Gender, Science and Technology in the UN System
As part of its mandate, the Gender Working Group (GWG) was asked to review the performance of UN agencies in the domain of gender, science and technology. This task was to include an assessment of interagency coordination. At the request of the GWG, UNIFEM undertook a review of 24 multilateral organizations in New York, Washington, Geneva, Rome, Vienna, Paris and Bangkok, visited in February and March 1994. The result was detailed information relating to the policies, structure, staffing programming, and evaluation activities of the agencies concerned, as well as information on interagency coordination and relations with NGOs.
A written and oral report summarizing the UNIFEM exercise was presented to the GWG in April
1994. Following discussion of the paper, members of the GWG concluded that:
(a) Most agencies have a commitment to gender equity that is often enshrined in policy resolutions, and have created gender departments, programs and/or focal points; many also have a strong commitment to science and technology. However, only four agencies had clearly identifiable gender, science and technology focal points and in all cases (except UNIFEM and INSTRAW), corporate-level recognition and promotion of gender and science and technology issues did not exist.
(b) In most agency programs and project work, the concern is to help women to gain equal access to improved technologies. There is less emphasis on involving women in the process of technology development and little attention to promoting women's increased involvement in science and technology decision-making or systematic incorporation of women's perspectives into the formal science and technology system.
(c) Intra-agency mechanisms for appraising, monitoring and evaluating gender, science and technology projects and programs is very weak for a variety of structural, staffing and financial reasons. The result of this is that gender perspectives have not been integrated effectively into science and technology activities within the UN system.
(d) Although there is some evidence of interagency collaboration on these issues, it takes place on an ad hoc rather than in a coordinated, strategic way; although there is increased recognition of the importance of learning from NGOs, few agencies have developed mechanisms for supporting NGOs and working effectively with them.
A follow-up review by an independent consultant was requested. Accordingly, selected agencies were visited in May 1994 and a draft report presented to the GWG in July. A matrix was
prepared comparing policies across agencies. The GWG concluded from the report that:
(a) Most UN agencies perceive the theme of gender, science and technology as marginal to the main mandate of their individual organizations. Promoting an awareness of the relations between gender, science and technology should include the provision of practical examples of how current programs can contain a gender bias and how "gender analysis" can help to overcome obstacles by incorporating gender analysis in the design of science and technology policies and programs. Governing councils, which represent the member states of the UN agencies, should recognize the importance of gender issues and require monitoring and regular reporting of agency actions addressing the incorporation of gender analysis and assessment into science and technology policies, programs, and projects.
(b) Although there is some evidence to suggest that the positioning of high-level women
professionals in key technical posts can assist in "engendering" science and technology policies and programming, and there is evidence of improvements in some agencies (e.g. WHO, UNHCR) in recent years, there are still very few women in senior management or technical advisory positions. Although the gender balance should continue to improve in response to resolutions by governing councils, agencies should be required to report regularly on progress in the recruitment and promotion of women professionals.
(c) There is little collaboration between gender focal points and science and technology focal points within agencies with respect to the design, monitoring, and evaluation of policies, programs, and projects. There is lack of specific guidelines to assist scientific and technical staff to undertake this task. Recent attempts by agencies such as UNIDO and the Women, Science and Technology Program of UNESCO to introduce agency-wide programs aimed at integration among units should help promote awareness.
(d) Although there are a few example of studies on the "impact of technology projects" on women, there is a general lack of gender-disaggregated "impact assessment" data available to improve programming. The problem of undertaking impact assessment is a generic one, but there are no guidelines on how to build specific gender, science and technology questions into routine monitoring and evaluation.
(e) UN agencies tend to work in isolation due in part to their perceived separate mandates and to difficulties in communication (lack of travel budgets, e-mail network, etc.). Although insisting formal mechanisms for coordination would not necessarily promote better exchange of information, methods should be supported to promote and sustain exchange between gender focal points and science and technology focal points on an agency-wide basis.
(f) Although there is a general trend among UN agencies to work with NGOs, only selected organizations such as WHO, ILO, UNIFEM, have established formal relations with NGOs at both the policy and field program/project level. This trend reflects the heightened awareness in recent years of the capabilities of NGOs to contribute to development policy, including their ability to deliver cost-effective programs and their detailed knowledge of local communities. The experiences of UNIFEM, IFAD, UNIDO, ILO and others testify to the effectiveness of UN-NGO collaboration. Agencies that have not yet fully supported NGOs in their activities should be required to build these partnerships. A 1994 survey by UNIFEM identified some 650 NGOs active in the field of gender, science and technology. A consortium of these NGOs - the Once and Future Action Network (OFAN) coordinated input into the 1995 UN 4th World Conference
on Women in development to ensure a high profile for issues of gender in science and technology in Beijing and continues to lobby around and promote gender, science and technology for development.
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