'Do It Herself' – Women and technical innovation in Asia

Appleton, Helen; Fernando, Priyanthi

doi:10.3362/0957-1329.1991.007

Cited by 5 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…A great deal of qualitative research has been done on the STA in which women engage to fulfil their daily reproductive and productive responsibilities (see Appleton, 1995). It is clear that their everyday, experiential contributions to S&T are under-reported because they are neither part of the official (cash) economy nor fully covered in the censuses.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Girls’ and Boys’ Science Choices and Learning in Upper-Secondary Schools in Taiwan

Hsieh

Chen²,

Lin

2017

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One of the major issues facing science, engineering and technology (SET) around the world today relates to the decline of young people, especially women, enrolling in these subjects and entering careers in these fields. This will have tremendous consequences for capacity in science and engineering, particularly in developing countries -where SET applications are vital in social and economic development and in addressing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), especially poverty reduction and sustainable development. Capacity in SET is further weakened by brain drain to developed countries.These issues of capacity and the application of SET to development relate closely to considerations of diversity, access, equity, participation and career development for women in science and engineering. Women are under-represented in all areas of engineering, mathematics, physics and chemistry in most countries around the world. We need to get more women and under-represented groups into SET to promote social and economic development. The situation at the tertiary and professional levels reflects the decline in young people's, especially women's, interest in SET education at primary and secondary school. Children turn away from science and technology (S&T) in the later primary and early years of secondary education -that is where the problem begins.Indicators and information are required in many countries to help understand and address this situation of declining interest in and entry into science and engineering, and the consequences thereof for capacity and application of SET for social and economic development. We need data and information for evidence-based analysis and understanding of the situation, and for policy-making and planning to address the problem. The situation is compounded in developing countries by the shortage of statistics and indicators on science and engineering.The production of this UNESCO toolkit on gender indicators in SET is therefore a welcome, timely and indeed overdue contribution to this field. Calls for greater information on and action towards women and gender issues in science and engineering have been made at UNESCO General Conferences for over twenty years, and were a priority of the Framework for Action of the World Conference on Science in 1999. UNESCO commissioned the production of this volume to address these calls. The toolkit introduces the subject, discusses the need for gender indicators in SET to counter the 'leaky pipeline' of women into and within science and engineering, surveys the measurement of people and activities in SET, and provides case studies of the collection and analysis of gender-disaggregated data.The authors, Sophia Huyer and Gunnar Westholm, are specialists on gender issues and indicators in SET, and UNESCO is proud to have been involved in the production of the first publication focusing on this field. We look forward to the contribution that this toolkit on gender indicators in SET will make to the information, policy-making and planning required to address t...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Girls’ and Boys’ Science Choices and Learning in Upper-Secondary Schools in Taiwan

Hsieh

Chen²,

Lin

2017

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“…There is also a great deal of research that focuses on rural women in Africa and livelihood sustaining activities, especially in the agricultural sector (Momsen and Kinnaird, 1993;Vaughan, 1994;Ahonsi, 1995;Cross et al, 1996;Lipton et al, 1996;Francis, 1997). Previous investigations have to some extent indicated that many of the users of small-scale technologies are women (Baud, 1983;Carr, 1984;Gamser, 1988;Saito and Spurling, 1992;Whitehead and Bloom, 1992;Appleton, 1995;Manilla, 1999). However, many of these studies tend to be highly descriptive and links to technology are generally concentrated on use and not on women's roles in terms of technical innovation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…As Anderson (1985) asserts, conventional evaluations of technical hardware were often based on criteria assumed by technology designers rather than the technology users or intended beneficiaries. Furthermore, the development and transfer of Western-based technologies do not take into account the needs of marginalized groups and in particular, Appleton (1995) asserts that technology-transfer projects in all their forms have historically lacked gender sensitivity. Appleton (1995) further argues that local solutions are technical innovations and represent a vital though largely untapped resource for what constitutes appropriate technology in a given context.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Rural women and technology in South Africa: Case studies from KwaZulu-Natal Province

