You are on page 1of 16

GenderInSITE: Gender in Science, Innovation, Technology and Engineering

Second Planning Meeting


February 1-4, 2011
Chateau Villiers, Villiers-en-Mahieu, France

1. Background and Introduction


GenderInSITE Gender in Science, Innovation, Technology and Engineering is a global,
multi-sectoral, multi-stakeholder initiative organized by the Gender Advisory Board UN
Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD), the Organization for
Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSDW), and TWAS the academy of
sciences for the developing world, to promote:

the role of women IN science, technology and innovation,


how science, technology and innovation can be FOR women, or how can it serve
womens lives and livelihoods at the grassroots level.

The first GenderInSITE Planning Meeting was held in January 2010, hosted by UNESCO in
Paris and funded by Sida. Thirty participants from UNESCO, ICSU, Chinese Academy of
Sciences, InterAcademy Panel, FAO, AAAS, OIC, M. S. Swaminathan Research
Foundation, SOPAC Fiji, Zayeb International Prize for the Environment, as well as the
organizing groups, attended. The purpose was to consult with experts from all regions on the
value, targets, and focus areas of a campaign (See the full participants list in Appendix
One).
This first workshop was convened as a result of the situation that studies conducted over the
past 20 years have led to the recognition that there is a strong gender dimension to the
application of science and technology for development. Women and men contribute in
different ways to the creation of scientific and technological knowledge. Men and women are
often affected in different ways when science and technology are applied to meet
development objectives. Women and men have different S&T priorities in support of their
daily activities For example, in looking at gender differences in agriculture, women and
men grow different kinds of crops in different regions. Men tend to produce mainly field and
cash crops, while women grow and prepare food for the family in home gardens or small lots
near the home. Their priorities for seed, fertilizer, technology and other inputs will differ
accordingly.
The result of this first meeting was an agreement to develop an international campaign,
GenderInSITE, to work with decision makers on raising awareness of the gender, science,
technology and innovation dimensions of development. It seems to the GenderInSITE
participants that many policy and decision makers concerned with science, technology for
development are unaware of this gender dimension. If they were aware, and acted on the
basis of this awareness, we believe that their policies and decisions would have a major
impact on a new type of development. What is needed is a recognition that the different roles
and responsibilities of women and men /boys and girls in family care, domestic chores,
income earning, health support and food security require a gender lens be applied to STI

for development. If it isnt, then it will be neither effective or sustainable.


On February 1-3, 2011, a second planning meeting was held at Chateau Villiers near Paris.
Fifteen participants represented the organizing groups, Sida, the UNESCO Chair on Women
in S&T in Latin America, the African Centre for Technology Studies, the Elsevier Foundation,
the LOreal Foundation and the Rand Africa First Ladies Initiative (See Appendix Two for the
participants list). The purpose of the meeting was to refine the purpose, vision and
messages developed at the first planning meeting, and to recommend an organizational
structure and action plan to carry GenderInSITE forward. Presentations on experiences and
lessons learned of other related campaigns were made by representatives of the Africa
Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS), the LOreal Foundation, Maplecroft concerning their
participation in the Nike Foundations Girl Effect campaign, the Rand Africa First Ladies
Initiative, and the UNESCO Chair for Women and S&T in Latin America.
2. Rationale and policy context
The international policy context for this work consists of the Gender Working Group
Recommendations to the CSTD, and the UNESCO World Conference on Science in
Budapest in 1999.
The 1995 recommendations of the Gender Working Group to the CSTD proposed a set of
seven transformative actions, which if implemented in different countries would help
establish greater gender equity in science and technology and help ensure greater success
in the application of science and technology for development. These transformative actions
addressed gender inequalities in science and technology education; the removal of barriers
to careers for women in science: policies to ensure technical change benefited the lives of
both women and men in an equitable way; gender equity in the consideration of ethical
issues in the application of science and technology to development; and the need to collect
gender disaggregated statistics.
UNESCO has continued to review these issues, and Gender and Science was one of the
main themes of its World Science Conference held in Budapest in 1999. Paragraph 90 of
the Framework for Action contains a comprehensive list of actions for governments and
agencies to promote the participation of women in science in education, the workforce, and
decision making, including research on best practices, and the collection of statistics. In
particular it calls for the launch, in collaboration with UNESCO and UNIFEM, of "national,
regional and global campaigns to raise awareness of the contribution of women to science
and technology, in order to overcome existing gender stereotypes among scientists, policymakers and the community at large".
Para 90, World Conference on Science
Taking into account the outcome of the six regional forums on women and science
sponsored by UNESCO, the Conference stresses that special efforts should be made by
governments, educational institutions, scientific communities, non-governmental
organizations and civil society, with support from bilateral and international agencies, to
ensure the full participation of women and girls in all aspects of science and technology,
and to this effect to:

