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Women in Science
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| 4. Women in Science... Tapping into our largest pool of expertise Women make up over half the world’s population, but bear a disproportionate burden in terms of unemployment and resultant poverty. Women are forced to adopt multiple roles within society including homemaker, mother and breadwinner, yet they remain significantly under-represented both as producers and users of research. Globally, it is recognised that research and innovation within the various science, engineering and technology (SET) fields can make a significant difference when it comes to improving quality of life and wealth creation opportunities for women. "We are not actively encouraging the largest pool of expertise in the country - the women who make up 52% of South Africa's population," acknowledges Dr Shaidah Asmall, who heads the Department of Science and Technology (DST)'s Gender and Disability Unit. "It is these very women who can make a significant difference to economic growth and social upliftment in our country," she says. The DST is in the process of establishing a gender equity policy for the SET sector. This will inform the sector.s initiatives with respect to gender equity mainstreaming, which is the process of bringing a gender perspective into the mainstream activities of government at all levels, including policies, programmes and projects. Gender refers to the social differences between men and women that are learned, changeable over time and have wide variations within and between cultures. Gender is not a given - it is about society’s expectations of how women and men should behave. Gender mainstreaming in SET is a determined effort to change these 'expectations' and looks at three fundamental questions. Since women and men are equally capable of pursuing excellence in SET, the first question is: "Science by whom?" Quantitative research on South African women in SET, undertaken in March 2003 by the Centre for Research in Science and Technology revealed amongst other things, that in South Africa, women are younger and less qualified than men; they are in receipt of a significantly smaller slice of the research pie; and those women who are employed in the SET environment remain clustered in scientific domains or disciplinary areas which have traditionally been considered women’s domains. Because decision-making and research in SET should be of benefit to both men and women, the second question is: "Science for whom?" The importance of this question is well illustrated in the agricultural sectors of developing countries, where, according to the 2000 United Nations Report, women are twice as likely to be involved as men. Yet, according to the Community Information Network for Southern Africa, even in the poorest nations, ICTs are propelling change in agricultural knowledge. The 'gap' is expanding because "Gender biases may prevent young girls and women from accessing and using ICTs, regardless of the physical availability of the technologies and the skills of the women involved. Rural information centres and cyber-cafes, for example, are often located in places that women feel uncomfortable frequenting. Communication facilities in rural areas also tend to be shared public access, and women have more problems of time...and mobility...than men." Another case in point is gender in medicine, where, until as recently as ten years ago, women were often not involved in conducting medical trials, despite the fact that many of the trials involved medicines that are required for conditions in which women have a higher disease burden. The impact of science and technology on society, and the ethics of all scientific endeavours, must ensure a sustainable future for all. Hence the final question that must be asked: "Science in the service of global stewardship?" These questions must be embraced within women's life-cycle, from birth to death. We start to learn our gender roles from the moment we are born. What we learn is influenced by the society in which we are born, our position in it, our race and our class. Other influencers include ethnicity, religion, ideologies, geographical location, and the economic and political environment. Age, however, crosses all these parameters. During the pre-school years, the strongest role models are mothers themselves, who often unwittingly, perpetuate the role of women as 'jugglers' between the roles of parent, home-maker and breadwinner. The school years from 6 to 18 years of age are typically influenced by both parents and educators and the tertiary years are similarly guided. Career choices are made at around 21 years of age. Influencers at this point are many, but perceptions and realities play a large role and often limit the choices on offer. The mining and energy sectors, for example, have traditionally been male dominated and the general perception is that they remain so. Women have traditionally been excluded from working with materials and processes likely to damage the developing foetus, such as lead, yet developments in modern safety equipment have largely negated these risks. The maternal years, typically from 20 to 40 years of age, remain particularly challenging for women. This is often the point at which women who have made it through the quagmire of obstacles to play a meaningful role in the SET environment, withdraw completely - either due to the lack of support systems or to the seemingly insurmountable knowledge gap that quickly arises in the dynamic SET environment if they have taken a career break to raise and nurture families. In developing the gender equity policy for the science, engineering and technology sector, the DST's Gender and Disability Unit has adopted a broad-based consultative process that includes interviews and conferences with both men and women within the SET fraternity and input from the public in general. There is an open e-mail discussion forum at www.womeninscience.org.za. "This process is guiding policy making and it is envisaged that a robust Gender Equity Policy for the SET sector will be formally approved by the start of 2006," says Dr Asmall. |
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Nominations of potential candidates for the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) Board of Directors
