What is Gendered Innovations?

Gendered Innovations harness the creative power of sex, gender, and intersectional analysis for innovation and discovery. Considering these approaches may add valuable dimensions to research. They may take research in new directions. For a summary, see Sex and Gender Analysis Improves Science and Engineering (Nature, 2019). See also Gendered Innovations 2: How Inclusive Analysis Contributes to Research and Innovation.

The peer-reviewed Gendered Innovations project:

    1) develops practical methods of sex, gender, and intersectional analysis for scientists and engineers;
    2) provides case studies as concrete illustrations of how sex, gender and intersectional analysis leads to innovation.

Londa Schiebinger discusses the project in the video clip below:


 

Why Gendered Innovations?

Doing research wrong costs lives and money. For example, between 1997 and 2000, 10 drugs were withdrawn from the U.S. market because of life-threatening health effects. Eight of these posed "greater health risks for women than for men" (U.S. GAO, 2001). Not only does developing a drug in the current market cost billions—but when drugs failed, they caused human suffering and death.

Gender bias also leads to missed market opportunities. In engineering, for example, considering short people (many women, but also many men) “out-of-position” drivers leads to greater injury in automobile accidents (see Inclusive Crash Test Dummies). In computer vision, facial recognition trained on biased datasets may not recognize women as well as men or darker skinned persons as well as those with lighter skin, meaning that darker skinned women may not be recognized at all (see Facial Recognition). Facial recognition may also not be able to recognize transgender individuals, especially during periods of transition. In basic research, failing to use appropriate samples of male and female cells, tissues, and animals yields faulty results (see Stem Cells). In medicine, not recognizing osteoporosis as a male disease delays diagnosis and treatment in men (see Osteoporosis Research in Men). In city planning, not collecting data on caregiving work leads to inefficient transportation systems (see Smart Mobility). We can't afford to get the research wrong.

Doing research right can save lives and money. It is crucially important to identify bias. But analysis cannot stop there: Gendered Innovations offer state-of-the-art methods of sex, gender, and intersectional gender analysis. Integrating these methods into basic and applied research produces excellence in science, health & medicine, and engineering research, policy, and practice. The methods of sex, gender, and intersectional analysis are one set of methods among many that a researcher will bring to a project.

Three Strategic Approaches

Governments and universities have taken three strategic approaches to gender equality over the past several decades:

  • 1. "Fix the Numbers" focuses on increasing women's and underrepresented groups' participation.
  • 2. "Fix the Institutions" promotes inclusive equality in careers through structural change in research organizations (NSF; European Commission, 2011).
  • 3. "Fix the Knowledge" or "gendered innovations" stimulates excellence in science and technology by integrating sex, gender, and intersectional analysis into research.

what is gendered InnovationsGendered Innovations:

    Add value to research and engineering by ensuring excellence and quality in outcomes and enhancing sustainability.
    ● Add value to society by making research more responsive to social needs.
    Add value to business by developing new ideas, patents, and technology.

Gendered Innovations stimulate gender-responsible science and technology, thereby enhancing the quality of life for women, men, and non-binary people worldwide.

Project Background

Gendered Innovations was initiated at Stanford University, July 2009. From 2011-2013, the European Commission funded an Expert Group, "Innovation through Gender/Gendered Innovations" under their Framework Programme 7, aimed at developing the gender dimension in EU research and innovation. The U.S. National Science Foundation joined the project January 2012. From 2018-2020, the Horizon 2020 Expert Group, Gendered Innovations (G12), updated and expanded the Gendered Innovations methods and case studies. From 2019-2022, the U.S. NSF co-funded workshops to produce new GI case studies.

To match the global reach of science and technology, the case studies and methods of sex, gender, and intersectional analysis were developed through international collaborations. More than 220 experts from across Europe, the United States, Canada, and Asia participated in a series of peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary workshops and collaborations (see Contributors).

Collaborations

Gendered Innovations collaborated in the development of the 2010 genSET Consensus Report and the United Nations Resolutions related to Gender, Science and Technology passed March 2011.

July 9, 2013 the Gendered Innovations project was presented at the European Parliament. As part of that session, we published Gendered Innovations: How Gender Analysis Contributes to Research with a foreword by European Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn. European Union policy prioritizes "the gender dimension in research and innovation content."

August 2015, Gendered Innovations was the theme of the Gender Summit 6 Asia-Pacific, Seoul, South Korea. In September 2015, the League of European Research Universities released Gendered Research and Innovation.

In 2020, the European Commission expert group work was published as: Gendered Innovations 2: How Inclusive Analysis Contributes to Research and Innovation, eds. Londa Schiebinger and Ineke Klinge (Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union) with a foreword by European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Mariya Gabriel.

In 2016, the Center for Gendered Innovations in Science and Technology Research was founded in Seoul, Republic of Korea.

In 2022, the Institute for Gendered Innovation was created at Ochanomizu University, Tokyo, Japan.

Goal of the Gendered Innovations Project:

The goal of the Gendered Innovations project is to provide scientists and engineers with practical methods for sex and gender analysis. To match the global reach of science and technology, methods of sex and gender analysis were developed through international collaborations. Gendered Innovations involves experts from across the U.S., EU 28 Member States, and Canada. We have now expanded into Asia (see Contributors).

Sex and Gender Analysis Lead to Gendered Innovations:

 

stem cell tile robot hand and human finger           crash test dummies picture

 

                                   
mobility cartoon picture   med tech tile picture   energy tile picture

 

                                   
animal tile picture   systems biology picture   prescription drugs picture

 

                                   
osteoporosis tile picture   stem cells picture   marine science  tile picture

 

How to Use this Website: 

This website has five interactive main portals:

    1. Methods of sex, gender and intersectional analysis for research and engineering
    2. Case studies illustrate how sex, gender, and intersectional analyses leads to innovation
    3. Terms address key concepts used throughout the site
    4. Checklists for researchers and evaluators
    5. Policy provides recommendations in addition to links to key national and international policies that support Gendered Innovations

screenshot of page 1

The term "Gendered Innovations" was coined by Londa Schiebinger in 2005.

© European Union, 2011, 2020
© Stanford University, 2011

Works Cited

European Commission. (2011). Structural Change in Research Institutions: Enhancing Excellence, Gender Equality, and Efficiency in Research and Innovation. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.

National Science Foundation (NSF). ADVANCE Adaptation and Partnership Proposals in Solicitation NSF 20-554. "NSF ADVANCE proposals are expected to use intersectional approaches in the design of systemic change strategies in recognition that gender, race and ethnicity do not exist in isolation from each other and from other categories of social identity." Accessed 20 November 2020.

Schiebinger, L. & Klinge, I. Eds. (2020). Gendered Innovations 2: How Inclusive Analysis Contributes to Research and Innovation (Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2020). Foreword by EC Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Mariya Gabriel.

Tannenbaum, C., Ellis, R. P., Eyssel, F., Zou, J., & Schiebinger, L. (2019). Sex and Gender Analysis Improves Science and Engineering. Nature, 575(7781), 137-146.

United States General Accounting Office. (2001). Drug Safety: Most Drugs withdrawn in Recent Years had Greater Health Risks for Women. Washington, DC: Government Publishing Office.

 

 

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