Mandate - ICA Commission on Gender and Cartography

people activities resources

The 2003 National Committee proposed the continuation of the Commission for ICA of Poland, under the leadership of Prof. Ewa Krzywicka-Blum.

Terms of Reference - 2003-2007 formulated after ICC in Durban:

Terms of Reference for 2003-2007, formulated after Durban's meeting, are:

1. To serve as a resource on issues related to Gender and Cartography:

by encouraging and supporting women and other under-represented groups to take an active role in professional activities and/or associations at national and international level,
by preparing papers for presentation at conferences and publications in cartographic journals.
by maintaining the Gender and Cartography website.

2. To facilitate professional contacts with women and younger cartographers:

by updating the Gender and Cartography Commission web-based directory on women cartographers,
by conducting cooperation with the commissions of sister organizations (i.e. IGU, FIG, ISPRS, WBU, WHO and others) having similar goals.

3. To continue cooperation with other commissions within the ICA:

by organizing workshops with Education and training to improve education and skills of women cartographers,
by actively participating in technical commissions.

4. To promote the production of gender issues oriented atlases of various regions of the world:

by encouraging scientific institutions and cartographic organizations to produce similar atlases similar to the demographic atlas produced by the commission for Poland,
by presenting the cartographic methods used in the gender commission's demographic atlas to the international community,
by preparing guidelines and specifications for mapping of the issues related to gender and under-represented groups at regional and global levels.

I hope that linking the professional experience with modern technology and communication means it is possible to prepare planned guidelines for mapping related to women and other under-represented groups, to organize thematic workshops, to exchange the information and to overcome barriers in production of gender issues oriented regional atlases. Our Commission website http://www.geo.ar.wroc.pl/GC/ has been actualized. It is possible to locate some interesting articles, photos, news. All new proposals please send to me: ekblum@kgf.ar.wroc.pl.

The Proposed Terms of Reference - 2003-2007:

Extend the scope of gender themes identified in research agenda setting of the Gender and Cartography Commission during its previous term with a view to:

Create the platform to exchange scientific, methodological and technical experiences as well as the new ideas and solutions in the field of data recognition, gathering, transforming and appreciation for user-oriented mapping of global or/and regional diversity within the population.

The proposal on changing the Commission's name has been accepted in the year 2002 by the participants of GaC commission (the Chairwoman received 48 positive answers on the 61 questionnaires disseminated by e-mail).

The proposed name is ICA COMMISSION ON MINORITIES AND CARTOGRAPHY (CMC).

1. Main objectives:

Choice of demographic characteristics usable for determination of populations division accordingly to the global significant processes.
Researches connected with perceptual differentiation of map users.
Creating a platform to exchange the cross-commission experience in the field of introducing the new methods of modelling for users with special cartographic needs.

2. Activities:

Continue the forms of collaboration with IGU, FIG, BLIND UNION, WHO (e-mail correspondence, participation in the projects, questionnaires, workshops, publishing results concerning with gender problems as well as different under-represented and minorities groups).
To collaborate with regional and national organisations and associations for preparing of the next insertions of the ICA Socio-demographic Atlas and several global maps devoted to the chosen groups of people.
To prepare suitable guidelines in electronic form.
To disseminate the results by publishing suitable information in mass-media and using the other ways to show the effectiveness and importance of cartographic means.
To prepare the papers for ICA Conferences and organise the "minorities in cartography" session.
To involve the initiative within a group of young cartographers organising the competition titled: "Map of Minority" only within the students group, and to include the winner's map into the commissions poster presenting on the next two ICC conferences (La Coruna 2005, Moscow 2007).

The 1999 National Committee proposed the continuation of the Commission for ICA of Poland, under the leadership of Prof. Ewa Krzywicka-Blum.

The Terms of Reference - 1999-2003:

1. To serve as a resource on issues related to gender and cartography:

by preparing papers for presentation at conferences or for publication in cartographic journals
by preparing and disseminating on the Web a basic, working bibliography on publications (professional papers, atlases, maps) related to gender that are of interest to cartography.

2. To facilitate international professional contacts on gender issues:

by continuation of official cooperation between the ICA Commission on Gender and Cartography and suitable commissions or working groups of the International Geographical Union and of UNESCO;
by initiating cooperation with the Gender Commission of the International Association of Geodesy; by continuing cooperation with other ICA commissions and working groups;
by developing theoretical problems to be discussed (and possible solved) in "round table" discussion at ICA conferences;
by sharing any practical results of those ICA round tables at workshops with ICA, IGU, IAG, or other international groups.

3. To study existing atlases for gender content and problems, keeping in mind the possibility of an ICA world thematic gender atlas:

by selecting a small set of national atlases, analyzing atlas contents, looking at gender data availability in those nations, and attempting to determine level of awareness of gender in those nations;
by outlining the barriers to producing a world thematic gender atlas and suggesting ways to overcome those barriers

The Terms of Reference - 1995-1999

To serve as a resource on issues related to gender and cartography
- by preparing papers for presentation at conferences or for publication in cartographic journals
- by preparing and disseminating a basic bibliography on topics related to gender and development within the context of cartography and related fields.
To facilitate professional contacts between cartographers in the international community
- by updating the Directory of Women in Cartography, Surveying and GIS
- by organizing joint projects with other ICA Commissions and Working Groups
- by maintaining contact with commissions in the <<sister organizations>> such as the International Geographical Union, la Fédération Internationale des Géometres, and with UNESCO, which focus on gender and development related issues.
To enhance professional development opportunities for the ICA target groups (women, younger cartographers and cartographers from developing nations)
- by organizing special sessions at ICA conferences
- by holding seminars and workshops, featuring women and other target group members as presenters, to provide a forum for the development of professional skills by target group members and others.
To propose mechanisms which will ensure that equal opportunities exist within the ICA for all component groups
- by approaching the Executive Committee to consider special programs for target groups
- by promoting equal participation in the ICA, through the study of participation trends.

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