Gendering the Science and Technology Agenda

Transcription

1 Gendering the Science and Technlgy Agenda S. Gülser Crat, Directr Divisin fr Gender Equality, Office f the Directr-General, UNESCO Gender, Science and Technlgy Expert Grup Meeting 28 September 1 Octber 2010, UNESCO, Paris 1 1

2 Gendering the Science and Technlgy Agenda UNESCO and Gender Equality 2 2

3 Pririty Gender Equality Gender Equality is ne f UNESCO s tw glbal pririties: Pririty Gender Equality: As called fr by the 2005 Wrld Summit Outcme dcument, pririty will als be given t the pursuit f gender equality thrugh actin in all f UNESCO s fields f cmpetence supprted by a tw prnged apprach pursuing bth gender-specific prgramming and gender mainstreaming in Member States and within the Organizatin. (UNESCO s Medium Term Strategy fr ; 34 C/4) The rganizatin-wide Gender Equality Actin Plan defines three expected utcmes fr UNESCO: Prgressive increase in the number and quality f Gender Respnsive and Gender Transfrmative prgrammes and initiatives in all sectrs. Imprved and visible UNESCO supprt t Wmen s Empwerment and Gender Equality in Member States thrugh plicy dialgue and prgrammes. Cmmitment t Gender Equality institutinalized in the Secretariat and in prgramming. Specific expected utcmes were als defined fr each sectr. 3

4 Leveraging Science & Technlgy (S&T) and Engineering fr Develpment and Gender Equality: UNESCO s perspective The tw biennial pririties fr Natural Sciences fr 2010 and 2011 are: Plicies and capacity-building in science, technlgy and innvatin fr sustainable develpment and pverty eradicatin Sustainable management f freshwater, cean and terrestrial resurces, including renewable surces f energy, and disaster preparedness and mitigatin 4 UNESCO s Prgramme and Budget fr 2010 and 2011 (35 C/5)

5 UNESCO s Cmmitment t Gender Equality and t S&T and Engineering in Natural Sciences Supprting the design, implementatin and evaluatin f gender respnsive science and technlgy plicies Ensuring a gender-balanced representatin in science plicy dialgue platfrms and internatinal scientific & plicy netwrks Supprting key rle f wmen in the transmissin, preservatin and elabratin f lcal and indigenus knwledge related t sustainable develpment, natural disaster preparedness and respnse, bidiversity cnservatin and climate change Prmting gender-sensitive and sci-culturally relevant appraches incrprating lcal and indigenus practices fr risk reductin Supprting yung wmen scientists thrugh fellwships r grants, prviding mentring, awarding prizes t increase the visibility f successful wmen scientists, fstering training fr wmen scientists at varius levels, encuraging the creatin f assciatins and netwrks f wmen scientists and engineers, reinfrcing the cperatin f the UNESCO Chairs specifically fcused n wmen in S&T, and increasing the public understanding f science with a fcus n girls and wmen UNESCO s Prgramme and Budget fr 2010 and 2011 (35 C/5) 5

6 Gendering the Science and Technlgy Agenda Presentatin f UNESCO s Backgrund Paper: Wmen s and Girls Access t and Participatin in Science and Technlgy 6 6

7 Gendering the Science and Technlgy Agenda 7 In an increasingly cmpetitive glbal ecnmy, natinal ecnmies require scientific knwledge & a capable wrkfrce t explit it Scientific & technlgical literacy empwers citizens t make infrmed decisins relating t implicatins these advances have n natinal life Until nw, technlgical advances have principally been aimed at imprving men s daily lives rather than thse f wmen Gender-based discriminatin must be addressed as there is a brad range f develpment issues in which S&T plays a fundamental rle and wuld benefit frm increased wmen s participatin, fr example: HIV & AIDS Climate change Gender issues have received increased internatinal recgnitin in the field f develpment and S&T

8 Educatin & Research «Leaky pipe» - difficult t retain girls within S&T and fr them t make the transitin frm higher educatin t prfessinal life 29% f the wrld s researchers are wmen, but reginal disparities ccur, fr example 46% in Latin America and the Caribbean cmpared t 15% in Asia There is n gender parity in primary r secndary educatin in 60% f cuntries Hrizntal gender segregatin ccurs within Sciences at PhD and research level In 91% f cuntries, men utnumber wmen n science and engineering curses Wmen utnumber men at Masters level, but nt at dctral level and beynd 56% f PhD graduates and 71% f researchers are male at the glbal level 8

9 Breaking Barriers Initial reasns fr gender disparity in S&T can be factrs leading t gender based discriminatin in pverty, basic literacy and ther fundamental areas tuching n wmen s basic human rights Educatin and career chices are subject t internatinal, natinal, persnal, family and institutinal frces Mass media perpetuates the scial cnstruct f S&T as a male-dminated sphere. Examples f UNESCO s wrk: Establishment f five UNESCO Chairs n Science, Technlgy and Gender in Mexic, Mrcc, Pland, Republic f Krea and Spain. Creatin f the L OREAL-UNESCO Awards and Fellwships hnuring wmen scientists and yung female researchers 9