promote within the education system the access of girls and women to scientific
education at all levels;
improve conditions for recruitment, retention and advancement in all fields of
research;
launch, in collaboration with UNESCO and the United Nations Development Fund for
Women (UNIFEM), national, regional and global campaigns to raise awareness of
2

the contribution of women to science and technology, in order to overcome existing


gender stereotypes among scientists, policy-makers and the community at large;
undertake research, supported by the collection and analysis of genderdisaggregated data, documenting constraints and progress in expanding the role of
women in science and technology;
monitor the implementation of and document best practices and lessons learned
through impact assessment and evaluations;
ensure an appropriate representation of women in national, regional and international
policy- and decision-making bodies and forums;
establish an international network of women scientists;
continue to document the contributions of women in science and technology.

To sustain these initiatives governments should create appropriate mechanisms, where


these do not yet exist, to propose and monitor introduction of the necessary policy
changes in support of the attainment of these goals.

We also know that the MDGs require both S&T and gender equality in order for countries to
reach their targets by 2015, and to achieve equitable and sustainable poverty reduction. For
example, it is critical to support womens poverty reduction and food security activities to
achieve Goal number 1 priorities should include prominent development and dissemination
of ergonomic and more efficient agricultural tools for women subsistence farmers, while
ensuring that adequate transport and roads exist to enable them to sell their agricultural
produce. Recognizing womens environmental management practices and local knowledge
about forests and common land management provide a basis for achieving MDG 6.
In 2007 UNESCO published the "International Report on Science, Technology and Gender
which brought up to date the analysis of these issues. It was complemented by 2006
InterAcademy Council report, Women for Science, as well as EU work in the area and
initiation of a range of regional and institutional programmes to study and act on removing
the barriers to increased gender equity identified in the international reports.
3. Overall vision, purpose and objectives
As a result of the discussions undertaken over the course of the two meetings, it was agreed
that the overall vision for the GenderInSITE campaign is best expressed as follows:
STI for development policy and programs will be more effective, equitable or sustainable
when the gender lens is applied that is, when it reflects the aims, concerns, situation and
abilities of both women and men.
The purpose of the GenderInSITE campaign is to participate in global discussions and
mobilise a range of stakeholders at all levels to:

Raise the awareness of policy and decision makers about the gender dimension of
science, technology and innovation for sustainable development.
Demonstrate with a limited number of issues and sectors how gender analysis of
science technology can lead to a new and fairer type of development.
Highlight women's role in development and how it can be supported using science
and technology;
Promote the contributions of women to STI.

The objectives are to support the vision by promoting an understanding of the need to:
Recognize and support the capacity of women to advance and use STI globally,
3

nationally and locally, recognizing that countries cannot achieve development goals
and improve standards of living without empowering women
Mobilize STI systems and institutions to support women as social and economic
agents in rural areas.

The main beneficiaries are women and men / girls and boys at the grassroots; women
scientists; and decision makers.
4. Role/purpose of GenderInSITE
Some of the main agreed functions of the campaign can include consolidating and
connecting the messages of different groups as well as coordinating and connecting up
related initiatives in diverse sectors. All of this could increase the impact of individual
groups.
The intent is to work from top and bottom at the same time in a holistic approach. It will be
important not to add additional messages or problems to the mix, but to provide decision
makers and other groups with solutions to existing problems. The approach will be to help
people find their low-hanging fruit, i.e., work within their zone of comfort and help them
towards implementable and successful solutions.
One simple and straightforward activity is to identify and highlight practical and
effective solutions of STI for gender-equitable global sustainable development. This
involves building on lessons, models and experiences of other initiatives.
Connecting up to international and regional networks on science, technology and
development will spread the network of allies and provide channels for both for the gathering
and the disseminating of research and models.
5. Targets/ audience
The overall target for this campaign is decision makers in government and policy, science
institutions, NGOs and civil society, and international, regional and national agencies.
For several reasons, the message and the information conveyed by the campaign need to
be evidence-based, built on solid research and data; they will need to provide a bridge from
knowledge to action that is, provide concrete and specific recommendations and models
for action; and they will need to help policy makers solve their problems.
While some partners will be approached initially, the first targets of the GenderInSITE work
will be those who can become partners to help spread the word:
-

