Subject: [fem-women2000 679] Women's GlobalNet #173: "Gender, Science and Technology"
From: iwtc <iwtc@iwtc.org>
Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2001 22:01:56 +0000
Seq: 679

IWTC WOMEN'S GLOBALNET #173
Initiatives and Activities of Women Worldwide
By Anne S. Walker, Jennifer Sly and Vicki J. Semler

July 24, 2001

NEWS AND RESOURCES IN GENDER, SCIENCE, AND TECHNOLOGY

1. MEETING CONVENED BY OFAN AND RADCLIFFE ON "GENDER, SCIENCE, AND 
TECHNOLOGY: CURRENT TRENDS AND FUTURE ACTION:"

Many of you may remember the Once and Future Pavilion at the NGO Forum 
in Beijing (Huairou) 1995, where women asked questions, searched for 
solutions, shared ideas, demonstrated their knowledge of science and 
technology and showed how they made it work for them. The work has 
continued and one of the more recent happenings was a meeting convened 
by the Once and Future Action Network (OFAN) and the Radcliffe Center 
for Public Policy Center April 30 through May 1, 2001. Possibilities for 
closer collaboration among the global gender, science, and technology 
(GST) networks were discussed and plans outlined for future activities. 
Among the global GST networks present in addition to OFAN were Gender 
and Science and Technology (GASAT), the Global Alliance for Diversifying 
the Science and Engineering Workforce, the Third World Organization for 
Women in Science (TWOWS), and the regional focal points (Southeast Asia 
and Pacific, Africa, and Latin America) of the Gender Advisory Board 
(GAB) of the UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development. 
Decisions reached at the two-day meeting included: 

1. the rotation of the OFAN global secretariat from India to Fiji 
2. a renewal of OFAN痴 role as a policy monitoring and advocacy network 
on gender, science and technology issues with an immediate focus on 
Rio+10 and the annual meeting of the UN Commission on the Status of 
Women (CSW) to review implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, 
and 
3. an agreement to explore a global collaborative project on information 
and communication technologies (ICTs). 

For further information contact the new global secretariat at: ECOWOMAN, 
Box 9874, Nadi Airport Post Office, FIJI, South Pacific or email 
<ecowoman@is.com.fj>.

2. FELLOWSHIPS AVAILABLE FOR WOMEN SCIENTISTS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA AND 
LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES: 

The Third World Organization of Women in Science (TWOWS) has fellowships 
available for women scientists in Sub-Saharan Africa and Least Developed 
Countries at Centres of Excellence in the Global South. It is a 
programme for female students to promote their effective participation 
in the scientific and technological development of their countries. The 
deadline is October 31, 2001. You can get more information, including 
the application, online at: <http://www.twows.org/> or please contact 
Leena Mungapen, TWOWS, at e-mail: <info@twows.org>.

3. NEW UNESCO REGIONAL CHAIR ON WOMEN, SCIENCE, AND TECHNOLOGY FOR LATIN 
AMERICA: 

As a follow-up to the 1999 World Conference on Science, UNESCO has 
appointed Gloria Bonder as the new Coordinator of the UNESCO Regional 
Chair on Women, Science, and Technology for Latin America, based in 
Buenos Aires, Argentina. A two-year plan of action for Latin America 
will be presented at a meeting to be held December 4, 2001 prior to the 
II Global Congress of Citizens Network 2001 (GCN2001) "Renewing 
Communities in the Digital Era." For more information contact Gloria 
Bonder at Centro de Estudios de la Mujer (CEM) <cem@mujer.org.ar>.

4. NEW UN DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (UNDP) 2001 HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 
"MAKING NEW TECHNOLOGIES WORK FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT" RELEASED: 

The 2001 UNDP Human Development Report (HDR), focusing on "Making New 
Technologies Work for Human Development," looks at the role of 
biotechnology and information communication technologies in reducing 
world poverty through analysis, statistics and graphs. Statistics 
include the Gender Empowerment Index (GEM) and the Gender-related 
Development Index (GDI), plus, a new Technology Achievement Index (TAI). 
The TAI composite index is based on eight indicators in four dimensions: 
technology creation, diffusion of recent innovations, diffusion of old 
innovations and human skills.

The 2001 UNDP HDR, released July 10, 2001, has provoked a strong 
reaction from more than 290 grassroots groups around the world. The 
controversy relates mainly to UNDP痴 support for genetically modified 
(GM) organisms in eradicating hunger and malnutrition. Critics state 
that the report "panders to the GM industry" and diverts attention from 
alternatives to biotechnology. Responding to the critics, Sakiko 
Fukado-Parr, the primary author of the report, states, "I think the 
first-world environmentalists should put on the shoes of a farmer in 
Mali faced with crop failures every other year and think what 
technological development could do for his harvest." 

The UNDP Human Development Report is available through Women, Ink. for a 
cost of US $22.95 (See below for ordering information) and is available 
electronically at <http://www.undp.org/hdr2001/>. 

Check out the following websites for more critical analysis of the 
report: 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,519721,00.html. 
"UN agency backs GM food crops," by John Vidal, and John Aglionby, 
South-East Asia correspondents for the London Guardian:

<http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/july13/top.htm>
 "UNDP痴 Human Development Report 2001: Biotech will bypass the hungry," 
by Devinder Sharma, a New Delhi based food and trade policy analyst:

<http://www.timesofindia.com/today/11hlth2.htm>
 "UNDP go-ahead to GM foods dismays opponents," by the Times of India 
News Service:

<http://www.foodfirst.org/progs/global/biotech/belgium-gmo.html>
 "Genetic Engineering of Food Crops for the Third World: An Appropriate 
Response to Poverty, Hunger and Lagging Productivity?" by Peter Rosset, 
Institute for Food and Development Policy: 

<http://www.greenpeace.org/>
The Greenpeace Website. 

