Women and science: making change happen
'The promotion of women in science is a key concern in the process of establishing a European Research Area,' writes European Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin in his preface to the recently published proceedings to the conference on 'women and science; making change happen,' held in Brussels in April 2000 He adds that not only does the lack of women represent a serious loss of potential in terms of human resources devoted to R&D [research and development] in the European Union, 'but it also limits the diversity of research and its contribution to European society. 'Listening to the debates of the conference, I realised how much the issue of women's under-representation in the scientific system is linked to something broader and touches upon the need for reforms in the world of science. It is not simply about solving women's problems. It is rather about recognising that the exclusion of women from the scientific system is a symptom of underperformance and inefficiency in the structure of the European research system itself,' Busquin continues. The conference, organised by the European Commission, covered several areas including the issue of universality and specificity where women in science are concerned, the question of a masculine bias in scientific education and careers, measuring inequality to reach equity, the positive discrimination versus mainstreaming debate and making change happen. Speakers at the event included academics, government representatives and MEPs, all of whose presentations are included in the publication. In his introduction, Research Director General Achilleas Mitsos highlights a number of conclusions which he believes can be drawn from the conference. These include endorsement of the ETAN report, which was presented at the conference. The report was requested by the European Commission as an assessment of the EU's research policy, and states that a commitment to gender equality should become part of the mainstream in every aspect of Community research policy. Participants also agreed that the under-representation of women in science is the result of systems and structures that undermine the fostering of excellence in science and that progress for women is not a fact of life, but the result of interventions and programmes for improvement. The conference also agreed that the EU should be proactive where women in science are concerned, developing gender expertise to disentangle the subtlety of bias against women, designing gender neutral concepts of excellence and merit, developing indicators on the situation of women in research, promoting a policy mix of equal treatment, positive action and mainstreaming based on evidence and quantifiable expectations by using a 'carrot and stick' approach and monitoring and benchmarking changes. Finally, those present urged the private sector to take more of an interest in the area. 'As Director General for Research, I'm convinced that a stronger presence of women in research is a condition sine qua non for the improvement of European research and for society as a whole. For this reason the Commission will continue to act as a catalyst and develop the women and science sector in the framework of the European Research Area,' writes Mr Mitsos.