WHAT CAN THE UNITED NATIONS DO
TO PROMOTE INVENTIVE ACTIVITIES AMONG WOMEN?

by Dr. Farag Moussa
President of IFIA

SEMINAR ON WOMEN'S IDEAS AND INVENTIONS
NORDIC WOMEN FORUM

(Turku, Finland, August 2, 1994)

For many people, the United Nations could do, should do a lot but often achieves little. It has the reputation of being a huge paper-production machine, an organizer of many meetings, but with little follow-up of any decisions which may have been taken.

Even if that reputation were true, we cannot afford not to make use of the United Nations. In practice, we can, and must use the UN in certain ways, and help this mammoth organization do a better job in spite of its inherent shortcomings.

Let us look at things in greater detail.

If we examine what the UN is actually doing to promote inventive activities in general, we see that it hardly does anything at all compared to its potential and the importance of the issue. That is, if we consider invention and innovation as the basis of economic growth, the generation of enterprise, and creation of jobs.

In fact, most activities undertaken by the UN in this domain are for developing countries only - in the framework of the so-called "development cooperation" programs. And yet - the problem of the promotion of inventive creativity is a worldwide problem!

I come now to a basic point if we want to make use of the UN system. The golden rule which must always be kept in mind is that the UN policy is decided by States, by governments. Thus, if non-governmental organizations (NGOs) want to influence UN policy, they have to influence the governments. National NGOs must strike to use their influence on their own governments. At regional levels, that role is devoted to regional NGOs, such as QUIN - the Nordic Women Inventors, for example. At the international level, the only worldwide NGO representing inventors is our International Federation of Inventors' Associations (IFIA). IFIA will work for you, network for you, lobby for you at the UN, and for that it needs your support.

Of course, IFIA will not be sitting in New York at the General assembly in the world of high politics! Neither will it attend the hundreds of meetings which take place in new York, Geneva, Vienna or elsewhere in the world. In truth, I should stress that IFIA's role is not so much to attend UN meetings as to maintain regular contacts with government officials, in particular officials heading the industrial property administrations.

It should be said that the UN policy is not only influenced by governments. The Secretariats administrating different organizations within the UN also play an important role in decision making. That is why IFIA must keep in touch with them - I speak of course of organizations dealing with the subjects we are interested in.

On the subject of women, I regret to say that the attitude of the Secretariats of the UN organizations - with the exception, naturally of those specially dedicated to women - is that of any male-dominated assembly: a total indifference.

I remember how alone I felt when trying to get WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) interested in the cause of women inventors! My esteemed colleagues laughed at me:"… Women Inventors? Where are they?" Women inventors were not considered as serious business to them. Believe it or not, during the six years I have been advocating the cause of women inventors at WIPO, not one of my colleagues came up with an idea or suggestion for the promotion of women inventors! Fortunately, the Director General of WIPO accepted some of my proposals and I am most grateful to him.

You have got the message: women should not expect too much from Secretariats of UN organizations which will only wake up when, and if, governments eventually instruct them to open their eyes.

Sadly to say, I am afraid most inventors associations don't do much to help women inventors either. Once again it is up to women to organize themselves. Speak out! Fight for your cause! No one is going to do if for you - apart from me, of course.

You want your voices to reach the UN? Then you must first form a structure. Have an organization of your own such as the Finns, for example. Or create a section within your national inventors association as the Swedes have done. Your organization will be a power. It will back IFIA. It will strengthen IFIA. It will allow me to better represent you at the UN.

One more word on the subject. I definitely consider that a world network of women inventors should be organized. Recently, I wrote to the eight women inventors organizations already in existence proposing the creation of IFIA WIN: W-I-N Standing for Women Inventors Network.

If the UN is to be used effectively to promote women's inventive activities it is essential to know what the UN does for women, what programs already exist within the UN to promote inventive activities among women, and to take advantage of them.

Take WIPO, for instance… WIPO has a special award for outstanding women inventors. This award can be requested by any inventors association wishing to honor one of its national women. This request, however, must be supported by a government administration. It is a prestigious award. So, why not take advantage of it? There it is, sitting on the shelf, waiting for women inventors to win!

I wrote a book on these awards in 1991. It was published in English and French. By telling the stories of the 37 women and girls from 21 countries who were awarded this WIPO medal, I offered role models to our future women inventors.

Let me give you another example - a personal experience - of the possibilities that the UN can offer. UNIFEM (United Nations Development Fund for Women) is a fund whose mandate is to assist women in developing countries. Firstly, I managed to convince its Secretariat of the importance of sponsoring the publication of an IFIA reference book on women inventors organizations. Secondly, the book was not to be about women inventors organizations in developing countries only (rare enough occurrences anyway!) but also on women inventors organizations in developed countries: Sweden, Finland, Canada and Japan. Conclusion: although UNIFEM's mandate is the promotion of activities in developing countries - in this instance it was put to more general purpose. And believe me, everybody was happy.

By the way, UNIFEM plans to edit a data base on "Who's Doing What in Science and Technology for Women" both with the UN organizations and among the NGOs.

In addition to WIPO and UNIFEM, there are a few other UN organizations which I also think could be approached advantageously. I will only mention two of them.

UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization), based in Vienna, might be helpful in the promotion of both inventive and entrepreneurial activities among women.

UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), bases in Paris, is another important UN organization. Why not suggest that UNESCO undertakes activities to enlace the image of women scientists, and women and girls inventors?

Now a word on the 4th World Conference on Women organized by the UN from September 4 to 15, 1995, in Beijing. For this kind of world event, the role of the UN is definitely irreplaceable.

The conference as such will be at government level. We should take advantage of this opportunity to have the governments adopt a specific recommendation concerning women inventors, and the promotion of inventive activities among women. We need such a recommendation. We need it as a reference point when we approach UN organizations in the coming years. So, be aware of it - we have to prepare the ground a long time in advance. In fact, we are already working on it here!

In my view, this seminar on Women's Ideas and Inventions at the Nordic Forum is part of the preparatory work for Beijing because, for the first time, it prepares the ground for spotlighting women inventors at such a world meeting. In 1985, at the UN's last Conference on Women, in Nairobi, no one spoke about women inventors. It was as if they didn't exist!

Simultaneously to the official Conference in Beijing - and certainly much more interesting and lively - will take place a NGO FORUM ON WOMEN from August 30 to September 8, 1995. At this Forum, and among other activities, UNIFEM (which sponsored my book on women inventors organizations) is putting up a special pavilion grouping the NGOs which promote the idea of women in science and technology. IFIA is a founding member of this group of NGOs. Our Federation - IFIA - suggests to all women inventors organizations throughout the world to use this pavilion, and set up an exhibition of posters, photos, etc., on women inventors. All captions should be in English, of course.

If you have more ideas on this subject - they are very welcome.

It is important to remember that the Beijing Conference should not be considered as a simple 10-day event. Because of Beijing, there are hundreds of different events on women taking place BEFORE the Conference, and even more significantly, there will be hundreds of other events AFTER the Conference.

To return to the title of this lecture: WHAT CAN THE UN DO TO PROMOTE INVENTIVE ACTIVITIES AMONG WOMEN? My conclusion is the following - the UN may offer its structure, form a stage, create a décor, but it will always be up to us to write the scenario.