National gender machineries such as Ministries of Gender/Women


Policy makers in other government departments
International science institutions
Media
International and UN agencies in relevant sectors
Donors / development banks
National STI mechanisms and funds [i.e. incubators]
Family / parent support organizations.

6. Message
The discussion on message was the most comprehensive. It will be critical for the success of
the initiative to develop an overall simple and clear message that reverberates yet conveys
a very complicated message.1 This overall message will remain constant, but the case or
illustrative example can be changed each year. The decision on the illustrative cases will be
made to address pressing issues at the time or a major international event.
No clear final decisions were made, but a range of messages were discussed which might
have relevance for various levels and purposes of the campaign. It was agreed that it would
be most useful to have two or three main, concrete messages. These could apply to the
overarching theme of the campaign and/or the separate messages of the two arms of the
campaign. (See Section 9 below). The one underlying theme, which may or may not need to
be articulated as part of the message, is to present women as The untapped solution or
The 100% solution.
The messages which received the most support by the end of the meeting were:

Science with women, women for science


Women in science and science for/with women
Science, innovation, technology and engineering (SITE) with women and men for
greener futures

Further work on refining the overall message will be done with the organizing group, key
partners, and advertising and marketing experts.
7. Activities
Role models and spokespersons
There was substantive discussion on the potential of using celebrity spokespersons at some
point in the campaign. The value of using these kinds of spokespersons is that they can
command global attention, they appeal to peoples sense of excitement and currency.
Types of potential spokespersons include:
- local women leaders and MPs
- women leaders who win international awards of some kind (e.g. Waangari Maathai)
- high-profile women politicians
- women athletes in Kenya and Ethiopia are seen as strong role models for girls who
promote independence, toughness, and physical ability. The other advantage of
using women athletes is that they are already engaged in a related activity and can
easily cross over to STI issues. Billy Jean King is an example of a woman who
understands the need for more girls and women to go into health and other sciences.
Developing awards for different activities, and ensuring publicity around them are also ways
of creating role models. Examples include the LOreal UNESCO Women for Science prizes
and the OWSDW-TWAS-Elsevier Prizes for Young Women Scientists. Awards for
mentoring are an example of an award which promotes activities to support women and girls
in SITE.

For this reason it was agreed to divide up the themes and messages under two main foci: Women in science,
innovation, technology and engineering; and SITE to support womens development and grassroots activities.
See Section 10 below.
5

Engagement with policy and decision makers


An important strategy, given the targets of the campaign, is to develop policy communication
materials and approaches which link to international and national events / initiatives / years.
They would highlight the connections of these events to gender implications in a range of
sectors.
The key here is to identify issues that have solutions, and provide information /
documentation on rationale and implementation. By seeing how a gender lens approach can
solve critical national problems, targets of the campaign will be encouraged to use it.
Policy maker capacity building workshops will encourage policy engagement and can be
held in relation to specific policy events.
National case studies assessments
The National Assessments on Gender and STI project currently underway by OWSDW and
WIGSAT with the support of the Elsevier Foundation is a project that can be a starting point
for a series of national level reviews. The assessments include qualitative and quantitative
analysis on the status of women in STI systems, as well as comparative assessments of the
different strengths, weaknesses and gaps in diverse countries in different regions.
The project has potential to be expanded to other countries and provide macro-level
indicators to track the status and progress of countries in mobilizing women SITE.
Communications strategy
Development of a communications strategy will be critical for the campaign. Some of the
key points for this particular campaign include developing a simple message that
reverberates from a very complicated message.
The main requirements for an effective communications strategy, one with high impact, are:
Using the data to build a story, and building stories around the data this is often
more compelling than providing a set of facts to prove a point
Identifying the audience for the message(s) and testing different messages with
focus groups
Incorporating a call to action : identifying what we want the audience to think, to do,
what actions can we encourage them to take. This includes providing options for
action, as well as encouraging the sense that what they do can make a difference.
There is a need to get the audience to buy in to the message, to take it on as a
personal commitment.
Identify resistance to the message: where is it, what is the extent of the resistance,
and what to do to mitigate, avoid, or overcome it?
Finally, a range of materials will need to be developed that are adaptable, that are available
for partners and participants to use in various fora, and that will encourage greater
understanding of the issues. It will need to include:
1) Website and internet-based networking approaches, including:
Banners or links which can be posted on other websites to direct traffic;
A stand-alone website which includes a range of printed and video resources. It
would present the materials developed for the content and advertising of the
campaign, as well as direct the visitor to other key resource sites.
Social networking inputs could include i.e. videos, facebook pages, including a
call for submissions for videos on stories from the field.
2) Media materials, promotion of the topic at media conferences, and supporting
fellowships for coverage of gender and STI issues.
6

