The Royal Academy of Science International Trust (RASIT), and co-organizing Member States are celebrating the International Day of Women and Girls in Science (IDWGIS), on 10 February 2023 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. This will be the 8th Assembly, pursuant to the adoption of Resolution A/RES/70/212 on the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, on December 22, 2015, aimed at promoting equality in science, technology, and innovation for socio-economic sustainable development, in line with the 2030 Agenda and its SDGs.
The 8th Assembly is co-organized by the Permanent Missions of Chile, Lebanon, Malta, Poland, Portugal, the Philippines, Rwanda, Slovakia, and Spain, to the United Nations, and co-sponsored by the Permanent Missions of Andorra, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Finland, France, Georgia, Honduras, Hungary, Kenya, the Maldives, New Zealand, Romania, Republic of Korea, San Marino, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Tunisia, and Turkiye to the United Nations, as well as the African Union, the League of Arab States, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women), and the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
This year, the IDWGIS will focus on the role of Women and Girls and Science as relates to the SDGs in review at the forthcoming High-Level Political Forum (HLPF), namely SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation), SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy), SDG 9 (industry, innovation, and infrastructure), SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities) and SDG17 (means of implementation), while following up on discussions on water held during from the “Water Unites Us” 7th IDWGIS, the 2nd High-Level International Conference on the International Decade for Action on Water for Sustainable Development 2018-2022, held in Dushanbe, and the 2nd UN Ocean Conference and its High-Level Symposium on Water held in Lisbon, as a contribution for the 2023 UN Water Conference, and other UN Fora.
In doing so the IDWGIS aims to connect the International Community to Women and Girls in Science, strengthening the ties between science, policy, and society for strategies oriented towards the future. The IDWGIS will thus showcase best practices, strategies, applied solutions in addressing SDGs challenges and opportunities. It will also include for the first time a science workshop for Blind Girls and a session from the BLIND fellow SCIENTISTS on “Science in Braille: Making Science Accessible”.
The 8th Assembly of the IDWGIS will feature two high-level panels and four interactive conversations with distinguished representatives from governments, inter-governmental organization, the private sector, academia, and our fellow blind and deaf scientists. The voice of Girls in Science 4 SDGs International Platform and youth will be present in every conversation.
In Panel 1, participants will engage in interactive discussions, respectively focusing on: (i) sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11) (ii) transportation and logistics (SDG 7) (iii) business and industry (SDG 9) and, (iv) a space for sustainable development, with a focus on SDG 6. SDG6 and SDG17 will be addressed in a cross-cutting manner. A Cansu SITE representative will provide the water lens in each conversation. Additionally, relevant experts will be invited to offer their input on SDG17, as well as on financing sustainable solutions. Finally, in fulfilment of RASIT’s mission of bringing everyone forward, the importance of multilingualism will also be highlighted.
In Panel 2, RASIT and UN Member States, departments and agencies will celebrate the 8th anniversary of the #February11 Global Movement through a high-level panel entitled “Think Science. Think Peace” .
