India sees a huge gender bias when it comes to technology. It is a common belief that boys are naturally better than girls at maths and science, that engineering and machines are a man’s domain, that women cannot understand technology or women aren’t ‘interested’ in technology and other such statements that have unfortunately turned into self-fulfilling prophecies.
This misunderstanding has its roots in a deep-rooted social bias against women. In our work we come across women from different walks of life who understand technology and enjoy working with it. Most of the young girls we have worked with so far have come to our workshops because they were drawn by a desire to learn and work with technology, so we find the idea of women not ‘getting’ technology baseless!
FAT believe that women are as capable of understanding technology as men and would like to create as many opportunities as possible for women to engage with different aspects of technology in a relaxed and non-judgmental space. The more women get comfortable with technology, the better placed they are to use it to improve their own lives, the lives of their families and the communities they live in.
We would like to see more women creating and using technology in professional spaces – in offices, research & development wings of corporations, in applied agriculture, engineering, laboratory research, entertainment, communication and electronics – we see that the possibilities are endless!