3) Downloadable and adaptable materials such as speakers notes, training modules,


topic guides, etc.
4) Editorials / articles in the main SITE journals Potential activities include:
Geoff / Mohamed to write articles for Science; The Lancet; SciDev.Net; Cell;
Nature
These articles could be taken to places, persons, events
Approach Science and Nature to do a coordinated effort
5) Targetted policy briefs and fact sheets in the topic areas of the campaign.
6) Regular communications with partners, networks and targets, including press
releases; newsletters, and other reaching out activities.
7) Ad campaign.
8) Training / capacity building workshops with other stakeholders, including educators,
NGOs, professional organizations, extension agents, etc.
8. Outcomes and indicators
This aspect of campaign planning will be addressed in more detail at the upcoming
workshop on Results-Based Management which will be held at TWAS in April, supported by
Sida.
9. Themes
While the meeting participants agreed that there is a gender dimension to almost all science,
technology and innovation decisions a few pivotal issues and sectors were identified
which, when addressed in a more gender aware manner, will likely lead to a new and fairer
type of development. As a result, initial discussions were held in breakout groups on two
main themes for the campaign:

Promoting womens leadership equally with men in STI systems


Ensuring that STI for development strategies benefit both women and men in their
differing roles and positions in society.

It was agreed that these two themes would include and provide an organizing framework for
the focus areas identified in the first meeting. These areas are:
1. Education and research, focusing on education and training of women and girls at all
levels of the STI system.
2. Employment / workforce and leaky pipeline issues, particularly the loss of women in
the transition from the educational system to the STI workforce
3. Innovation systems, SMEs and technology transfer, with a focus on the role and
situation of women in informal and grassroots innovation systems in both rural and
urban settings
4. Gender and STI dimensions of global climate change. Focusing on womens role in
the STI system, and development of technologies to support recovery and adaption
efforts.
For each of the overarching themes, the main goal, sub themes and areas of focus were
7

identified as well as main players, targets, beneficiaries and potential partners.


9.1 Promoting womens leadership in STI systems
The title for this theme is Leadership with women for a greener future.
The main goal: Highlight the positive impact of parity of men and women for inventing
solutions for green technologies to drive a greener economy. (Details on goals, sub-themes
and focus are outlined in Appendix Three.)
Areas of focus were identified as:
Getting positive messages to women scientists that they can have a successful
career, including the use of role models
Getting positive messages to decision-makers in institutions so that they are aware of
what can be done to remove obstacles from womens career paths.
Different strategies for different stages of the career ladder.
Potential messages for the theme were identified as:

New leadership for a new age (inclusive, importance of women leaders and
womens leadership, men need to think differently)
[Embracing] [Engaging] new leadership
A new generation of leaders, both men and women, to address issues of
sustainability and green technologies to change development through a gender lens.

