About
A work stream of the IATT on "Gender and Science, Technology and Innovation (STI)" was formed in 2018 with the purpose of increasing synergies and collaboration among the UN, its agencies, funds and programmes on issues pertaining to STI and gender.
With the adoption of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and its 17 SDGs, countries committed to ensure sustainable development that leaves no one behind and no one offline. This will require significant global transformation, in which STI will be the key transformers and enablers.
As women and girls make up half the population; without their equal contribution to STI including the ICTs, we are losing half of the potential creators, innovators and scientists and the perspectives of even more, and their essential contribution to solving the world’s major problems. Closing the gender gap in the entire STI system throughout a cycle of education (R&D – employment / entrepreneurship – leadership - influence) will be a key prerequisite for the necessary social, economic and technological transformations. This is also an imperative for women’s economic empowerment, enabling girls and women to make informed life choices and participate fully in society.
At the same time, improving quality of life for women and girls is a global challenge and calls for innovative solutions that support their education, employment and leadership opportunities. Interventions are required at a number of stages and with policy tools as well as focused programmes to shift priorities, investments, perceptions on women’s and girls’ place in STI, and institute practical measures that directly respond to barriers that hinder women’s and girls' success.
Within the UN system, there is a wealth of information, expertise, activities, lessons learned and best practices on STI and gender. To ensure the optimal delivery of the UN system and its value-added in this area, it is essential to enhance synergies and collaboration between the relevant UN entities in this specialized field.
By providing an informal working-level platform to connect the interested entities in the IATT, allowing for sharing information and experiences, the Sub-Group would provide an urgently needed impetus for enhanced collaboration and exploration of possible joint activities that would use synergies among IATT members to add value to the work of individual UN entities.
Initial action items
The work of the Sub-Group will be co-led by up to three of its members and would meet informally (in person and by call-in) on a timetable determined by needs of its work program. The work program will initially focus on :
- Overviewing the key STI and gender related activities across the UN system. The overview would include policy and programmatic dimensions,and include examples of flagship projects.
- Advocacy on STI and gender, including the organization of joint events and briefings for member states in New York during the appropriate UN Fora (e.g. CSW, STI Forum, HLPF) and/or the observations of relevant International Days (e.g. International Women Day, International Day of Women and Girls in Science, International Day of Girls and ICTs, World Intellectual Property Day…)
- Conducting research and analysis, as needed, on the gender dimension of STI related initiatives or other initiatives with STI component(s).
Membership
Membership of the work stream on Gender and STI is open to members of the IATT. In carrying out its work, the work stream will strive to engage with members of civil society that active in this field.
Current Members: DESA, ECLAC, IAEA, ICGEB, ITU, UNCTAD, UNFPA, UNIDO, UNICEF, UNOOSA, UN-Women, UNESCO, WFP, WIPO, WMO.
Announcements
International Girls in ICT Day: Leadership workshop is organized by ITU, UNICC, WIPO and Columbia University's School of Professional Studies (Concept note)
Initiatives
Partner organizations across the United Nations System have joined forces to address the gender gap in science, technology, and innovation (STI) by forming the Interagency Task Team (IATT) workstream on Gender and STI (WS8). The yearly flagship publication highlights initiatives from 15 UN entities under WS8 of the IATT. These diverse initiatives are led by UN agencies creating gender-sensitive and women-centered solutions to advance sustainable development.
From leveraging fintech to financially empower women to capacity-building efforts increasing the number of women in nuclear science, the initiatives showcase innovative approaches paving the way for a more peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable world. These undertakings aim to empower women and girls in the field of STI through various actions, including capacity-building, information sharing, policy-setting, and awareness-raising. SDG 5 on Gender Equality serves as a cross-cutting enabler for achieving the 2030 Agenda.
Addressing the gender gap in Science, Technology and Innovation: Select initiatives from UN system entities
Events
2025
17 April 2025: International Girls in ITC Day: Leadership workshop. Organized by WIPO, ITU, and Columbia University's School of Professional Studies. (Concept note).
2024
15 October 2024: Taking the Pulse of Women-Centric R&D: Stagnant, Steady or Accelerating to close the investment gaps? (side-event to the World Health Summit 2024). Organized by UNFPA
14 October 2024: Investing in Women's Health: Driving Global Development (Keynote at the World Health Summit 2024). Organized by Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany (BMZ) and UNFPA (Event webpage: Link)
25 September 2024: From Vision to Action: Celebrating a Year of Equity 2030 Alliance (side-event to the UNGA79). Organized by UNFPA
27-28 June 2024: Global Dialogue on Technology. Organized by UNFPA (Event webpage: Link)
20 June 2024: Financing innovation and digital transformation in Africa. Organized by UNFPA
13 June 2024: Equity by Design: Female Athletes in Focus. Organized by UNFPA
29 May 2024: A Dialogue with the Laureates of the 2024 L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science International Awards: The World Needs Science, and Science Needs Women. Organized by UNESCO (Event webpage) (Recording) (About the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Programme)
30 May 2024: Equity by Design: Reimagining Technology Through Gender-Equitable Technology Solutions. Organized by UNFPA
9 May 2024: Launch of the Equity 2030 Alliance in Asia and the Pacific: Building an equitable future through women-centric innovations. Organized by UNFPA (Event webpage: Link)
23 April 2024: International Girls in ICT Day: Leadership workshop. Organized by ITU, UNICC, WIPO and Columbia University's School of Professional Studies (Concept note)
18 April 2024: Bridging Finance for Impact. Organized by Women’s Health and Empowerment Network (WHEN) and UNFPA. (Event PDF).
