 Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Slim, Ms. Bokova, Secretary-General Tourette, Ms. Helen Clark, and distinguished members of the Commission, thanks to all of you. I'm very pleased to join you here today as a special guest of the Commission, so thank you. I thought today I would share some stories with you of a few experiences that led me down some new paths, paths that were not a part of my master plan and the impact that they've had on my life and my work toward improving gender equality for women and girls. I have appeared on screen as everything from pirate captain to the president of the United States, but the first role I ever played was a man. As a little girl back in the 60s, my best friend and I play acted at being male characters from TV westerns in her backyard. And because I was taller, I would usually play the father and she would be my son. And because we were young, it never occurred to us that there were no female characters that we wanted to pretend to be from the movies and TV that we were watching. I've now spent most of my adult life advocating for women and girls in one small way by seeking roles that I believed could be constructive for women. Okay, it's true. I made a film called Earth Girls Are Easy, but that was early on. I think we could put that behind us and take me seriously now. So eight years ago, I launched the Genitivist Institute on Gender in Media and our programming arm called CJing, which first came about from watching children's programs and videos and TV shows and G rated movies with my then two year old daughter, Ali Zay. And I was absolutely stunned to see that there seemed to be far more male characters than female characters in these entertainments aimed at the youngest kids. So I decided to check with content creators and industry leaders who I happened to know. And no one seemed to be aware of this serious gender imbalance that we're feeding kids through the images they see. In fact, they all said, no, that problem has been fixed already. So in partnership with the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California and performed by Dr. Stacy Smith, we have sponsored the largest research analysis ever done into the content of movies and children's television programs. And the results are stunning, even though I knew in my heart what they might be. At the dawn of a new millennium, when roughly 50% of the population is female, the message sent to children is that women and girls do not take up half of the space in the world. And that women and girls have far less value to society than men and boys. No one, least of all children, is seeing images of boys and girls sharing the sandbox equally. We'd like to assume that today the marginalization and invisibility of female characters, especially in entertainment made specifically for children, would be long gone, would be a relic of the past. But unfortunately, the reality is that gender stereotyping remains deeply, deeply entrenched in today's entertainment media. And there's been no significant progress over the last 20 years that we have researched. Currently, only one in four of all characters in family films are female. In crowd scenes, only 17% of the crowd is female. And only 11% of movies have a woman as the lead character. Now, we did measure some improvement. I have to say we measured some in the numbers. The increase in female characters during the last two decades is 0.7%. So by my amateur calculations, if we add female characters at that rate that we have been, we will achieve parity in 700 years. So how is all of this relevant to your work as broadband commissioners? Broadband networks are increasingly serving as the key platform for delivery of movies, television, and other content that our children are consuming on multiple platforms every day. It's clear that broadband is and will continue to have a profound impact on how and how easily children can engage with media. The stark gender inequality in media aimed at children is of specific importance to our discussions on women and girls in ICTs as TV and movies can wield enormous influence on young children as they are just developing their sense of their role in the world, as well as pondering future career choices. Our research shows that female characters are missing from critical occupational sectors, including technology. We recently completed a very comprehensive study of the careers of female characters in all United States television shows and film and found that in family films, men hold 83.8% of all STEM jobs. This calculates into a ratio of five male STEM characters for every one female STEM character. No female protagonists or co-leaders were shown with STEM careers at all and looking across the categories of computer science and engineering, the ratio of male to females in this arena is 14.25 to one. In television, there are 78.9% males and 21.1% females with STEM jobs. So what message are boys getting about the worth and value of girls if the media doesn't show them taking up space that's equal to their numbers and what are they learning to take into their future as business leaders, policymakers, and fathers? Seeing women take their full role will enhance awareness of the benefits for the family and community of women's empowerment of professional training and non-traditional career choices. We know that when girls see female characters engaged in un-stereotyped activities, it can heighten their likelihood to pursue careers in the STEM fields. In other words, if they see it, they can be it. And if boys see girls characters engaged in non-traditional occupations, they will come to see that as the norm and not the exception. Broadband connection devices from laptops to smartphones have an enormous potential to create positive opportunities to overcome