During the discussion, the value of working with the IAP Women for Science regional
networks in LAC (coordinated by the InterAmerican Network of Academies of Science
IANAS), sub-Saharan Africa and Asia were highlighted, in addition to other regional
networks. It was agreed that a strength of the campaign could be the generation,
dissemination and highlighting of regional data, research, context, issues and activities
related to this topic.
9.2 STI for development to benefit both women and men
The title for the theme is Developing STI based development solutions with women and
men.
The overarching concept is taken from work developed by the Gender Advisory Board for
the CSTD, around gender, technology and sustainability. The main approach is to overlay a
gender lens to the interconnecting nature of the health of the planet and health of the
people. That is, addressing basic needs for human development with SITE is critical, but it
wont be successful or sustainable unless environmental considerations are taken into
account. All of this of course will not be effective unless a gender lens is applied, or unless
womens and mens differential access to resources, their concerns, perspectives, capacities
and creativity are taken into account.
Developing and implementing policies for this include understanding the policy environment
and harmonization; capacity building strategies for policy developers and programme
implementers as well as beneficiaries. Recognizing and supporting the innovative capacity
and knowledge of women and men and the grassroots is critical; as is recognizing the
importance of multi-stakeholder, diverse and flexible partnerships for development and
implementation; and scaling up successful models for action.
Some of the main goals of the theme include:
Women and men developing technologies
8

Women setting agendas about technology development


Women choosing technologies
Technology supporting womens lives.

Sub-themes would include basic grassroots technology and sustainability issues such as :
food security and agriculture
water and sanitation
energy
local knowledge systems
biodiversity
natural resources management
nutrition
poverty
climate change-related and other shocks and disasters.
Potential messages for the theme could include:

Women and men [imagining] and inventing new solutions together / in partnership
Picking up on womens contributions
STI with a gender lens = solution
Imagining a better world; if you can dream it you can do it
Doing SITE without women is like doing a job with one hand tied behind ones back

See Appendix Four for more details.


10. Structure
Organizing Group
The core organizing will be made up of GAB, OWSDW, TWAS, the UNESCO Chair on
Women in Science and Technology in Latin America and representatives of networks from
Africa and Asia.
In view of their support for and mandates concerning women in STI and STI for
development, UNESCO and ICSU will be invited to join the organizing group.
The core organizing group will act as an Executive Committee and lead the initiative for the
first 3-4 years, during which time a distributed leadership model will be set up, with the goal
of achieving regional leadership of the initiative by year five. Leadership may also be crossdistributed by sector, i.e. agriculture, energy, etc.
Governing council
The Governing Council will be made up of representatives from or nominated by the full
members from the following groups:
Regional networks
Regional academies and Women for Science Working Group members
Donor representatives
Others/ associates as deemed necessary
The Secretary to governing council will be the CEO of GenderInSITE
Term of membership will be a maximum of two three-year terms, and ad hoc committees will
be formed on an as-needed basis.
Decision making structure

Executive Committee
|
Governing Council
|
(Ad hoc committees to advise on specific topics and issues)
|
Secretariat Regional Nodes
|
Partners
|
Affiliates
Other bodies
Ad hoc committees
Communications / PR Committee made up of UN and publishing companies, PR and
marketing firms
Funding
Executive Committee will make decisions on funding, guided by UN Compact rules
concerning donor engagement and other considerations.
11. Partners

UNESCO
Academies / Women for Science
Connect up through the regional networks Women for Science which are
developing. These can be ways to find and disseminate regional research, data,
cases and models for action.
IANAS
EASAC
NASAC
AASA
NASIC
National Commissions UNESCO (Participation program) and selected Regional
Offices
Regional Offices TWAS
Regional Offices ICSU
Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture and Natural Resources Management
(WOCAN)
FAO
IFAD
International Development Research Centre, Canada (IDRC)

12. Next steps


The next steps are to:
Finalize the key messages and focus of the campaign for Years 1-5.
Develop and approve a 1-5 year action plan with budgets
Develop a plan of action for the first year to establish the campaign networks and
main activities.
Aim for a GenderInSITE launch to be held in approximately one year, potentially
hosted by the Department of S&T in South Africa. This is dependent on the
achievement of a full package of partners and committed participants, funding, a
package of tools, and activities, and an active communications program.
10

