use of social media by women in politics during the session. This report elaborated by the Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, includes survey answers from female politicians from 107 countries (including responses from Italian MPs). You can access the report here: http://www.womeninparliaments.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/WIP-Harvard-Facebook-Study_Oct2016.pdf
