The Once and Future Action Network (OFAN)

Newsletter No. 3

OFAN Statement on Science and Technology

Submitted to the Fourth World Conference on Women Beijing, China, September 1995

This statement is made on behalf of the Science and Technology caucus arising from the Once and Future Action Network (OFAN), which represents more than 80 organizations active in the area of gender, science and technology worldwide.

We recognize how powerfully science and technology interact with the themes of this World Conference on Women.

Girls and Women do not experience equality in science and technology. They are poorly represented in science and technology education and training. This limits oth their employment opportunities and their access to positions of influence in science and technology where decisions about their uses are made.

Moreover, the current paradigms of science and technology do not value women¹s traditional knowledge and the priorities which guide women¹s lives and aspirations. This further limits their participation in, and ability to shape, science and technology.

Science and technology are powerful tools for development; they can alleviate the physical burdens that make life difficult for many women. Science and technology can provide ways out of poverty, but too often their unreflecting use has increased women¹s burdens and ignored their needs.

Science and technology are exploited in the production of horrific weapons of war, such as land mines, which cause untold violations to human rights through injury and death, giving efforts to establish peace a greater imperative.

In this context, OFAN¹s key objectives are:

  1. to provide and monitor equal access for girls and women of all ages to scientific education and technological literacy
  2. to recognize the historical role of women in the development of technology and promote linkages between formal scientific institutions and women¹s indigenous knowledge
  3. to reassess the goals and ethics of research and development, and strengthen the role of women in decision making regarding allocation of resources
  4. to share fully the benefits of women¹s contributions to science and technology so that they can be used as a common heritage for all.

As a first step we commend to all participants of this Conference the ŒDeclaration of Intent¹ of the Gender Working Group of the UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development. We urge world governments to adopt and implement the six points of this Declaration which calls for the full participation of girls and women in science and technology.

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