The 11th of February is the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. This day was recognized on 22 December 2015 by the UN General Assembly "to recognize the critical role women and girls play in science and technology communities".
Why do we need a dedicated day? At the end of 2019, the UN reported that less than 30% of STEM researchers worldwide are women. In Physics, their representation drops below 20%, and this has remained stable for a decade, now. Nonetheless, women are at the forefront of ground-breaking research in STEM. Their impact is even more important this year, as they are leading developments in public health, vaccines, innovative technology which are crucial to the World's fight against Covid-19.
Yet, Covid-19 pandemic is threatening to increase the gender gap in science, female scientists being at most risk of abandoning a scientific career at early stages. We can act to prevent this! It's never been more important than today to recognize women’s contributions in science, smash stereotypes and defeat discrimination against women and girls in science (as stated on the UN website).
Join your institute in the initiatives organized today, or take some time to explore online resources. Why not proposing to your team leader to spend some time today discussing the gender gap in STEM? Many people will join! You can also just explore our website, we have collected resources on the dedicated webpage, and have interesting stories in our newsletters that you can find at the menu above.
We have also collected some resources below, including initiatives by research institutes as well as online material on the IDWGS.
Keep supporting women and girls in science, and get fascinated by the Universe while doing it!
GenHET team
Initiatives
- Astronomer Takeover at Southampton University - An afternoon of Physics and Astronomy learning.
- CERN, EPFL and UNIGE female scientists give lectures to local elementary schools.
- A video from Max-Planck-Institut Für Physik, Munich, featuring families and relatives of female scientists: their support is crucial for young women to pursue their passion of becoming a scientist.
- The road of a young female scientist from her high school to postdocs - High school lectures organized at the IES Miguel de Unamuno institute at Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, with Dr. Verónica Errasti Díez, "What is true in The Big Bang Theory?" and "Women I've met in Physics: from Unamuno to Max Planck"
- Available online for a limited time, a theater performance "Una Forza Nascosta" (in Italian)
- Follow the #IDWGS2021 tag on Twitter!
Online resources
- UNWomen webpage
- Documents about gender gap in science at the UN website.
- Recommendations on how to tackle the gender gap in schools published by ESRC
- UNESCO report
- Eurostat report on Women in Science and TEchnology