Advocacy Initiative

The Report on 55th Session of the Commission for the Status of Women (CSW) acknowledges that there is a “widespread underrepresentation of women and girls in many fields of science and technology (that) represents a loss of talent and perspectives, hinders economic development and women’s economic empowerment and can contribute to the gender pay gap”. Many countries around the world have taken initiatives to promote the participation of women and girls in science and technology education. 

In India, a few industries are beginning to acknowledge the issue of the “glass ceiling” for women that puts limitations on the career-related development of working women and they are taking proactive steps to minimise them. As part of its celebrations on the occasion of International Women’s Day 2011, the Indian Space Research Organization held a National Conference for ISRO Women, where remarkably, there were thematic discussions around equal rights, opportunities and access of women; their decision-making; leadership and empowerment of rural women. The Information Technology sector has been proactively trying to grow and retain its female workforce with various initiatives being taken at Infosys, Accenture, Yahoo and General Electric (GE).

But by and large, in India, the role of technology is not recognised by either the larger society or the women’s movement as significant for gender equity in the society, and as a duplicator of existing gender inequities. Even in case when a discussion on gender and technology occurs, it is restricted to the IT sector, and does not usually include the debates around Science & Technology.

One of FAT’s goals is to create a countrywide dialogue and consensus on the need to increase women’s participation in technology-making and equal access to technology use. While FAT’s networking and advocacy efforts have increased its solidarity with women’s groups across the country, there is still a dearth of organisations working to promote women’s participation in technology creation. Intensive collaborative efforts are needed to achieve this mission.

To this end, FAT has initiated its advocacy initiative aimed at facilitating collective actions towards bridging this gap. A Consultation on "Women's Movement and Technology" was organized in Delhi as a part of this initiative in October 2011.

Click here to read the brief report on this consultation.

Click here to download the list of participants of the consultation.

Another consultation on "Women and Science & Technology - Partnering for Change" is being organized in partnership with Point of View (POV) in Mumbai on 15th and 16th of December 2011. Download the concept note for this consultation and the tentative program here.