Event Description

The Chandraprabha Saikiani Centre for Women Studies organised the orientation programme of the project, Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions (GATI), sponsored by Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India on the 8th of November, 2021.

The programme was conducted in the Academic Council Hall, Tezpur University. The purpose of the orientation meeting was to introduce the GSAT (Gender Self-Assessment Team) members to the initiative and vision of Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions (GATI). The overarching programme is being undertaken in partnership with Aston University, Birmingham, UK. A GSAT team has been constituted with 62 members comprising of faculties, research scholars, students, technical and office staff of Tezpur University. A total of 30 institutions have been selected all over India to conduct a pilot study on the GATI project. In the Northeast, Tezpur University has earned the distinction of achieving this project.

The project aims to gauge and act upon the severity of the relative absence of women in the field of Science and Technology. The GATI programme commits to achieve gender equality and empower women and girls in STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Medicine and Mathematics) disciplines. According to UIS data, less than 30% of the world’s researchers are women. Women in scientific laboratories and institutions of higher education face several challenges in moving up the academic and administrative ladder which explains the existence of a structured hierarchy at the structural, cultural and institutional level. Considering the fact, there is a need to restructure and bring transformations at the institutional level. It bears utmost importance to understand how the ‘structure’ functions as a barrier in incorporating women in STEMM fields. Unfortunately. The disparity in gender statistics is not only in numbers but several micro and macro factors play their role at the institution level. GATI as an initiative aims to study these barriers which work at various levels; physical, structural, psychological, political. To understand these barriers at its grassroots, one has to look beyond the numbers and examine the qualitative factors that deter women from pursuing careers in STEMM fields.