The full form of GATI is Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions.
What is Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions (GATI)?
The Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions, or GATI, is a pilot project initiated by the WISE-Kiran Division. This is a part of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and is an intervention programme to promote gender equity in science and technology.
The GATI project is one of the three projects proposed by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) in 2020 by the President of India in New Delhi.
GATI's goal is to nudge higher education institutions and researchers towards diversity and inclusion of women, as well as the full range of talent, for their own advancement and succession.
Most importantly, GATI seeks to foster an environment in which women can participate equally in science, technology, engineering, medicine, and math (STEMM) fields at all levels and disciplines.
The Importance of GATI Today
Gender disparity remains a sensitive topic even today. Whereas the world is rapidly changing and more women are taking on roles that were previously thought to be reserved for men, gender disparity remains a major concern.
Gender disparity in STEM areas is much more noticeable than in other fields, and to counter this issue, the Department of Science and Technology (DST) introduced the GATI initiative.
With the help of GATI, institutions that sign the charter will need to adopt principles pertaining to gender equality. These will create specific and measurable action plans for cultural as well as systematic transformation.
Top GATI Principles
Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions (GATI) is based on ten principles.
The GATI initiative believes in the moral imperative for all institutions to provide equal opportunity to everyone. In particular, it focuses on women from science, technology, engineering, medicine, and math backgrounds. Moreover, with this initiative, institutions can transform the ecosystem and build a better reform.
Key Principles of GATI
Let us now take a look at the 10 key principles of GATI:
GATI recognises that the role of higher education and research institutions is to serve students, faculty, staff, and stakeholders from a variety of backgrounds, ensuring equal opportunity for all.
- GATI also realises the role of diversity since it enhances excellence and academia, both of which cannot reach their full potential unless a value system is created, nurtured, and benefits from the talents in the pool of the community.
- GATI also acknowledges that people of all genders are equally capable of making valuable contributions and promoting excellence in all areas related to human enterprise.
- The initiative also recognizes the importance of promoting and advancing gender equity in STEMM fields.
- Because the DST is concerned about discouraging experiences and bias, both implicit and explicit, it believes there is need to effectively implement policies on sexual harassment to create an enabling environment.
- Another key area to highlight is the high rate of loss among women across their careers, especially in leadership roles.
- The initiative understands that all individuals are unique in their own way and that every person has their own identity. Therefore, institutional support is vital to facilitate work and to enhance professional contribution.
- The DST acknowledges that in order to advance equality, strong leadership is needed in addition to participatory action and effort to bring systematic and cultural changes through policies at different levels of an organization.
- The GATI initiative discusses creating a safe and nurturing environment for women, as well as developing action plans to remove barriers to their advancement.
- Lastly, mainstreaming, assimilating, and sustaining positive policies for gender advancements will, in the long run, bring about change in the sociocultural ethos. In fact, there are pilot institutions that are committed to adopting the guiding principles of the initiative for transformative change.
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