Background

FAT believes that every women needs to be aware of technical developments around her and how that might affect her or her community. It does not matter if she studies technology academically or not, it does not matter whether she works in a technology field or not, it does not even matter if she is tech savvy or not. Knowing about technical developments/advancements/changes going on around her is as important as knowing her rights or getting an education. Equal participation of both the genders in technology is the only means to break the male-dominated capitalism and to reduce male chauvinism within families, schools or work.

Today, we are all highly dependent on many electronic gadgets in our daily home and work life. The business world is very technology dominated and communication systems have become very technology dependent. Despite the overwhelming presence of technology in contemporary life, most women tend to ignore technology thinking it’s too complicated to understand, or that it’s a man’s domain. ” I am not tech savvy”, or simply, “I don’t lose anything if I don’t understand this, so why bother” are common perceptions amongst women about technology. Yet, paradoxically, many women who are interested in technology don’t get the opportunity to learn about technology or use it. Women in technology fields have to fight a new battle every day. They are paid lesser then their male colleagues, and often are not acknowledged for the work they do.

Women’s representation in the technical workforce is low all around the world. Out of the total technical work force in India, only 21% are women. This figure is slightly higher, at 24%, when we consider only the IT section. The reasons behind this low figure are many:

• The number of girls who choose to study technology is low
• Out of the girls who decide to study technology, many don’t work in technical fields
• Out of women working in technical fields, many change their work stream to non tech jobs while many decide to leave their jobs

To counter all these issues, FAT believes it is important that women should participate in technology as much as men do. To increase women’s participation in technology it is important that her interest in technology is increased, or in the reverse way, technology is made interesting for women. FAT believes that learning about technology is empowering. FAT’s aim is to touch every woman’s life with technology and help her use technology to make her life better.