Breaking barriers: gender inequalities in science and technology
Only 29% of the world's researchers are women. That is why the commemoration of International Day of Women and Girls in Science and Technology must include a recognition to the work carried out by women in these fields. This year, the UAB is offering a wide array of activities, including a colloquium entitled "Women Scientists and Engineers to Come" which will be held on 20 February at 1:30 p.m. at the BCT Area of the Library of Science and Technology. The Observatory for Equality has also prepared a brief report that includes tools to incorporate gender perspective into 11F-related events.
On 16 June 1963, Valentina Terechkova stepped onto the international space station. Here, the news of this did not reach the public until the following Monday with the newspaper Hoja del Lunes, the only newspaper allowed to be printed on that day. Spain was still under Franco's rule, and a heading that read "A Woman Orbits the Earth" came as a complete shock. Since then, only 72 women have followed in the footsteps of Terechkova. Of these women, not one was born in Spain. This figure represents less than 15% of all humans who have gone to space. A fact that is generally repeated in the world of science and technology, where only 29% of all people doing research are women.
The statistics are however paradoxal. According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2023 buy the World Economic Forum, globally, more women graduate from university than men. So, why is society losing women on the road to research? It s as if they had to pass through a pipe, a research pipe, with holes in it that prevented their arrival to the research centres. In fact, this metaphor, a leaky pipeline, describes the phenomenon in which women do not make up even 30% of professionals in these fields. With the conference on gender inequalities in these fields, entitled Trencant barreres: les desigualtats de gènere a la ciència i a la tecnologia, we will be looking to decipher the obstacles existing that prevent women to advance in research.
This year the UAB has organised over a dozen activities to show the legacy of women in STEM fields and other research areas, as well as to promote professional diversity. From the Library of Science and Technology, to the faculties and research centres of the UAB campus, a wide array of 11F-related activities are being offered to students and other university members.