The Family Unit
The Follow up to the International Year of the Family is the responsibility of the Division for Social Policy and Development within the Department for Economic and Social Affairs. The follow-up activities to the International Year of the Family are in accordance with intergovernmental mandates e.g. General Assembly resolution 50/142 of 21 December 1995 and 52/81 of 12 December 1997 respectively.
UN Workshop on Technology and Families Dublin, Ireland, 6-10 October 1998
The UN Workshop on Technology and Families was held in Dublin, Ireland from 6-10 October 1998. The Meeting was organized by the Family Unit, Division for Social Policy and Development, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, in close co-operation with the Government of Ireland, Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs, and in association with Quest Campus. The Meeting was opened by the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs of Ireland.
The basic objective of the Workshop was to assist governments in investigating the impact of rapid technological change and diffusion on the family and on the roles and interactions of its different members and formulating appropriate guidelines, specific measures and recommendations for action. The specific objectives of the Workshop were (a) to provide a forum for participants to exchange knowledge and experience on the role of technology and its impact on families; and (b) to address the nature, forms and extent of technological change and its impact on families, specifically in the areas of education, communication and information; work and employment; and health and basic social services.
The Workshop concerned itself largely with the following:
- (a) First, how technological change affects the family unit in the performance of its central and irreducible functions in any society - traditional, modern and post modern alike - to be the primary or principal socializer of children; and to provide the needed stability and reference point in life to adults.
- (b) Second, how change driven by technology affects relationships among family members: husband and wife, mother and father, parents and children, the various siblings, other members of the family, close and more distant; how expectations change within the family - who expects what from whom; how the ability of each to meet these expectations is or can be changed by technology.
- (c) Third, and conversely, how technology can come to the help of the family in its efforts to adapt to change in order to continue to play its central role; how new burdens falling on specific members can be eased by technology itself; and what new opportunities for strengthening the family unit present themselves.
In his opening Statement, the Minister noted inter alia that AThere can be no doubting the immense challenges and opportunities that the development of global communications and technological advancement present in all areas of our lives: not least in how we can develop programmes to ensure the widest possible participation in the Information Society. The new technologies create the potential for massive changes in how we do business and how we live our lives. However, the kind of future society we live in is substantially determined by the choices that we, as citizens and as a society, make now. The future well-being of people, families and their communities are central to those choices. It is their vision of the kind of society they would like to have that technological development must serve@.
The Workshop established drafting groups to discuss the impact of the technological revolution on families in three specific areas: education, communication and information technology; employment and work; and health and basic social services.
A background paper titled AThe Technological Revolution B Opportunities and Challenges for the Family@ was prepared in advance of the session by a team of consultants (Messrs. Michael Cooley, Marcel Fabri and John Balaba, who also participated in the Workshop). The paper provided the starting point for the discussions.
The Workshop was attended by experts from the following countries: Belgium, Chile, Estonia, Ghana, India, Jamaica, Malaysia, Nigeria, Singapore, Slovak Republic, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The following were represented by observers: The International Labour Office, Irish Government (Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs, Department of Health and Children, Department of the Taoiseach, Department of Education and Science, Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Department of Foreign Affairs), Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Technology Innovative Associates, and Quest Campus.
The Report of the Workshop was adopted at the plenary meeting on 10 October 1998.
The Workshop welcomed the timely initiative of the United Nations and the Government of Ireland to hold a Workshop on the impact of technology on families, an under-explored topic that is certain to increase in importance over time. The Group noted that the Workshop provided an excellent opportunity to exchange information, knowledge and understanding of the role of technology and its impact on families. It is hoped that the recommendations of the Workshop will facilitate appropriate policy responses and action, in accordance with General Assembly resolution 52/81 of 12 December 1997. However, it was emphasized that the deliberations of the Workshop constituted a first phase, with a need for regular follow up.
The Workshop also requested the United Nations, in partnership with Governments and the NGO sector to promote and conduct qualitative and quantitative research (i) on how technological change affects the family unit in the performance of its central functions; and (ii) how technological change affects relationships among family members, in country specific settings, by means, for example, of selected country studies as a pre-requisite to the development of national action plans. Moreover, the Workshop called upon governments to undertake family impact assessments within the broad framework of social policy.
The findings of the Workshop will be made available to the 38th session of the United Nations Commission for Social Development as a contribution to the follow-up to the International Year of the Family (1994) and to the review of the implementation of the Copenhagen Programme of Action in the year 2000.
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