Michelle Obama has launched an all-star anthem "This Is For My Girls" featuring Zendaya, Kelly Rowland, Lea Michele, Kelly Clarkson, Janelle Monae, Jadagrace and Chloe & Halle. The track is a "global call-to-action" in support of the Obamas' Let Girls Learn initiative as well as the First Lady's #62MillionGirls campaign, targeted towards helping young women around the world complete their education. 

On 31 May 2016 the European Parliament’s (EP) Science and Technology Options Assessment (STOA) Panel hosted a joint workshop along with UNESCO and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) to examine the key findings of the ‘UNESCO Science Report: Towards 2030’.

UNESCO examines every five years the domestic and international enabling environment for Science, Technology and Innovation (STI). The ‘UNESCO Science Report: Towards 2030’, published in 2015, is the 6th edition of this report. It profiles 140 countries and delivers further information on another 49, covering the period between 2010 to 2015. This is a special period, as the report examines the status of the enabling environment in the aftermath of the economic crisis.

WISAT participated in two panels at the Gender Summit 8 in Mexico City:

1) The plenary panel "Participation of women and girls in science and technology education" featured a book launch for WISAT's Mexico National Assessment: Participation of women and girls in national education & the Science, Technology and Innovation system in Mexico: A national assessment based on the Gender Equality in the knowledge society (GEKS) indicator framework”, by Prof. Judith Zubieta and published by CONACYT. Sophia Huyer, WISAT Executive Director, presented an overview of the National Assessments framework and results.

WISAT members and colleagues met together in Mexico at Gender Summit 8 to present experiences to over 400 participants on gender gaps and opportunities in national policy relating to science, technology and innovation. The panel was chaired by Gloria Bonder, WISAT Board member.

Panellists:

•  Alice Abreu, Director, GenderInSITE, "Enabling Policies: the case of Brazil”
• Ernesto Fernández-Polcuch, UNESCO SAGA Program
• Nancy Hafkin, WISAT Senior Associate, "Policy without progress: Four in-depth studies on gender equality and the knowledge society from East Africa"
• Sophia Huyer, WISAT / CGIAR Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security Programme "Women and climate change policy: Increasing the global gender gap?”

Participation of Women and Girls in National Education and the Science, Technology and Innovation System in Mexico, by Prof. Judith Zubieta and Monica Lurcher was launched on April 29, 2016 at Gender Summit 8. The book, sponsored by the Mexico office of S&T (CONACYT) was launched during the panel "Participation of women and girls in science and technology education". 

Key messages:

Four new National Assessments have been completed in Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.  The Assessments apply the Gender Equality – Knowledge Society (GE&KS) framework to gather and evaluate data across a wide range of indicators on the connection between gender equality with women's representation in STI-related sectors of employment, education and decision making. 

Sophia Huyer co-moderated a panel with Ernesto Fernandez Polcuch, Chief of the Science Policy and Partnerships Section at UNESCO, on Promoting Gender Equality in Science on 23rd March at UNESCO. The event included a panel discussion with the L'Oreal-UNESCO For Women in Science laureates of 2016, and was part of the L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science week in Paris. 

A more food-secure and fair world in sight if the new climate deal truly engages with women farmers. , by Jerome Bassuet and Sophia Huyer

 It’s a hard life for women farmers in developing countries, and mounting temperatures will make it even harder. Gender inequality means that women are more affected by climate change than men.

WISAT has recently ratified a new partnership with the CGIAR Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security Programme (CCAFS).  CCAFS brings together the science and expertise of CGIAR and partners to catalyse positive change towards climate-smart agriculture, food systems and landscapes.

WISAT will work closely with its Gender and Social Inclusion unit on the National Assessments on Gender and STI (through inclusion of additional food security and climate change indicators), gender and rural technology development and innovation, and global policy. As part of this partnership, WISAT Director Sophia Huyer has jointly taken on the position of Gender and Social Inclusion leader of CCAFS. We look forward to a fruitful and exciting collaboration!

The National Assessment for Mexico will be launched on April 29, 2016 at Gender Summit 8 in Mexico. A plenary panel on Participation of women and girls in science and technology education will be led by Dr. Judith Zubieta, author of the study.  Dr. Sophia Huyer, WISAT Executive Director, will also participate on the panel along with Prof. Alice Abreu, Director of GenderInSITE and author of the Brazil Assessment.  The publication of the report is co-sponsored by CONACYT, which also made possible translation into Spanish.