A year ago, in Bangalore, India, the Third General Assembly of the Third World Organization of Women Scientists (TWOWS) and the International Conference on Impact of Women in Science and Technology in the Third World were celebrated. TWOWS is an international non-profit NGO whose charter was adopted in Trieste, Italy, in 1989, and ratified in El Cairo, Egypt, in 1993 and Capetown, South Africa, in 1999.

The general purpose of TWOWS is to stimulate and reinforce women participation in science and technology in the Third World, so as to achieve a decisive impact in the development of their countries and to improve the quality of life of the majorities. The organization promotes scientific and technological cooperation at regional and global levels, always considering the cultural and socio-economic differences of each region.

Why is an organization of women scientists necessary? Only after participating in meetings and sharing with some 400 women scientists from different countries I realized that there is a genuine concern in them about the social and human consequences of their research. For instance, Mayana Zatz, from Brazil, winner of the 2003 TWAS prize in medical sciences, entitled her lecture "Being a scientist is not enough" and, along with surprising findings about the identification of genes related to progressive muscular dystrophy and the mechanism of this disease, she presented the fight that she held as a scientist, together with part of the Brazilian society, so that congress would approve legislation on research with embryos for obtaining stem cells for therapeutic uses. That was the general spirit of the papers presented in the meeting, where research, whose level has greatly improved in six years, is always linked to, and has consequences for, the community. So, in TWOWS, among women, we spoke about high quality research with social and human content.

The fields covered in the meeting were science and technology for all; health: a permanent challenge for women; sustainable development: drinking water and renewable energies; and women and new technologies.

Concerning the first area, it was mentioned that in many developing countries the human factor has been undervaluated and governments have decided that the basis for development would be cheap labor and raw materials, derived from their natural resources, without any processing or with minimal transformation. Furthermore, by denying women access to education, they have wasted 50% of their potential human resources, a luxury that cannot be sustained. The status of women in several societies, the cultural influences and how the research they carried out has extended from traditional areas, such as horticulture and food processing, to others such as meteorology and communication technologies, was discussed.

With regard to the topic Health: A permanent challenge to women, the emphasis was placed on specific women diseases such as cervical and mammary cancer, osteoporosis and problems related to pregnancy and delivery, on diseases inherent to socio-economic problems of our countries, such as aids, and on those due to inhalation of contaminants arising from the burning of wood and animal manure for cooking. Another principal theme was the traditional millenary knowledge about medicinal plants, their use and relevance for the development of pharmaceutical products.

On the other hand, the problem of drinking water is critical, as over 50% of beds in developing country hospitals are occupied by patients with diseases due to drinking water contaminated with pathogens, mercury and arsenic. In addition, women, mainly in rural environments, have to walk great distances to gather water for their families. The need for sources of renewable energies was discussed and seen as an opportunity to satisfy energetic needs and give rise to small enterprises that would allow women to obtain the needed income for the development of their communities.

Nanotechnology, biotechnology, and communication and information technologies offer southern countries opportunities to link science and technology. The role of women in these new technologies and the opportunities for these technologies to have a relevant role in agriculture, health and in the documentation of traditional knowledge was discussed, as well as their utilization in remote teaching and dissemination of information, so as to make science and technology available to all, which is precisely one of the crucial items for which the Interciencia Association struggles.

As Mario Benedetti would say, with its adamant hope the south also exists, there are women here that know what to hold on to, taking advantage of the sun and also of the eclipses, separating the useless and using what is good, and who are eager to achieve together what was an impossible goal, so the whole world shall know that the south also exists.

Lastly, something impressed me because, as scientists, we search for the good but never know what will be the use given to discoveries. In India, over 60% of births are males. How did they succeed to change the balance? There are clandestine clinics for sex determination, and feminine embryos and fetuses are eliminated as girls are not welcome. Thus, we were fortunate to be born years ago, at a time when it was not known if it would be boy or girl, and to be born in Mexico. Although perhaps in some decades Hindues will import women to reproduce, or will establish the children factories described by Aldous Huxley.

Mayra de la Torre. 

Centro de Investigación en Alimentación y Desarrollo (CIAD), Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico