Innovation and transdisciplinarity to promote equality and inclusion

Many aspects concerning Gender Disparities, inequalities, stereotypes which are so commonly spred in our quotidianity as well as in other fields of expertise, do also have a negative impact, both directly and indirectly, on peoples lives and on collectivity as well.
Gender Equality solves the function of improving our well being. In the environment of a much more equal society, also men can benefit a series of improvements concerning their quality of life.
As a matter of facts the decrease of any kind of inequality creates favourable conditions to Sustainable Development as well as the reduction of poverty, as it is very well demonstrated by the International Labor Organization and International Monetary Fund, in Europe social, educational and income inequalities have provoked until 2015 a loss of economic growth of 5%.
Hence for the well being of our society, It becomes more and more urgent to concentrate research in this direction, towards inclusion and equality, as well as to focus on the possible solutions in order to achieve them.
The technological innovation has an undoubted potential to facilitate inclusion only when you consider innovation in all its dimensions, both social and techno-economical.
Thus It has to be both a transdisciplinar and overall view.
Let's focus on the Artificial Intelligence's prejudices. An algorithm can be sexist, racist, homophobic, merely because, like all the other products of human beings, also computer products are affected by their inventor's touch, which can either be positive or negative.
A non-inclusive design is potentially dangerous. Many pulse oximeters are mostly designed for white individuals so the more the skin is dark the more the reading and results are inaccurate.
Nowadays still a large majority of personal protective equipments as well as many work tools are designed according to males' morphological traits. As a consequence it may occur that face masks and protective glasses do not quite fit women's visage, causing cuts or poor fit and boosting the risks. Moreover the standard Is often not only a male one but also a white one, so there's an increasing level of risk if the woman has Afro-American or Asiatic origins.
Let's consider for a moment the importance of Gender Medicine by focusing on how much dangerous the androcentric approach is in terms of both negative effects on health and women's quality of life, also entailing an economic burden on the entire community. As a matter of facts Gender Medicine doesn't concern women's health only, nor it is exclusively focused on reproductive organs' illnesses, but its level of interest comprises illnesses that may affect both genders. It's a new level of analysis to be inserted in every existing fields of expertise and branch concerning medicine.
This speech does also inlclude any other field of expertise from economy to city planning.

However, what has been said is sufficient to understand how a transdisciplinary comparison is necessary for the opening of a dialogue that allows active connections in the various fields of research, starting a collaboration to reach the ultimate goal: Equality.

Sonia R. Marino