Women In Science Annual Review

The introduction of the National Research and Development (R&D) Strategy in 2002
represented a turning point in South Africa’s approach to the role of women in Science, Engineering and Technology (SET). In the R&D Strategy the government points to the underrepresentation of women within the SET workforce. This is exacerbated by the lack of access that women – especially from marginalised and rural areas – have to the benefits of SET. The picture gets gloomier, with some disconcerting statistics that indicate that the number of scientific publications produced by women in South Africa has increased only marginally from 16% in 1990 to 19% in 2001. Women account for 52% of our population but are not proportionately represented in academia or industry. This shows how we are ignoring this valuable national resource.

The South African Reference Group on Women in Science and Technology (SARG), which has been established in response to the aims outlined in the R&D Strategy. SARG was proposed as a group of local and international stakeholders and
representatives of organisations with an interest in the progress of women in science, who will advise the Minister of Science and Technology on relevant
issues. The group was established in March 2003 as a sub-committee of the National Advisory Council on Innovation (NACI).

The main objective of SARG is to make recommendations to public policy-makers to
promote gender mainstreaming in the related spheres of SET and Innovation. This involves building an understanding and recognising the value of the varying and equally potent contributions that women and men can make to society in the SET
sphere, in particular to building a stronger and more competitive NSI.
SARG aims to do this by:
• raising a gender equality perspective in everyday policy-making in relation to the NSI;
• contributing specific, research-based recommendations in order to promote a greatly enhanced role for women’s contributions to innovation in SET; and
• encouraging both men and women, through relevant policy instruments and strategy design, to place a concerted focus on gender in the NSI research agendas.