social and cultural barriers and discrimination and empowering women and girls by giving them access to critical services like education, health care advice, and personal security. These are services that those of us lucky enough to live in the United States take for granted, but for most women and girls in the world, these are hard won privileges or simply not available at all. Our world can only improve when women and girls are given their rights as equal contributors and participants in all areas of society. Distinguished commissioners, the UN is keenly aware of the global gender power imbalance. As you know, they have made empowerment of women a millennium development goal in its own right, MDG 3. Broadband will be key to meeting this goal by providing women with the means to educate themselves and their children, improve their own health and the health of their families and communities, start their own businesses, keep themselves safe and innovate to build and shape the future that they want. The time for changes now and powerful agents of change are in this room today. I would love to see the Broadband Commission speak out strongly for the greater engagement and empowerment of women and girls in the digital revolution that's taking place all around us. So I would like to take advantage of this unique opportunity that I have in addressing you today to call for this commission to create a new working group around broadband and gender to identify opportunities and areas where we could make fast progress in harnessing the power of broadband to empower women and girls. In the technology sector itself, women and girls can make a powerful contribution as future entrepreneurs, content creators, role models, employers and employees. We have the opportunity to ensure that women are fully included in the expansion of the digital world and that their voice is helping to shape the agenda of the UN's post MDG development strategies. I'm honored to be one of the champions of ITU's recently launched Tech Needs Girls Campaign. This is a global initiative in the area of education that encourages girls to play a much more substantive role in the technology sector. And one important part of the campaign and one which is very close to my heart will bring together governments, tech companies and the media and entertainment industry to address the portrayals of women in the media and promote more positive role models. Next month I will have the pleasure of addressing the Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union at its annual meeting in Seoul, Korea. At that event I will be proposing that the media and technology sectors come together to take a leadership role to promote more positive portrayals of women and girls in the media, starting with having some inspiring tech-savvy role models. ABU already regularly organizes TV co-productions in the fields of children's programming and documentary programs. And it is my hope that through this campaign we can work with the children's TV drama co-production team to create some exciting new content ideas. Because changing attitudes will be the real game changer in achieving greater empowerment and participation of girls and women in the technology sector. Finally, I have great pleasure in announcing in partnership with Secretary General Thuray that on October 11th, the UN has declared the first international day of the girl and ITU will launch its Tech Needs Girl Prize. This important new prize aims to highlight the creativity and inspiration of girls eight to nine years old and will be awarded next April 25th on annual Girls in ICT Day, which will be much more than just a recognition of the winners. It will be a journey highlighting the enormous untapped potential that exists for the ICT sector. Partners in this prize already include Intel and Skype and many other organizations. I think you can agree that this is a very exciting new development. And I encourage all of you here to join us as partners or participants in this exciting event. I would now like to hand back to Dr. Thuray, who I hope will put my proposal to create a new broadband commission working group on gender to the floor. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Gina. You came again and challenged us. So I am giving the floor to the commissioners for comments. I am sure that we will be up to the challenge and up to the expectations. The floor is open. I would expect Yasna Matisse and Suvi Linden to say a few words before. Suvi. Thank you. Thank you, Hamadan. Thank you, Gina Davis. It was very nice to hear. When we talk about women and girls in ICT, I would like to comment that maybe we could talk about a little bit broader concept about girls and women in digital development or something like not just focusing on ICT, because like you were saying, and Irina was saying that it's the whole ecosystem. So maybe we could kind of find a new expression, not talking about ICT, maybe digital development or something like that. Just a proposal. I see. Thank you very much for your suggestion. There's already some new ideas coming for the working group. Yasna. Reza, I see you're asking the floor also. I certainly will speak in favor of this proposition as I have contributed to this report on exact topic of women and girls in the ICT. I know how the very few women in ICT and the digital arena had to break some of the stereotypes that have been instilled in all of our minds by the media to reach their positions and to fight for what they wanted to do in their lives. So I absolutely think that this would be one of the topics because 50% of the world's population should not be left out. Thank you, Yasna. I knew that you would say a few words because you are behind the resolution at the ICT Plenty Potential Conference in Guadalajara, Mexico