APGEST
Ruth Lechte
In 1996 a group of scientists and technologists met in India and produced a 10 point agenda: Women in science and technology; science & technology for women known as the Chennai Declaration. UNDP and UNESCO then instigated APGEST studies and activities: Asia-Pacific Gender Equity in Science & Technology.
The strongly
worded recommendations from the World Conference on Science in 1999 were used
to justify the programme. These dealt with science & equity and the need to
increase participation in and contribution by women to science, engineering
and technology at all levels, from university educated research scientists to
informally educated end-users actively shaping the localisation of S & T in
their communities.
Eleven countries have completed a scanning process: Assessment of Resources, Best practices and Gaps in Gender Science & Technology in the Asia-Pacific Region. These were China, India, Indonesia, Korea, Mongolia, Nepal, Philippines, Vietnam in Asia and Fiji, Kiribati and Samoa in the Pacific. Many individuals, institutions, commercial activities and rural situations were covered, and examples of best practices were focussed on five areas: Biotechnology, Renewable Energy, Green Health, Information Technology and Water.
An APGEST website is in operation and is available for ongoing participation by the scanning teams, and for gender-sensitive scientists and technologists. It carries all the scanning research results and documents – the address is http://www.unesco.or.id/APGEST. Three books are also available.
One summarises the findings and analysis of the scanning and gives conclusions and recommendations. It describes the capacities in the Asia-Pacific region for the empowerment of women and the creation of gender equity through science & technology. And it develops science & technology project indicators.
A smaller booklet gives examples of best practices Science & Technology for Poverty Alleviation & Women’s Empowerment.
And there is a country report for each of the 11 countries.
There were four researchers on the Fiji team and we also had access to the women scientists who are members of the ECOWOMAN Collective – women in science & technology, and of WAINIMATE, the women’s association of natural medicinal therapy. A scanning document was supplied, but we adapted it substantially to suit Fiji realities. For example, there was a question asking officials to describe their gender, science & technology policy. There isn’t one – anywhere in the Pacific! We divided the team up to interview government officials, UN agencies, educational institutions, the corporate sector, and non governmental organisations. Our final report contained regional overviews, a summary of GEST policies, specific concerns for Fiji, 9 recommendations, and a SWOT evaluation: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities & threats. There was also and assessment of the situation in the 5 identified fields of study.
Additionally, we produced charts:
a summary of country projects on gender, science & technology,
a list of country experts/specialists,
a list of country institutions.
There were 5 best practices case studies.
Green Health, the activities of WAINIMATE
Bio-based technology; a floriculture programme, the restoration of masi (tapa) plants and production, and a wetlands renewal activity of the weaving material kuta, a sedge (Elaecharis dulcis)
Renewable energy: the Department of Energy rural electrification (the director is a woman), alternative cooking system, and the Fiji Association of Women Graduates science summer school for girls.
A group representative of science & technology in Fiji met at the start of the scanning and were very cooperative throughout the whole process. They are gathering together this month (April 2002) to hear the conclusions of the team and the plans fro APGEST II.
In March the 11 team leaders met in Chennai once again and produced a 3 year regional plan for APGEST II to build on the achievements to date and to focus more firmly on advocacy, and links to other women’s agreements such as CEDAW, UNESCO and UNDP have pledged ongoing support.
The three Pacific delegations were keen to advocate women’s empowerment through recognition of women’s local scientific knowledge, their traditional ecological know-how and post harvest technologies associated with the kind of products for which women are responsible. Women’s status can be raised where such knowledge and the women who have harboured it for generations are integrated into national networks, receive respect and recognition, and have the opportunity to participate in planning for the preservation, promotion and integration of such knowledge systems into modern lifestyles.
We emphasised that gender equity in S & T requires a greater focus of scientific and technological activities on meeting the developmental needs of poorer people. And on ensuring that a fair share of scientific and technological investment goes towards improving the lives of women who are over-represented among the world’s poorest people. We recommended changes to include:
opportunities to re-enter training and careers at different lifestyles phases
family friendly scientific workplaces with maternity leave provisions and options for part-time work when children are young
new techniques of formal and informal science awareness and education designed to appeal equally well to girls and women as boys and men
changing representations of S & T as elite “western” knowledge relying more on reason than passion and cold-heartedness than caring for communities.
The empowerment of women requires not simply the ‘topping-up’ of women’s capacities but addressing the gender systems responsible for producing women’s inferior social status and restriction to a narrow range of contributions to the future of their societies.
Ruth Lechte Fiji Team Leader APGEST