Women in Science: Initiatives promoting gender equality in research

 

The MCFA attended the European Platform of Women Scientists (EPWS http://www.epws.org/index.php) Annual Conference “ Women in Present and Future European Research”, in Brussels, Belgium, from 10-11 June 2010, in the Royal Belgian Museum of Natural Sciences.

The aim of the Conference was to report on recent and current projects from across Europe to raise awareness and improve the gender balance in Science. A number of important European projects supported by the DG Research under the 7th. Framework Programme, tackling the issue of gender balance in science were presented as well as projects encouraging girls into science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The Conference was attended by about 60 representatives of European organizations of women scientists from 13 countries from all over Europe.

The keynote lecture was given by Luisa Prista, « New Developments in the European Research Area (ERA) for Women in Science ».

Since 16 March 2009, Luisa Prista heads the Scientific Culture and Gender Issues unit, which is responsible for gender equality and the integration of gender issues in science at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research. She is the first woman appointed as head of a scientific unit at the Research Directorate-General.

She presented the european policy for Women in Science, which is part of the European Commission strategy Europe 2020. The Europe 2020 strategy put forward by the Commission sets out a vision of Europe's social market economy for the 21st century. It shows how the EU can come out stronger from the crisis and how it can be turned into a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy delivering high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion (http://ec.europa.eu/eu2020/index_en.htm).

She delivered the key Science in Society messages by Máire Geoghegan-Quinn the current European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science who has been appointed the 9 February 2010 ( http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/geoghegan-quinn/index_en.htm):

• The research workplace needs to evolve to empower more women to play their full part in science
• the Research DGs must be exemplary concerning working conditions and status;
• specific communication campaign targeting young girls will be developped.
• The increasing disconnect between science and society needs to be addressed
• Society must be familiar and at ease with the science underpinning its progress, functioning and survival
• Communicating the benefits and outcomes of research to the public will be critical to public support for Research
• Science must belong in Society

Luisa Prista detailed the perspectives of the strategy Europe 2020, which rely on:

Three mutual reinforcing priorities:

• Smart growth: developing an economy based on knowledge and innovation.
• Sustainable growth: promoting a more resource efficient, greener and more competitive economy.
• Inclusive growth: fostering a high-employment economy delivering social and territorial cohesion.

Five targets to be achieved by 2020:

• 75 % employment rate (% of population aged 20-64 years)
• 3% investment in R&D (% of EU’s GDP) and an innovation indicator
• “20/20/20” climate/energy targets met (incl. 30% emissions reduction if conditions are right)
• less than 10% early school leavers and minimum 40% hold tertiary degree
• 20 million less people should be at risk of poverty

Seven Flagship Initiatives which shape and structure the EU 2020 Agenda:

1. Innovation Union
2. Youth on the move
3. A digital agenda for Europe
4. Resource efficient Europe
5. An industrial policy for the globalisation era
6. An agenda for new skills and jobs
7. European platform against poverty

 

She presented briefly the projects set up to encourage structural changes at the research institutions.:

• PRAGES - collecting, classifying and evaluating good practices in OECD countries, at the national level and at the level of the individual institutions, and making them available to decision-makers and other stakeholders
• GENDERA - raises awareness and collects, systemises and analyses existing policies / programmes to identify best practices to ensure that women get higher positions in research decision-making
• DIVERSITY - supports greater inclusiveness of women scientists in materials research organisations and surveyed 300 institutions from over 11 countries. Research institutions participating in the project will later build their own profile on the basis of the principles of the European Charter for Researchers. Hot themes recruitment, promotion and nomination.
• GEN-SET - develops practical ways in which gender knowledge and gender mainstreaming expertise can be incorporated within European science institutions in order to improve individual and collective capacity for action to increase women’s participation in science.
• WHIST - networking, awareness-raising, piloting and knowledge transfer among scientific organisations and with decision-makers. aims to obtain commitment of MS in the promotion of women in RTD and increase the capacity of S&T institutions in monitoring, managing and feeding gender diversity in their organisation and contribute to the implementation of the European Charter for Researchers & Code of Conduct

Presently the Roadmap for Women in Science will be as following:

• At project level, continuing with the structural change approach.
• Women in FP, increasing efforts to monitor the 40% target.
• A special extra effort in 2011 will be put into gender mainstreaming with FP, an area of work not fully exploited yet.
• Following the institutional wave, they want to go ahead with an expert group on innovation through gender in research, and learn more about the potential of this area too.
• Policy: looking at existing practices of negotiation of collective labour agreements at MS level and how to encourage best practice exchange among MS and social partners in this sense + explanatory opinion with the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC).
• Starting from end 2010, a wide Awareness and Communication Campaign is planed
• All of this in addition to business as usual, eg flagship projects, She Figures 2012; WIST 2; and the cooperation with Mediterranean countries.