in 2010 for women and girls. And I knew that to you it is very close to your heart. Reza Jafari. And then I will give the floor to Julius Gennasowski. Hello, you will be last to speak because we're going to punish you in asking you to to be chairing this working group. So be prepared. Yes, thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. And Gina, I've been a great fan of yours for many, many years. I'm delighted that you're joining us in this meeting and the commissioners meeting. It's been said that behind every successful man, there is a woman. I'd like to be one of the first men who would like to volunteer to be the success behind this initiative. And as I mentioned to my brand new wife, we got married on July 8th, that I'd like to be behind her success. I'd like to be the man behind her success. Yes. Thank you. And I'd like to also make a pledge to you, Gina, and to the committee, and to the commission, because we can support you with our time. We can support you with our political capital. We can support you with our social roles and responsibilities that we have. I would like also like to support you financially. I'd like to pledge you $1 million, give or get for this initiative to be able to pursue what you have, what the commission has in supporting women and girls around the world. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you. Well, thank you for that. That's a hard act to follow. But I just wanted to acknowledge the extraordinary work that Gina Davis has done on behalf of gender equality for so long. There are obviously so many other things that Gina could be choosing to do with her time. And to see the passion and commitment and success step by step that Gina has been bringing to this is really, it's just incredible. We all know in the United States that the core points that you're making are true. One that new broadband technologies, wired and wireless, present extraordinary opportunities for women and girls all over the world. We also know that there's a vast underrepresentation of women in these fields. There are extraordinary successes. We know this in the United States. Cheryl Sandberg at Facebook, Marissa Meyer at Yahoo and many, many others. So there's no question it can be done. And I think focusing on this as one of the agenda items for the Broadband Commission is completely appropriate. I support it, especially since it's now funded. Thank you. Thank you very much. We're making progress. John Davis, please be short. Yes. Thank you, Dr. Ture. If anyone wants to look for an inspiring model here, I look no further than India, where in the rural, there are 100,000 housewives that provide services from two to four computers to their villages. They make money on this. They make a decent living on this. But what we've seen from our small engagement in this is the scaling effect of the housewives training other housewives and local people has just been nothing short of incredible. So I'd be very happy to share that story with you. But anyone that's seen this in India, I think would be inspired by it. It's a model that can be easily scaled. It works great. And it's sustainable. Thank you. Thank you, John. I'm your result. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to wholeheartedly and warmly endorse what Gina said. It's about time the international community, the UN system looked at 51% of the population and supported that effort. Gina, we are wholeheartedly behind you. And we also privileged to have you as ambassador of the Global Partnership Forum. Thank you very much. I mean, thank you very much. Amir was the man who introduced us to Gina. So I'm really grateful that you were able to bring us such a wonderful person. It's a coup for us, sir. Thank you very much. Now, before I give the floor to Eleanor Clark, I would like to also suggest that she be chairing this working group. I believe that in her capacity as a former Prime Minister and capacity as a world leader and administrator of UNDP, I believe that she could bring us a lot of contribution in this. I haven't consulted with her, but since we are in the UN system where I can feel free to volunteer some of my colleagues. So I know that she will very kindly accept that. Helen, you have the floor. I've heard of office. You can't refuse. Well, thank you so much, Gina. I think your advocacy is just so important around this as one who knows a bit about women breaking glass ceilings and going into non-traditional occupations. And the figures you remind us of today are just so compelling and motivating us for action. You are kind enough to mention the Millennium Development goals with their very important goal of empowering women and then focusing us on how these technologies can support that. So, yes, of course, I want to be supportive and I'll have to engage with Hamadun and with you on how we can take this forward. Thank you. Thank you very much. And Gina, you've seen the reaction from the commissioners here. You are adding another additional ammunition to our task here. And I believe that this is a very noble mission that we're undertaking here. And I believe we're going to be up to the expectation. And especially I would like to thank Reza Jafari for raising up to this challenge first. And I hope many more will follow. And this is just one step forward. And I'm sure that Gina will say a few words before we conclude this topic. Gina, please. Thank you. I'm actually sort of astounded and floored by your enthusiasm and support. And I would also like to add my thanks for this incredibly generous launch to our project. It's like I said, it's a tremendous honor to be among you today and invited to meet you and talk about this with you. And so I couldn't be more thrilled that we'll be moving ahead with it and look to be able to help in every way that I can.