10 Educatin and Careers Orientatin Quality f learning rests heavily n the quality f the teacher and psitive and negative messages that are cmmunicated within the classrm Girls are ften shwn t be discuraged frm learning S&T even when teachers are capable Text bks and ther educatin materials perpetuate the gender bias and idea f S&T being a traditinally male dmain Example f UNESCO s wrk: Girls and Science a training mdule t mtivate girls t embark n a career within S&T in the quest fr self-dependence and pverty reductin, and t reduce the develpment gender disparities in this field in Africa 10

11 Wmen with disabilities have particular needs Girls with disabilities d nt benefit frm schling r educatin in less develped cuntries A majrity f disabled wmen in less develped cuntries are illiterate Disabled girls and wmen need access t educatin including technical and vcatinal training, that is prperly suited t their needs in rder t enjy their right t benefit frm technlgical and scientific access. Example f UNESCO s wrk: 11 In cmbating discriminatin and vilence against wmen with disabilities, UNESCO disseminates tls with a Human Rights Based Apprach fr wmen and girls with disabilities. Research in this area will be undertaken within the framewrk f the activities f the Research and Dcumentatin Centre fr Wmen, Gender and Peace-Building in the Demcratic Republic f Cng.

12 Retaining and Prmting Wmen Scientists Even after initial barriers are vercme, wmen and girls suffer discriminatin in terms f prmtin and retentin within S&T careers Bilgical & scial rles f wmen need t be recgnized, including the unequal divisin f husehld labr, such as husewrk and childcare 27% f unemplyed wmen with science and engineering dctrates cited family respnsibilities fr nt wrking, cmpared with 1.5% f men (The American Natinal Science Fundatin, 2008) In Latin American universities, married wmen reprted spending hurs a week n family activities and hurs n prfessinal wrk. Thse wh taught r wrked in the lab added 20 extra hurs t these cmmitments. (UNESCO study: Wmen, Higher Educatin and Develpment) 12

13 Gendering the Science and Technlgy Agenda Other examples f wrk within UNESCO

14 Gendering the Ethics f S & T Biethics entails the applicatin f human rights principles t the life and health sciences, and t technlgy Examples f areas f research: medically assisted reprductin, prenatal and pre-implantatin diagnstic techniques, human clning The funding principles f bth human rights and biethics include persnal autnmy, the primacy f the interests f the individual persn and exclusin f any cnsideratin f race, gender r bilgical, scial, cultural r ecnmic characteristics The prgress and applicatins f science and technlgy must be assessed in the light f these principles Example f UNESCO s wrk: 14 UNESCO Universal Declaratin n Biethics and Human Rights (UNESCO, 2005) See Preamble and Art 10. UNESCO Research and Publicatin: Wmen s Rights and Biethics, edited by Lrraine Dennerstein (2001)

15 Gender Equality and ICTs: Free and Open Surce Sftware (FOSS) FOSS is liberally licensed sftware that grants the users the right t use, study, and change its design thrugh the availability f its surce cde Glbally, fewer than 20% f ICT develpers and FOSS users are wmen. At entry level, wmen's wages are 17% f men's. By the time wmen reach their 40s, they will typically be earning 40% less than men There is an urgent need t address inequalities between wmen and men s access and participatin in all aspects f the develpment f FOSS n cultural, ecnmic, plitical and technical levels, especially in the develping wrld Example f UNESCO s wrk: UNESCO has undertaken an infrmal analysis f the current digital divide in the FOSS wrld aiming at identifying hw UNESCO can further prmte wmen s access t FOSS by develping gender-sensitive plicies n the develpment and implementatin f FOSS, wman-t-wman mentring/training prgrams and imprved implementatin f FOSS in develping cuntries. 15

16 Gendering the Science and Technlgy Agenda UNESCO s Recmmendatins

17 Recmmendatins Prmte wmen s access t frmal educatin, technical and vcatinal educatin and training (TVET) and nn-frmal educatin; Review the teacher educatin plicies; Take int accunt sci-cultural factrs that may disadvantage girls when frmulating plicies; Integrate S&T int nn-frmal educatin; Develp effective, high-quality S&T educatin prgrammes; Tackle negative gender-steretypes cncerning the perceived suitability f wmen in S&T careers: Via the natinal and internatinal media; Via educatinal plicies, in particular gender-sensitive teacher training and educatinal material; Enlist psitive female rle mdels; Encurage girls t g int careers in S&T, using career guidance; Develp relevant, internatinally cmparable sex-disaggregated statistics. 17

18 18 The 2010 Glbal Educatin Digest: Cmparing Educatin Statistics Acrss the Wrld, UNESCO Institute f Statistics