The following resources are openly available for access by anyone interested.
Impact of GenderInSITE 2020
The impact of GIS is inextricably linked to the reputation and credibility of its host organizations and of the people in leadership positions within GIS. At best this is a symbiotic relationship that is a win-win situation for all. Over and above the obvious benefit that GIS reaps from the established infrastructure of each of the host organizations, there are additional benefits. For example, The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) as the host of GIS in Trieste, demonstrates its commitment to gender equality through its support for and commitment to GIS. Similarly, GIS leverages off the TWAS reputation, as well as the TWAS network and sphere of influence to expand the reach of its work beyond that of its regional focal points in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and in Africa. The LAC regional focal point, located in FLACSO, the Latin American University of Postgraduate Studies, benefits from FLASCO’s network across 16 Latin American countries, which facilitates collaboration with universities and research councils. The co-location of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Regional Chair of Women in S&T, with its focus on research and training in the field of gender and education is an added advantage. The value proposition of GIS LAC is the promotion of the integration of a gender lens perspective to higher education within a sustainable development framework. The Africa regional focal point, hosted by the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), benefits from ASSAf’s credibility as a science academy and the networks that it has established across the continent, including with academia and government. The value proposition of GIS is to bring into sharper focus the importance of gender considerations in Academy membership, activities and products. In this report, the impact of GIS will be considered under four headings: 1. Development of strategies/policies 2. Contribution to knowledge production 3. Contribution to capacity development 4. Building a reputation
Access the full report
Gender and Innovation: Implications for Sustainable Development. A GenderInSITE Policy Brief 2020
This policy brief considers the importance of applying a gender lens to innovation and sustainable development. It summarizes the key results of the workshop “Gender and Innovation: Implications for Sustainable Development”, held in Pretoria, South Africa, in September 2017. The workshop´s main objectives were to understand and advance the complex road from science to innovation; to explore the differential impact that innovation has on the lives of men and women, especially in terms of new technologies introduced in development programs; to understand the needs of scientific research and education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to support the development of gendered innovation; and to discuss how to bridge the gap between knowledge of STEM and gender issues, and those who need access to this knowledge for policy- and decision-making for effective implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Important outcomes of the workshop were that a gender perspective (1) leads to better research and innovation in support of sustainable development; (2) provides a basis for an inclusive approach that addresses all forms of inequality; and (3) provides a basis for linking all SDGs. The value of these outcomes to the achievement of the SDGs in developing countries is underscored. In the last three decades, the way we look at gender equity and gender equality in science has changed radically; from viewing women as the main problem and suggesting initiatives that would enable individual women to attain the necessary qualifications to succeed in a scientific career to an understanding that diversity is central to scientific excellence and that institutional structural change is the only way of reaching gender equity in science. This shift in understanding is underpinned by a wealth of research and programs that have given us today a sound knowledge base as to how and why we should apply a gender lens to science and technology (S&T). Some challenges remain, however, and one of them is the understanding of women´s role in science and innovation for development and how this role can be supported by using science, technology and innovation (STI). Over many years, a parallel debate has evolved about the importance of S&T for development, but for many decades this was a genderblind discussion. It was only at the beginning of the twenty-first century that international organizations started factoring in gender as an important issue and highlighting the economic implications of not using the full scientific potential of a country. By focusing on innovation, the need for a gender lens, the importance of gendered innovations for sustainable development and their centrality to the attainment of the SDG targets, this policy brief aims at providing recommendations that are applicable to policy-makers in developing countries.
Pathways to success: bringing a gender lens to the scientific leadership of global challenges 2018
This report explores the issue of women’s leadership in science and brings to the discussion some related issues not usually taken into consideration. The initial motivation was to look at the career trajectories of women in positions of scientific leadership to show how power and knowledge can cohere in institutions to create and maintain dominant pathways. The report demonstrates the importance of having a gender perspective that would assure ‘equal opportunity for entry and advancement into larger-scale science, technology, engineering, mathematics disciplines (STEM) and innovation systems’, one of the transformative actions so aptly described by the UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development (UNCSTD) Gender Advisory Board. Through interviews with women and men who lead international science and technology projects, the document highlights different pathways to success and how institutional change is so elusive and hard to achieve. However, when the authors looked at respondents’ individual pathways, they decided that, although it was important to demonstrate that alternative perspectives are possible, they would enlarge their perspective and look at other levels of analysis. By highlighting alternative perspectives on how systems of scientific production operate, this report promotes alternative narratives and pathways in science. In these narratives, gender is recognised as an important factor in the career and leadership trajectories of individual scientists and in how science for sustainable development is done.
SADC Gender in STI Fact Sheets 2019
These fact sheets are aimed at bridging the gap between policy and practice in terms of gender monitoring and evaluation in STI and how the SADC protocol on gender and development relates to STI. It is intended that the fact sheets will create many important ‘connection points’ to other projects of mutual interest for the partners and participants.
Gender and Innovation: Implications for Sustainable Development 2018
GenderInSITE, a global initiative in gender, science, innovation, technology and engineering, has identified gender and innovation as one of its central issues. Thus, GenderInSITE partnered with ASSAF, Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), Elsevier Foundation, and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) to host a workshop held on 4-6 September 2017 at TIA in Pretoria, to strongly anchor the discussion of gender, science, technology, innovation and development.
The objective of the workshop was to explore the role of gender in innovation as a key issue for developing countries and to identify the most promising practices and their impact in the lives of both men and women. Through facilitated round table discussions, participants deliberated on the pioneering work done in the North on “gendered innovations” from the perspective of the South, identifying new areas of research and the need for specific indicators. Participants also looked at how to improve communication between the producers and users of knowledge in this field, since this will be essential to the effective implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This report includes the production of concrete recommendations in support of policy developments as well as a proceedings report on the meeting.