Bob

2004

GeoJournal

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This article contributes to a greater understanding of the linkages between women's roles, responsibilities and their use of technology in poor rural communities. The ways in which poor rural women conceptualize technology is examined. Furthermore, how they use their knowledge and skills to develop, modify and adapt the techniques and technical processes in which they are involved are also explored. Additionally, the links between indigenous and modern technologies in relation to gender considerations in poor rural contexts are examined. This article draws from findings of primary research undertaken in two marginalized rural communities in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa. The study reveals that the use of technologies are highly gendered and differentiated among women. Poor rural women utilize a range of technologies in both productive and reproductive activities which are central to their livelihood strategies, especially at the household level. Furthermore, although women are adapting and innovating technologies their expertise remains largely unrecognized. A range of problems and constraints exist which limit women's access to and use of technologies. A key tension identified in the study is that between the use of locallybased, indigenous technologies and modern, external technologies.

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“…Women's indigenous technical knowledge and innovative solutions to problems are in evidence in a wide range of activities (Appleton 1995b). "Specific spheres of activity become the domains of different genders as they increase their knowledge and skill over time.…”

Section: Indigenous Technical Knowledge and Women's Rolesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of women in sustainable energy development

Cecelski¹

2000

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This study explores the question of how sustainable energy development-specifically, decentralized renewable energy technologies-can complement and benefit from the goal of increasing women's role in development. It is based on a paper originally presented at the World Renewable Energy Congress-V held in Florence, Italy, in September 1998, as a contribution to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL's) program on gender and energy.Many of the examples given in the paper draw on contributions to and thinking developed in connection with ENERGIA News, the newsletter of the International Network on Women and Energy. The author would like to thank both the contributors and her fellow editors (Joy Clancy, Margaret Skutsch and Saskia Everts) for making this material available and for stimulating her thinking on this subject.The author would also like to thank Barbara C. Farhar of NREL, who managed the project, and Agnes Klingshirn of GTZ and Joy Clancy of the University of Twente, who acted as peer reviewers, for their helpful comments and suggestions. Special thanks are due to David Crawford and Stuart Smoller for editing the report, and Jane Adams and Irene Medina for word processing support. iv Executive SummaryRenewable energy will play an increasingly important role in both developing and developed countries in the future. The different implications of the wider use of renewable energy sources for women and men have hardly been examined, even though women's roles and interests in energy use and production have been well-documented. Experience in other sectors, and anecdotal evidence from the energy sector, suggest that women indeed have an important role to play in sustainable energy development. This paper, originally prepared to address the concerns of renewable energy technical experts at the World Renewable Energy Congress, reviews the literature on women's involvement in renewable energy and presents some examples of the results of including or excluding women in renewable energy development.It addresses four questions: Why do women need renewable energy? Are women really interested in renewable energy technologies (RETs)? Will women automatically benefit from RETs? Why is a gender perspective relevant in the energy sector? Why Do Women Need Renewable Energy?Renewable energy development can in particular address women's needs in:(1) The biomass cooking crisis: fuel scarcity, health and safety. Women need renewable energy to address their critical need for cooking energy. Women need cooking energy that is less labor-using, more convenient, and safer. A broad view of the entire household fuel cycle needs to be taken, including not just improved stoves but kitchen and housing design, food preparation and processing, and improved technology for the ergonomic collection and transportation of firewood. Some programs have sought to do this, but compared to other energy initiatives, household energy programs have been under-resourced and marginalized.Furthermore, biomass-based renewable energy projects need...

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'Do It Herself' – Women and technical innovation in Asia

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

Girls’ and Boys’ Science Choices and Learning in Upper-Secondary Schools in Taiwan

Girls’ and Boys’ Science Choices and Learning in Upper-Secondary Schools in Taiwan

Rural women and technology in South Africa: Case studies from KwaZulu-Natal Province

The role of women in sustainable energy development

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