Relevant events which can be linked to or used to promote the campaign in 2011 include:
AU/ AMCOST Decade of Science
World Conference of Science Journalists, Cairo, June 27-29 2011
o Elsevier will have a stand there; Elsevier is supporting participation of
develoing country journalists and case studies in selected topics
International Year of Chemistry
o Intl Conference of Women in S&T, September
World Economic Forum, Dalian China Young Champions 14 -16 September
International Year of Forestry
TWAS meeting, Morocco, September
ICSU General Conference in Rome, September
World Science Forum
G77 Summit September - Libya
UNESCO General Conference 26 October 11 November
Bio USA
Triple Helix, UK
British Science Festival
LDCs conference, May
South Africa Science Centres and Museums October (UNESCO is the convener)
2012

Rio +20 and the PrepComs


AAAS, Vancouver
BioVision, March, Alexandria
Euro Science Open Forum, Dublin, July
Planet Under Pressure, London, March (ICSU)

Preparation and engagement with these events will include:


Development of speaking notes related to the issue;
policy briefs and fact sheets
identification of persons already going and existing related events or side events
which can be built on.
For example, speaking notes and fact sheets related to these events could address:
Representation of women in sciences and in science leadership internationally why
is it an issue? Why is it important? What can be done to encourage more women at
higher levels in chemical sciences?
Forestry Womens role in agroforestry; womens management of forests; promoting
women in natural resources management and sciences
Public communication of science: promoting science with the public; encouraging the
interest of women and girls
Biographies and summaries of work of scientists with women to address
development issues
Eminent women scientists in the regions
S&T to support womens food production, water, energy and income-generation
activities
These fact sheets would need to be complemented by active communication strategies in
the form of:
- press releases
- web portal which points to important resources and activities
- newsletter and outreach
- development of brochures and publicity documentation for exhibits and conferences.
11

Appendix One
Workshop to Plan
International Campaign to Promote
Gender and Innovation for Development
Paris, January 18-19, 2010
Participants
Kaiser Jamil, President, TWOWS
Shirley Malcom, Co-Chair GAB, Director, EHR, American Association for the
Advancement of Sciences (AAAS)
Mohamed Hassan, Executive Director, TWAS
Alice Abreu, Director, ICSU Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean
Meshgan Al-Awar, Zayeb International Prize for the Environment, Dubai
Honourable Sulayma Albarwani, MP, Sultanate of Oman
Shaidah Asmall, Country Director South Africa, USAID
Lidia Brito, Director, Science Policy Division, UNESCO
Lala Bukarau, SOPAC, Fiji
Gulser Corat, Director, Gender Equality, UNESCO
Mme Fang Xin, Praesidium, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Shuquin Fu, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Julia Hasler, Programme Specialist, UNESCO
Prof. S. Hassoun, President, Arab Academy for E-Business, Syria
Sophia Huyer, Senior Advisor, TWOWS
Yianna Lambrou, Senior Officer, Gender Equity & Rural Development, FAO
Zhao Langxian, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Diana Malpede, Science Policy Division, UNESCO
Tony Marjoram, Head of Engineering Sciences, Division of Basic and Engineering
Sciences, UNESCO
Peter McGrath, Program Officer, TWAS
Leena Mungapen, TWOWS Secretariat
Romain Murenzi, ex Minister of Education, S&T, Rwanda; Fellow, AAAS
Sudha Nair, Program Director, M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, India
Tanveer Naim, Organization of Islamic Countries, Pakistan
AnnaKarin Norling, Policy Specialist, Research, Sida
Peggy Oti-Boateng, Director, Technology Consultancy Centre, Kwame Nkrumah
University of Science and Technology, Ghana
Geoffrey Oldham, Prof. Emeritus, SPRU; Gender Advisory Board (CSTD), UK
Sandra Ravalico, TWAS

12

GenderInSITE:
Workshop to plan an
International Campaign to Promote Gender and Innovation for Development II
Paris, February 1-3, 2011
Participants
Shirley Malcom, Co-Chair, Gender Advisory Board and Director, Education and Human
Resources, AAAS, USA
Farida Shah, Vice President Asia, Organization for Women in Science for the Developing
World (OWSDW), Malaysia
Mohamed Hassan, Executive Director, TWAS
Gloria Bonder, UNESCO Chair on Women in S&T in Latin America, Argentina
Jennifer Campbell, Director, Corporate Philanthropy, LOreal Foundation
Sophia Huyer, Senior Advisor, Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World
(OWSDW), Canada
Erika Kraemer-Mbula, UK
Peter McGrath, TWAS
Diana Malpede, Science Policy Division, UNESCO
Cora Neumann, Co-Director, RAND African First Ladies, Hungary
AnnaKarin Norling, Sida, Sweden
Geoffrey Oldham, Gender Advisory Board and Honorary Professor, Science Policy
Research Unit, UK
David Ruth, Senior Vice President - Global Communications, Elsevier, USA
Ylann Schlemm, Corporate Relations Manager, Elsevier, Netherlands
Judi Wakhungu, Director, Africa Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS), Kenya
Alyson Warhurst, Maplecroft, UK