5. RESOURCES IN GENDER, SCIENCE, AND TECHNOLOGY:

ONCE AND FUTURE ACTION NETWORK (OFAN) NEWSLETTER REVIVED: The Once and 
Future Action Network (OFAN), a coalition of more than 100 organizations 
working on gender, science and technology, has reinstituted its 
newsletter on Women in Science and Technology. The current issue gives 
an overview of global GST networks as well as the activities of the OFAN 
regional focal points. The next issue will have an environmental focus. 
If you would like to be added to the mailing list, please send a request 
to the new global secretariat, ECOWOMAN, Box 9874, Nadi Airport Post 
Office, FIJI or email <ecowoman@is.com.fj>.

A NEW THEME FOR AWID TO BE "GENDER AND NEW TECHNOLOGIES": The 
Association for Women痴 Rights in Development (AWID) has announced in 
their most recent newsletter that one of their four new themes is 
"Gender and New Technologies." These themes provide a basis for the AWID 
website. Also on their website, get information on their upcoming 9th 
International Forum to be held October 2-7, 2002 in Guadalajara, Mexico. 
Their website is <http://www.awid.org/>.

NEW TOOLKIT ON GENDER INDICATORS FOR ENGINEERING, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 
AVAILABLE ONLINE: UNESCO has developed a toolkit to promote the 
collection of gender disaggregated data in scientific and technological 
activities for national and international policy. It also presents a 
method to ensure systematic collection of gender-dissagregated data in 
science and technology. This toolkit is available online at 
<http://www.unesco.org/unispar/>.

NEW ISSUE OF GENDER, SCIENCE, AND TECHNOLOGY FOCUSES ON GENDER RELATIONS 
IN FOREST SOCIETIES: A new issue of the journal Gender, Technology, and 
Development on the topic of Gender Relations in Forest Societies is now 
available. You can read more about this journal, including article 
titles and authors at: <http://gendevtech.ait.ac.th/gtd/gtd.htm>. To 
purchase copies, contact Sage Publications, Inc at <info@sagepub.co.uk> 
in North and South America; <market@sagepub.co.uk> in Europe, Africa and 
Australia, and <sageindia@sagepub.com> in Asia.

ELECTRONIC JOURNAL ON INTERNATIONAL GENDER, SCIENCE, AND TECHNOLOGY: The 
International Gender, Science and Technology Digest is a bimonthly 
electronic newsletter that is useful for keeping current on events, 
resources, announcements and publications in gender, science and 
technology for development. To subscribe to this email list directly, 
send a message to <WIGSAT-L@list.wigsat.org> with the message 
"subscribe" in the subject line or subscribe online at 
<http://www.wigsat.org/it/wigsatl.html>.

6. BOOKS ON GENDER, SCIENCE, AND TECHNOLOGY A SELECTION FROM WOMEN, 
INK:

Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply 2000.
140 pages. ISBN 089608-607-0. WE547. US $14.00
Vandana Shiva

In this book, the renowned environmentalist and activist charts how 
corporate control of food and the globalization of agriculture are 
robbing millions of their livelihoods and their right to food, and the 
related impact this has on the environment and the quality and 
healthfulness of the foods we eat. Topics covered include genetically 
engineered seeds, patents on life, mad cows and sacred cows and the 
debate on shrimp farming. This inspiring book will possibly lead the 
debate about genetic engineering and commercial agriculture for some 
time to come.

Gender and Technology 1998.
88 pages. ISBN 0-85598-422-8. WE481. Cost: US $12.95
Caroline Sweetman (Ed.)

The contributors to this lively collection of essays and articles 
consider the effects of technology on development, with varying 
conclusions. Some authors hail the new communication technologies as 
vital to economic and social progress in developing countries, noting 
that they have led to significant advancements for the women in the 
areas of health, agriculture and labour. Others argue that these 
advances末for the privileged few末only further the imbalance of power. 
List of resources.

Gender and Technology: Empowering Women; Engendering Development 1998.
171 pages. WE416. Cost: US $17.50
Saskia Everts

Everts demonstrates why gender awareness needs to be integrated into 
technology transfer, explores the technology needs of women and looks at 
how technology itself can empower--and disempower. Included are an 
overview of the gender and technology debate, a model training programme 
for successful technology transfer, and a list of issues to consider 
when introducing technology to women痴 enterprises. Case studies; 
bibliography.

Is Science Multicultural?: Postcolonialisms, Feminisms and 
Epistemologies 1998.
242 pages. ISBN 1-85649-658-9. WE371. Cost: US $14.95
Sandra Harding

This original and scholarly book explores what practitioners of 
Euro-American, feminist, and postcolonial science and technology studies 
can learn from each other. It suggests new directions for thinking about 
objectivity, method, and reflexivity in the new and future world of 
science and technology.

Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge 1997.
148 pages. ISBN 0-89608-555-4. WE333. US $13.00
Vandana Shiva

Biopiracy exposes the "new colonies" in the North痴 assault on the 
South痴 biological resources: the interior spaces of the bodies of 
women, plants and animals. Shiva convincingly argues that international 
agreements enable Northern capital to appropriate biodiversity from its 
original owners by defining as "non-science" the seeds, medicinal 
plants, and indigenous knowledge of the South.

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WOMEN, INK.
For quality, cutting-edge publications on women and development by, for and about women worldwide, see Women, Ink's 2001 catalogue at : <http://www.womenink.org>. 

Or contact Women, Ink. at 777 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017, USA.  Tel: Yasna Uberoi (1-212) 687-8633 ext 212 or Mary Wong (1-212) 687-8633 ext 204. Fax: (1-212) 661-2704. E-mail: <wink@womenink.org>

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