A call for women engineers and scientists.

A call for more women in the engineering profession and for special incentives to encourage more women to enter the teaching professions in the fields of science and technology was made by the Advisory Committee on Science and Technology for Development at its recent session. The Advisory Committee stressed the need for all women to be informed broadly bout science and technology and urged Governments to adopt appropriate measures to achieve that.

Recommendations on the important roles which non-governmental organization (NGOs) and women, among others, should play in promoting science and technology for development were adopted by the Advisory Committee in its report to the Intergovernmental Committee on Science and Technology for Development, its parent body. The 28-member Committee met in New York from 14 to 21 February.

The Committee had before it the recommendations of five ad hoc panels of specialists which examined topics relating to the implementation of the Vienna Programme of Action on Science and Technology for Development. The Programme was adopted in 1979 by the United Nations Conference on Science and Technology for Development.

Of the two panels organized in 1982, the first, held in Los Banos, Philippines, examined possible ways of achieving a beneficial blend of emerging and traditional technologies and suggested pioneer projects in areas such as food processing, biomass, wood processing and fabrication, medicinal plants, aquaculture, water harvesting, conservation and utilization, remote sensing, rural housing, textiles, small-scale cottage and home industries and renewable energy for cities.

The second of the 1982 panels, held in Shuwaikh, Kuwit, focused on human resources development for the planning, management and implementation of science and technology programmes in developing countries. The panel made recommendations concerning training schemes for potential managers, institutional arrangements for the training of trainers and development of modules for management of science and technology programmes.

The first 1983 panel, held in Tunis, examined the role of regional associations and organizations in strengthening research and development and in the popularization of science and technology in developing countries. The panel concluded that NGO efforts to popularize science and technology should aim at issues concerning the daily lives of the people and at removing the mystique surrounding modern science.

Emphasizing that some of the most serious obstacles to launching programmes for the popularization of science in developing countries were posed by lack of good science communicators, lack of access to scientific information from both North and South, and the multiplicity of languages and dialects in developing countries, the Committee recommended that non-governmental associations and organizations should function even more actively as communicators to overcome such obstacles.

The second 1983 panel, held at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, dealt with science and technology and women. It examined women's participation at all levels and expressed concern that women were underrepresented, especially in technology and the hard sciences. The panel concluded that science and technology for development would not attain the highest quality possible if half of the world's available talent did not participate in it.

The Committee noted that "lack of access to education and information in science and technology is one of the most significant factors limiting the effective participation and input of women into these areas, especially in developing countries".

It urged Governments to adopt appropriate measures that would: "(a) increase the female literacy rates; (b) ensure equal access of girls to existing school facilities; (c) prevent dropout of girl students; (d) encourage participation of girls and women in existing technical training and vocational training programmes; and (e) increase educational and particularly scientific and technical training facilities for girls and women".

The Committee also placed particular strees on the need for full participation of women in its own deliberations, urging the Intergovernmental Committee to appoint an increasing number of women from the growing pool of eminent women in science and technology available to serve in advisory capacities.

The third and final panel of 1983, which met in Lima, Peru to discuss the reinforcement of linkages between research and development activities and the production system, determined that during the 1980s and 1990s new conceptual approaches would be needed to stimulate research and development to improve agriculture and industrial production. With regard to that panel's report, the Committee felt that sharpening the linkages between the research and development system and the production system would make it easier to integrate emerging and traditional technologies in agriculture, industry and services.

The Chairman of the Advisory Committee is Umberto Colombo (Italy).