13

Appendix Three

Breakout group: Women in STI


Rapporteur: P. McGrath
Main goal:
Highlight the positive impact of parity of men and women for inventing solutions for
green technologies to drive a greener economy.
Equal participation in scientific careers (based on the fact that teams comprising a
balanced no. of men and women are more productive: Talking About Leaving paper
cited by Judy).
Note: Back in plenary, this was changed to equal opportunity for both women and
men to participate, rather than equal participation.
Sub-themes / Areas of focus:
There needs to be:
(i)
Positive messages sent to women scientists that they can have a
successful career (role models are important)
(ii)
Positive messages sent to decision-makers in institutions so that they are
aware of what can be done to remove obstacles from womens career
paths.
(iii)
An understanding of why so few women enter the fields of mathematics
and physics (compared especially to the life sciences) and to promote
these subjects to women.
(iv)
Different strategies for different stages of the career ladder:
Concerning role models show how they have succeeded; if it was easy
investigate how/what back-up they had; highlight and honour their achievements.
Sensitize women to let them know they can do it.
Investigate how women are succeeding in the biological sciences in Latin America,
Malaysia, Turkey, etc.
Sensitize men to inform them that parity is good.
Investigate maternal/paternal leave situation in various countries; identify a good
model that might work elsewhere, noting that some cultures (e.g. in Africa) there is a
stigma attached to paternal leave.
Concerning the science system push for adequate womens representation on
peer review and interview committees etc. Make sure selections are based on merit
and that that merit is defined on a transparent basis.
Targets / Beneficiaries:
Girls and families emphasizing that science is a good career and the training is
useful in a number of other careers, so can be a springboard.
Young women scientists.
Decision-makers/heads of institutions to be informed how they can improve the
work environment to attract and retain more women.
The scientific community (academies, learned societies, etc.).
Donor community for example with re-entry grants to get young faculty into
research careers.
14

Partners:
Young women scientists / OWSDW members.
Decision-makers/heads of institutions.
The scientific community (academies and their regional networks, learned
societies/ICSU and its members, etc.).
UN agencies, especially UNESCO, UN Women.
University networks, e.g. ACU, AUF, AAU.
Outcomes / Indicators:
Level of parity for women at all career levels (also considering life sciences vs other
sciences, basic vs applied, etc).
No. of grants awarded to women scientists.
No. of women scientists in academies.
No. of women scientists invited as guest speakers at major international
conferences.
Richer scientific community able to solve challenges / more productive. (Can we
identify institutions where there are a good number of women at all levels and
compare these to similar institutions in the same/neighbouring country?).

15

Appendix Four
Harmonizing ST&I with women and men for better/meaningful futures
Main goals
Women developing technologies
Women setting agendas about technology development
Women choosing technologies
Technology supporting womens lives
Upscaling and disseminating appropriate technologies
Highlighting womens innovative responses to development challenges
Greater participation of women in the sectors and areas around / related to S&T
How to craft knowledge / conception of technology production for the wellbeing of
society and unreached groups as a part of education of extensionists and
educators

Targets and partners


CGIAR
CSIRs
Groups training extension workers
Schools of agriculture and engineering
Policy makers in the relevant ministries education, health, agriculture, natural
resources, energy, ICT, gender
Private sector
Media focused on development, STI, gender
Trade organizations
Development banks and international organizations
Donor community
Professional societies, i.e. ICSU, IUPAP, etc.
Community groups
Local governments
NGOs and advocacy groups
Womens organizations
Partners (dont need targeting)
NGOs and advocacy groups WOCAN / Practical Action
Womens organizations
FAO / IWRI / WHO / PAHO

16

You might also like