You can get more information from her presentation.

 

"Presentation of recent and current European projects and actions”

 

Serenella Martini is an official of the Commission of Equal Opportunities of the Italian Presidency of the Council on Ministers since 1993. She is currently working in the Office for International and community relations of the Department for Equal Opportunities (DPO), dealing with social policies and projects especially related to gender issues, women?s rights and equal opportunities between woman and man. She has coordinated the project PRA.G.E.S financed by the Seventh Framework Research Programme of the European Union and by the Italian Government ended on 31 December 2009. She is currently coordinating the project WHIST financed by the Seventh Framework Research Programme of the European Union and by the Italian Government

PRA.G.E.S (PRActising Gender Equality in Science which aim was to compare the various strategies implemented for promoting the presence of women in decision-making positions relating to scientific research in public institutions, and collect, classify and evaluate good practices and positive actions around the world relating to the fight against vertical segregation in various professional, political and social areas.

 

WHIST (Women's careers HItting the target: gender management in Scientific and Technological research ) which aim is to "improve the situation of gender diversity in science, by inter alia improving transparency in recruitment, promotion, and nomination" and increase the capacity of scientific and technological (S&T) institutions in monitoring, managing and feeding gender diversity in their own organisation, at all levels. This project has been implemented by referring to the main results of the coordination action named PRA.G.E.S. More information can be found in the following webpages www.retepariopportunita.it.

You can get more information from her presentation.

 

Giovanna Declich is a sociologist; executive director of the Italian Assembly of Women for Development and the Struggle against Social Exclusion (ASDO); expert in project design in the fields of STR and of adult education & training. She has been member of the ASDO team in the PRAGES project and is currently member of the WHIST team. She presented “suggestions for academic and research institutions resulting from current practice” based on the outcomes from the project PRA.G.E.S (the good practices database and the guidelines for gender equality programmes in Science). she presented the following methodological suggestions to address the under representation of women in science and in leadership top positions:

1. Linking action to knowledge
2. Creating institutional space for gender issues
3. Looking for alliances and support
4. Adopting an integrated approach
5. Connecting gender and diversity issues to science development
6. Promoting a community of practices
7. Protecting programme vitality

Finally, she introduced the TWIST (Towards women in science and technology) project, which aim is to raise awareness of the role and representation of women in science and technology throughout science centres and museums in Europe; and to create and develop innovative activities and exhibitions in the science centres targeting the general public and the schools, in order to create debates and ignite on-going discussions.

You can get more information from her presentation.

 

Elizabeth Pollitzer is the director and co-founder of Portia Ltd, a not-for-profit organisation that promotes the greater appreciation of and engagement in Science, Engineering, Technology by all members of society, to drive positive social change. focus is gender equality in SET, addressing the severe under-representation of women in SET, especially at higher levels. “SET” means Science, Engineering and Technology including maths and all associated areas, with a particular reference to Information Technology.

She has assisted The Daphne Jackson Trust, which helps women return to science after a career break and was one of their first beneficiaries. She presented “the genSET Consensus Seminars and their Outcomes”. the

genSET (Gender in Science) project aims at transfering gender research knowledge into science institutions through dialogue to increase their capacity to mainstream gender.

Between March and June 2010, three genSET Consensus Seminars brought together 14 European science leaders to share knowledge and experience and arrive at a consensus view on the gender dimension in science and on the priorities for gender action in scientific institutions. This document contains the Consensus Report of 13 recommendations of the Science Leaders Panel, information on genSET and detail on the Consensus Seminar Process (the Consensus Report: Recommendations for Action on the Gender Dimension in Science).

You can get more information from her presentation.

 

 

Marina Calloni is full professor of social and political philosophy at the University of Milano-Bicocca in Milan. She is member of the management board of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (Vienna) and of the Inter-ministerial Committee for Human Right, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Rome. She is Director of the International Network for Research on Gender and Empowerment. She presented “Challenging Futures of Science in Society: the MASIS Report”. The MASIS (Monitoring Activities of Science in Society in Europe) group of experts has drawn up a report analysing the emerging trends and cross-cutting issues in science in society in Europe. The report is addressed to policymakers and researchers and is designed to contribute to the realisation of the European Research Area (ERA). One of the most important trends identified by the group is the apparent emergence of a European model of science in society. (For more information, have a look to the MASIS report)

 