14 March 2024: Unlocking 12 Trillion of Economic Growth - Investing in Women-Centric Solutions (side-event to the CSW68). Organized by UNFPA, Government of Norway, Government of Ghana (Event webpage: Link)
9 February 2024: International Day of Women and Girls in Science “Closing the Gender Gap in Science: Accelerating Action”. Organized by UNESCO, in collaboration with AFNEUS (Event webpage), (About the Call to Action “Closing the Gender Gap in Science” and recordings)
18 January 2024: #Equity2030: Include 4 Billion, Unlock 12 Trillion (affiliate event of the World Economic Forum). Organized by UNFPA (Event webpage: Link)
2023
3 December 2023: International Day of Persons with Disabilities event: Changing the “Face “of Tech Leadership: Celebrating Persons with Disabilities who are Leading the Way in Technology and Innovation. Organized by ITU, WIPO and UN DESA (Concept note)
15 November 2023: The Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals 2023 - The Gender Snapshot (Concept note)
17 October 2023: Equity 2030 Alliance: Financing Women-Centric Solutions (side-event to the World Health Summit 2023). Organized by UNFPA (Event webpage: Link)
16 October 2023: Global Launch of the Equity 2030 Alliance: Global partnership on equitable and women-centric research and innovation (Session at the World Health Summit 2023). Organized by UNFPA, Government of Norway, Government of Ghana (Event webpage: YouTube / Concept note: Link)
20 September 2023: Building an equitable future through women-centric innovations (side-event to UNGA78). Organized by UNFPA, Government of Finland, Government of Ghana, Government of Viet Nam (Event webpage: YouTube / Concept note: Link 1, Link 2)
16 June 2023: Global Forum “The Future for Women and Girls in Science”. Organized by UNESCO (Event webpage)
2-5 May 2023: STI Forum exhibition: Women in Science, Technology and Innovation, organized by WIPO and ITU (Youtube)
26 April 2023: World Intellectual Property Day : Women and IP: Accelerating Innovation and Creativity
27 April 2023: International Girls in ICT Day: Digital skills for life. Organized by ITU, UNICC, WIPO, New York City Mayor's Office for International Affairs and Columbia University's School of Professional Studies (Concept note)
9 March 2023: Equity 2030 Alliance: Normalizing gender equity in science, technology and financing (side-event to the CSW67). Organized by UNFPA
2022
14 July 2022: Equalizing opportunities for women and girls through innovation (side-event to the HLPF2022). Organized by Government of Luxembourg, Government of Finland, Government of Lao People's Democratic Republic, and UNFPA
14-25 March 2022: Sixty-sixth session of the Commission on the Status of Women (hybrid)
2021
21 May 2021: CSDT session "Applying a Gender Lens to STI policies to Deliver SDG 5"
5 May 2021 (8-9 am NY time): STI Forum 2021 side event: "Gender Equality in Science, Technology and Innovation: Towards an Inclusive STI Ecosystem and Connectivity for All", organized by WIPO, UNESCO, ITU, WFP, UNESCWA, UNECLAC, UNIDO, UNOOSA (Link) (Concept note, Flyer) (Summary)
22 April 2021: 10th anniversary of International Girls in ICT Day 2021 virtual event (click here)
15 March 2021: Side event on "Gender Equality in Science, Technology and Innovation: Towards an Inclusive STI Ecosystem" (CSW65) (Invitation flyer) (Concept note) (Video recording) (Summary)
8-25 March 2021: ICT and Gender Mainstreaming Special Track of the WSIS Forum 2021 (click here)
2020
7 October 2020: Side event on "Gender Equality in Science, Technology and Innovation: Driving a Sustainable Future during COVID-19 and beyond" (On the occasion of the International Day of the Girl -11 October) (concept note)
2019
13-17 May 2019: Exhibition on "Gender and Science, Technology and Innovation" (UN Exhibit space near the Vienna café). This exhibit featured prominent women scientists from around the world and their contributions. It was launched on 14 May as part of the STI Forum 2019. (Invitation flyer)
20 March 2019: Side event on "Gender and STI" (CSW63). This event was the product of a partnership between ITU, UNESCO, WIPO and UNDESA. (Summary of the event)
Documents
Concept Notes
Background Notes
Background documents
Concept Note
Reports
Technology
