Technology Delivery to Empower Women | Science & Technology for UPSC 2024 (Pre & Mains) PDF Download

 Page 1


T echnology Delivery to Empower Women 
Urban women are using technologies that reduce their drudgery and improve lifestyles. Modern household 
appliances, ICT applications, computers and gadgets for of?ce going women have all made jobs simpler. 
However, in the rural scenario, life is somewhat different.  
Problems for Rural women 
A typical rural woman has to  
•
face the drudgery of fetching water from the nearby well or river  
•cooking is done after collection of ?rewood 
•
commuting from village to nearby city poses problems  
•income generation through technologies not so easy 
The empowerment of rural women is thus limited to agriculture or small odd jobs. Lack of livelihood for rural 
women is further affected by ownership of landholdings and property which are generally with the males of 
the family. 
Science and T echnology for Women 
Department of Science and T echnology has been implementing various schemes 
1. Science & T echnology for Women: The scheme has been in force since 1980s, with a view to empower 
women through inputs of Science and T echnology. It aims to promote development and adaptation of 
appropriate technologies, transfer of proven technologies and demonstration of live technology models 
to bene?t women. 
Besides individual projects for technology development, upgradation, modulation and replication, the 
scheme also focuses on establishing “Women T echnology Parks (WTP)” that are envisaged to act as resource 
centres where all necessary support is made available to women from a single platform for improving the 
living condition of women. These Parks act as windows for providing information, creating awareness, 
giving training for appropriate technologies leading to skill upgradation and also to help establish the all-
important forward and backward linkages for income generation through microenterprises for women 
besides on-?eld trials for R&D and modulation of the technology packages to address location-speci?c 
needs. 
2. Science for Equity Empowerment & Development (SEED): Under this scheme, S&T based agencies, 
agricultural extension divisions of universities, R&D laboratories and others are encouraged to submit 
proposals for technology development, adaptation, demonstration, etc. These technologies generally use 
locally available resources like bamboo, coconut, areca nut, banana and so on for value addition and 
preservation. Financial support is for manpower, logistics, consumables, raw materials, capital, equipment, 
training etc. Women participants in the programme receive on-site training for the technologies. The most 
important feature is to identify the bouquet of technologies that can be disseminated, demonstrated and 
replicated taking into consideration the locally available natural resources. 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
www.SleepyClasses.com 
Page 2


T echnology Delivery to Empower Women 
Urban women are using technologies that reduce their drudgery and improve lifestyles. Modern household 
appliances, ICT applications, computers and gadgets for of?ce going women have all made jobs simpler. 
However, in the rural scenario, life is somewhat different.  
Problems for Rural women 
A typical rural woman has to  
•
face the drudgery of fetching water from the nearby well or river  
•cooking is done after collection of ?rewood 
•
commuting from village to nearby city poses problems  
•income generation through technologies not so easy 
The empowerment of rural women is thus limited to agriculture or small odd jobs. Lack of livelihood for rural 
women is further affected by ownership of landholdings and property which are generally with the males of 
the family. 
Science and T echnology for Women 
Department of Science and T echnology has been implementing various schemes 
1. Science & T echnology for Women: The scheme has been in force since 1980s, with a view to empower 
women through inputs of Science and T echnology. It aims to promote development and adaptation of 
appropriate technologies, transfer of proven technologies and demonstration of live technology models 
to bene?t women. 
Besides individual projects for technology development, upgradation, modulation and replication, the 
scheme also focuses on establishing “Women T echnology Parks (WTP)” that are envisaged to act as resource 
centres where all necessary support is made available to women from a single platform for improving the 
living condition of women. These Parks act as windows for providing information, creating awareness, 
giving training for appropriate technologies leading to skill upgradation and also to help establish the all-
important forward and backward linkages for income generation through microenterprises for women 
besides on-?eld trials for R&D and modulation of the technology packages to address location-speci?c 
needs. 
2. Science for Equity Empowerment & Development (SEED): Under this scheme, S&T based agencies, 
agricultural extension divisions of universities, R&D laboratories and others are encouraged to submit 
proposals for technology development, adaptation, demonstration, etc. These technologies generally use 
locally available resources like bamboo, coconut, areca nut, banana and so on for value addition and 
preservation. Financial support is for manpower, logistics, consumables, raw materials, capital, equipment, 
training etc. Women participants in the programme receive on-site training for the technologies. The most 
important feature is to identify the bouquet of technologies that can be disseminated, demonstrated and 
replicated taking into consideration the locally available natural resources. 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
www.SleepyClasses.com 
The Need 
1. The world over it has been observed that when women work, economies grow 
•
As women have more control over income, through their own earnings or cash transfer, more money is 
spent for the bene?t of children 
•
Increasing women and girls’ education contributes to higher economic growth 
2. More women than men work in vulnerable, low-paid, or undervalued jobs 
•The UN Women data of 141 countries indicates that women and children who are poverty stricken are 
more vulnerable to natural disasters compared to their male counterparts 
•Where the socio-economic status of women is high, men and women die in roughly equal numbers 
during and after natural disasters, whereas more women than men die (or die at a younger age) where 
the socio-economic status of women is low. Therefore, we may say, as the status improves the hazard 
vulnerability decreases.  
3. In rural areas, water and sanitation are major problems; women have to bear the brunt — travelling long 
distances to fetch water, open defecation, menstrual hygiene problems, etc. Fuel collection, water 
collection and processing of food takes a lot of time of the women.  
The programmes under “S&T for Women” scheme of the government of India focus on employment 
generation through training, value addition to local resources, health & nutrition related projects aim at 
reduction of occupational hazards, address problems like malnutrition, anaemia, osteoporosis, etc. 
Introducing women-friendly technologies could lead to economic growth, sustainability and several other 
bene?ts.  
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
www.SleepyClasses.com