Antonella Di Trapani Research Programme Officer for Starting Grants of the European Research Council (http://erc.europa.eu). She has been Treasurer and then Chair of the Marie Curie Fellows association. She, presented some data on "Gender Balance in the ERC grants". The ERC, called IDEAS, is part of the FP7 instruments family aimed at supporting EU 'frontier research'. With a budget of over 7 billion Euros over 7 years its aim is to support and encourage the very best and truly creative scientists and scholars in all disciplines. Data were presented mostly relative to the Starting Grants, i.e. those grants targeted at young researchers between 2 and 10 years from PhD who are starting their research careers and who are the stage of becoming independent and setting up their own group. During the three calls of the Starting Grants, which took place in 2007, 2009 and 2010, data were shown regarding the number of male/female applicants which was roughly 70 vs 30, independent of the country of the applicant. Regarding the average age of applicants it was found out that whereas men have an average age of 34 at time of application, for women the average age raises to 36 years (data presented only for 2010 call). Going from the number of submitted proposals to those granted (data not yet available for the 2010 call), the percentage of successful women is not proportional to the number of applicants but it is even lower. On average women across all panels on average are less successful than men. When looking at distribution by scientific disciplines, women do better in the typical 'soft' sciences rather than 'hard' sciences with a trend which is higher for social sciences> life sciences> physical and engineering sciences. Similar trends are also observed for the Advanced Grants, which are aimed at experienced researchers who are leaders in their field. In those grants the behaviour is slightly different than those of the Starting Grants and here it was noted even a lower percentage of women applicants across all domains, which in turns it is reflected in the number of successful proposals.
Although the ERC is still in its infancy, having been in place since 2007, some conclusions could be drawn at this stage, and in this respect it should be said that the gender distribution of StG and AdG grantees  broadly reflects the demographic of professorship in Europe.

 

Dalia Šatkovskiene is a physicist working in Quantum Theory of Molecules. In 2005 she initiated and was the coordinator of the FP6 project “Baltic States Network-Women in Sciences and High Technology” (BASNET), which created a regional strategy on how to tackle the women in sciences problem in the Baltic States region.


After BASNET end, she strongly contributed to establish “BASNET Forumas-association” aiming at continuing BASNET project tasks-implementation and was elected its president. She lead the policy debate Women scientists and European Research Area Board (ERAB) future visions. European Research Area Board (ERAB), established by EC as a consultative body responsible for advising the EU on the realization of the ERA, presented in 2009 the Strategic view of the European Research Area (ERA). The paper called “Preparing Europe for a New Renaissance“ reveals the contemporary challenges for ERA and highlights the main principles of its future development as well as barriers. The second session dealt with “Women scientists empowerment and changing the institutions,

 

"Presentation of current EU projects related to Women and Science”.

 

André Béraud is a former « Professeur agrégé » at the French engineering school INSA-Lyon, France. His field of interest is the History of engineers training, gender, women and science. He was the scientific coordinator for WOMENG, a European research project on Women Engineers involving seven countries (2002-2005). the project objective was to understand why so few women are attracted by technological training and wants to propose tools for improving such a situation. André Béraud has been a member of ECEPIE (Association for the promotion of women in engineering field) since its creation in 2002 and is currently in charge of dissemination for the EU funded HELENA (Higher Education Leading to ENgineering And scientific careers) project. The aim of this project is to collect and analyze literature and data from traditional and pilot confirmed European Higher Education E&T curriculum in order to question or confirm these statements and to provide indications about how to launch such measures and monitor the obtained results.

You can get more information from her presentation.

 

Dóra Groó, is the director of TETALAP, the Hungarian Science and Technology Foundation. She was the Hungarian member of the ENWISE (ENlarge Women and Science to East) STRATA ETAN expert group in the field of women and science and is co-author of the resulting report. Dr. Groó is member of the “Women and Science” national expert group and President of the Association of Hungarian Women in Science (NaTE). She presented the GENDERA project which aims to re-address the balance of gender within research organisations and higher education organisations across Europe. From 2010 onwards, the GENDERA partners will collect, systemise and analyse existing policies and programmes in order to identify good practices that are already having a positive effect on ensuring that women get higher in research organisations and higher education institutions and achieve decision-making positions.

You can get more information from her presentation.

She also presented “the UNICAFE Project: Survey of the University Career of Female Scientists at Life Sciences versus Technical Universities”. The mission of the FP6 UNICAFE project (2006 –2008), was to provide new knowledge about gendered career paths and career choices in science and to promote gender equality in science and in the higher education sector (HES) in Europe. The project aimed at carrying out an innovative pilot survey to enhance existing knowledge on career patterns of female scientists at universities. Conclusions and recomandations are highlighted in the final synthesis report: Beyond the Glass Ceiling, University Career of Female Academics in Engineering, Technology and Life Sciences.

You can get more information from her presentation.

 

 

Nicole Grobert is a Royal Society University Research Fellow and Faculty Member at the Materials Department at Oxford. In addition to her research she is actively involved in science education and outreach work and is a Trustee of the Vega Science Trust . she presented the “DIVERSITY project: Improving the gender diversity management in materials research institutions”. The DIVERSITY consortium aims to tackle the problem of under-representation of women in decision-making by fostering the change in institutional culture and changing the attitudes with regard to gender diversity in materials research organisations. In this way a more stimulating research environment in the spirit of the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for their Recruitment will be achieved.

