Blog post by Vanessa Moore, Senior Researcher at European Institute of Women's Health
The GoNano project is innovative in not only its thinking and approach to nanotechnology and co-creation, but also in its inclusivity. The world of science and technology tends to be male-dominated, and sience, technology, engineering, and mathematics subjects (STEM) may struggle with addressing this issue, both in a practical (e.g. females studying/working in STEM) and theoretical sense (including gender aspects/gender mainstreaming in e.g. product development, innovation, and policy). The GoNano co-creation and engagement methodology made a point from the very beginning, at the creation of the project itself, to include the issues and aspects of gender and diversity throughout the project and in all aspects of it.
By engaging in gender mainstreaming, the GoNano project put gender awareness at its core. Gender mainstreaming is when a gender perspective is kept in mind in the creation of policies and other matters. This means that when creating for example a policy, the effect it will have on gender and how gender may play a role and be an issue is addressed at all stages, from the creation phase to the implementation and evaluation. This is done as to promote and strengthen the equality between women and men, and is a great tool as it can help avoid unintentional and inadvertent discrimination or problematic outcomes.
GoNano did not only address gender issues, but also focussed on diversity. Diversity can at times be overlooked, and tends to be lumped together with gender as one issue. However, diversity is a category in its own right, and deserves the same attention and focus as gender issues. Addressing diversity means being aware of issues of ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic status, sexuality, and so on, and how they affect and intersect with each other, and the power structures that in turn affect this.
How did GoNano address these issues? One good example is the co-creation methodology and process spearheaded by the project in the GoNano workshops, where a number of tools and actions were included to address issues of gender and diversity, and make sure that they were included. More information about these efforts can be found in the GoNano deliverable on gender and diversity or, in a shorter summary as one of the papers in the GoNano White Papers series