ISTIC 4th Biennial International Conference on Women in Science and Technology held in Kuala Lumpur

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The 4^th Biennial International Conference on Women in Science and Technology with the theme; “Empowering Women through Technology” was organized by the ISTIC at Kuala Lumpur Malaysia on July 22-23, 2019. The conference focused on practical solutions by women in STI for the SDGs. The conference was organized by ISTIC in collaboration with the Academy of Sciences Malaysia, UN Women, UNOSSC (UN Office for South-South Cooperation) and the Ministry of Energy, Science, Technology and Engineering and Climate Change (MESTECC) of Malaysia. The major theme of the conference was to highlight the role of women in education, science, culture, health, engineering and entrepreneurship with emphasis on the role of Technology especially the ICTs in empowering women. Thus women entrepreneurs were also invited to share their experiences and success stories to show-case successful innovations in STI by women in contributing towards Sustainable Development Goal No. 5 “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls” by 2030.

The Minister of MESTECC Malaysia Mdm Ms. Yeo Bee Yin inaugurated the conference and made quite a motivating speech. She while appreciating ISTIC for regularly organizing the thematic conference for the last eight years, acknowledged the contributions of women but also of men supporting women empowerment. She especially appreciated the efforts of Founder of ISIC Academician Dato (Ir.) Dr. Lee Yee Cheong for championing women empowerment by engaging them at various forums. After the Minister the UNOSS Dr. Danis Nkala also spoke to the conference. Earlier the ew hair of ISTIC Governing Board Prof. Datuk Halimontan Hamdan welcomed the Minister, honourable guests and participants. In subsequent sessions, Director UNESCO Regional Science Bureau Jakarta, Prof. Shahbaz Khan; ISESCO Deputy Director General Dr. Amina Al Hajri and President ECOSF Prof. Manzoor H. Soomro also spoke.

President ECOSF Prof. Soomro spoke as a keynote speaker in the session entitled “Women in Technology Industry – Creation of Communities that Drive Innovation, Facilitate Knowledge Sharing and Provide Support”. Title of his talk was “Women in STI in the ECO region”. Prof. Soomro underlined that women constitute about the half of the world’s population; but despite their tremendous potential, women are an underutilized talent. Women have been under-represented in most Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields. He further called for collective responsibility to inspire young women to study STEM subjects by appreciating Arts and Social Sciences as well; and prepare them as capable and critical thinking citizens and leaders to meet the challenges of the future. In his presentation, President ECOSF highlighted prevalent challenges for women in science and technology fields and shared the status of women in STI in the ECO member countries.

The international conference developed following recommendations to promote participation of women in STI:

1. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals must be translated into local and regional context, before taking them onto an international level.
2. Approaches to the empowerment of women should involve the men and having them play a similar role in promoting and empowering women in utilizing and accessing technology.
3. Access to mentorship and invest, as well as peer-to-peer support are as equally important as hawing access to digital technology, education in technology and the internet.
4. Technological innovations can be financially savvy through the utilization of existing platforms i.e., social media and online blogs, and the contribution and collaboration with like-minded people.
5. Technology excellence among women can be enhanced through passion and apt knowledge, and the focus to reach out to targeted audience, which can be further improved through education and awareness.
6. Creating Communities, collaborating with each other and connecting with peers and users, are what drives technological advancements and innovative ideas.
7. Security is vital to ensure safe access to the digital platforms and applications, without compromising personal data and confidentiality between providers and users.
8. Knowing and understanding the needs of suppliers and users in providing, utilizing and improving technology are significant to continuously empower women.
9. Safer space for women in their workplace, in the streets, offline and online is essential in empowering them to use and deliver technology to other women, their families and their communities.
10. The increase of the involvement of women in Science, Technology and Innovation at the decision making and problem solving level is strongly encouraged.
11. The continuous usage of technology among women is capable of eliminating their problems in community along the way such as poverty and child labor.
12. Women are to capitalize on the knowledge they have and be a role model in living communities and social groups to utilize and provide technology, with encouraging and uplifting each other in their efforts.