Gender and Innovation in South Asia

To understand how gender, women’s rights and citizenship intersect with innovation in SouthAsia, one must begin by considering some of the main features of life for South Asian women, about a half of whom are illiterate. This report looks at ‘innovation’ in the specific context of knowledge — generation of, access to and utilisation of it — and the progressive economic and social changes that go with it. There is ample evidence to show that the overall prosperity of a country or region is related to its innovative capacity. Over the last few decades there have been numerous instances of innovative approaches to solving some of the seemingly intractable problems such as poverty alleviation, education, energy services, transportation and public health. There is also considerable interest in the possible solutions that innovations can bring, and therefore in strategising to unleash their potential.