 

Jennifer Dyer is the Diversity Programme Leader at the Institute of Physics. In this role,she manages the Institute's Diversity Programme, working on projects to promote women in physics, good practice for disabled students and for students from ethnic minorities and advising the Institute internally on good practice in equality and diversity issues. She presented the JUNO Project, which is to recognise and reward departments that can demonstrate they have taken action to address the under-representation of women in university physics and to encourage better practice for both women and men. She also presented two initiatives related to the  Institute of Physics work on girls’ participation in physics. The first one “ Girls in Physics” aims at understanding the problem and identifying from existing research the reasons why girls choose not to continue studying physics. It also identifies the strategies that have succeeded in increasing the number of girls studying physics post-16. The second one is “Girls into physics action research”, the aim of this evaluation was to gauge the success of the interventions that schools undertook to encourage girls to engage in Physics.

You can get more information from her presentation.

 

Randi Wallmichrath has been working as a scientific officer for the Contact Point Women into EU Research (FiF) in the EU-Bureau of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) since 2007. FiF strives to increase the participation of women in EU-funded research, namely the Framework Programme, in Germany. FiF's strategy includes seminars on FP7, advice on project proposal procedures for women scientists and analysis of relevant data. In addition FiF offers information about gender equality and its integration in EU research. With its particular focus on women researchers, FiF takes a unique position among the support structures established in all countries participating in FP7 to help scientists obtain EU funding.

You can get more information from her presentation.

 

"Encouraging girls into Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)”

 

Carole Paleco is the current president of BeWise in Belgium. She was RBINS project manager in the GAPP. She presented “Mind the GAPP; working with young people to improve gender equity and participation in Science and Technology”. The GAPP project aimed at promoting scientific careers towards young girls; understanding the reason for the loss of interest from young people, particularly girls, in scientific studies and careers; implementing social dialogue between the research community, teachers, students, parents and other social actors and identify main issues and expectations from these groups; Develop and test a range of practical activities to overcome gender differences.

You can get more information from her presentation.

 

Ana Maria Lobo and Paulina Mata presented the activities of AMONET, the Portuguese Association of Women Scientists. Ana Maria Lobo is Professor of Chemistry of the Faculty of Science and Technology –Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia (FCT) of UniversidadeNova de Lisboa (UNL). Paulina Mata is an Assistant Professor at Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia - Universidade Nova de Lisboa. She has worked since 1996 on the introduction of experimental science teaching in primary schools.

Teaching Science to Young People

^¥AMONET – Associação Portuguesa de Mulheres Cientistas, Reitoria da Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Campus de Campolide, 1099-085 Lisboa (http://www.amonet.org) ^§REQUIMTE/CQFB, Departamento de Química, Campus Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Quinta da Torre, 2829–516 Monte de Caparica, Portugal.

Teaching and motivating the learning of science by the population at large and young girls in particular is a task, which requires some degree of creativity in the methodology. Our approach to teach young people some chemical and physical concepts was built around the fact that we all, rich and poor, have in our homes a laboratory, i.e. our kitchens, where some degree of experimentation occurs rather too frequently. In fact cooking, by necessity, is an activity which can engage most of the family members, and which is accepted worldwide and even encouraged for girls from all cultures.

With this background the use of cooking to teach scientific facts in a direct, simple way has been in place in Portugal[1] for a number of years in popular science programs, fairs, university Science Days, and more recently through the net and printed materials, namely books and pamphlets.[2,3] The success of the team in charge has been recognised at national level and this idea is now part of many secondary schools’ outreach programs.[4]

You can get more information from her presentation.

Christine Charretton is a mathematician and before retiring she was an assistant professor in Lyon University, moreover in charge of the Mission for Equal Opportunities for Men and Women. She presented the joint actions proposed by three associations: « femmes et mathématiques » (Women in Maths, http://www.femmes-et-maths.fr ), « Femmes et Sciences » (Women in Science, http://www.femmesetsciences.fr) and “Femmes Ingénieurs” (Women Engineer, http://www.femmes-ingenieurs.org). They organise meetings in the High schools and act as role models to encourage girls into Science. All their actions are presented in the website they create together, “Elles en Science” (She(s) in Science, http://www.elles-en-sciences.org).

You can get more information from her presentation.

Ann Marks is a Physics Education Consultant mainly to university departments involved in physics outreach and a member of the Board of Administration of the EPWS. As consultant to the University of Sheffield, Department of Physics and Astronomy, she wrote the material on the IOP „ Physicists in Primary Schools website and ran training workshops across the UK for physicists. She presented the activities of the Women in Physics Group like the “Very Early Career Women Physicist of the Year” award.