WOMEN IN SET: EXPLORING THE FACTS

In 2004 the National Council for Innovation (NACI) published a study entitled Facing
the Facts: Women’s Participation in Science, Engineering and Technology. The study
found that in most Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) disciplines, and in the
sector as a whole, women are significantly under-represented. In addition, only 6.4% of a sample of 17 000 research projects in the public sector was found to have an explicit gender perspective. In short, there was less science being produced by women and for women than by and for men.
To work towards correcting these imbalances greater insight into their determining
conditions was required. Consequently NACI, the South African Reference Group for
Women (SARG), and the Department of Science and Technology (DST), commissioned a study exploring the experiences and perceptions of women working in the SET sector. This report presents the findings of that study, and the subsequent recommendations for policy formulation.

The objectives of the study were:
• To explore the possible reasons for why women are under-represented in the SET
sector.
• To document perceptions and suggestions for increasing the representation of
women in SET.
• To explore the possible reasons for why so little research output from the SET
sector has an explicit gender perspective.
• To prepare policy recommendations based on the findings of the study.