Women in the Quality Infrastructure System

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Gender inequality is still present throughout the world

The world is equally composed of women and men. However, gender inequality is still present throughout the world. As published by the United Nations in October 2020, only 47% of working-age women participated in the global labour market, while for men, the percentage was 74%. This gender gap has remained relatively constant since 1995, i.e., the difference between men and women employed worldwide has not changed in the last 25 years.[1]

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Geographical Indication – place-linked quality of products

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Geographical indication of product quality

Mexican Tequila, Darjeeling Tea, Roquefort cheese, French Champagne, Italian Prosciutto di Parma and Parmigiano-Reggiano (Parmesan) cheese, Ecuadorian Cacao Arriba, Colombian Coffee, South African Rooibos herbal tea, Scotch whisky, Munich beer or Phu Quoc fish sauce from Vietnam. These are all famous examples of origin-linked indication of product quality. Hearing such product names provides an affirmation with customers about trustworthy quality, a long tradition in the production and legal brand protection.

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Spreading the word about quality infrastructure

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Get the message out

Those responsible for quality infrastructure institutions, such as heads of metrology institutes, standardisation institutes and accreditation bodies, face the challenge of disseminating their services beyond the circle of technical experts. They often try to bring the subject closer to their audience with expert lectures full of technical jargon, abbreviations and numbers.

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Free online access to standards responding to COVID-19

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Justification of standards fees

From time to time, we hear complaints from SMEs, especially in developing and emerging countries, about the costs of acquiring technical standards. This is especially true for the international standards of ISO and IEC or their national adaptations.

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Reform of the quality law in Costa Rica

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Central American success model

Costa Rica is a small, innovative country in Central America. Long ago, the government decided to abstain from having an army and instead invested in environmental protection and technological innovation.[1] Costa Rica has evolved from a developing country to an industrialised economy. In May 2020, it became the 38thmember of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). [2]

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