Women and Science: Making Change Happen
3 April 2000 - 3 April 2000
'Making Change Happen' is the subject of the upcoming Women and Science conference organised by the European Commission, to take place in Brussels, Belgium, on 3 and 4 April 2000.
The objective of the conference is to debate the European Technology Assessment Network (ETAN) report 'Science Policies in the European Union: promoting excellence through mainstreaming gender equality'. This report was commissioned by the Women and Science sector of the European Commission to examine the challenges of the under-representation of women in scientific research and the means and measures required to tackle the problem.
The policy report, produced by a group of 12 women experts, was recently presented to Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin, who said: 'I am strongly committed to the issue and I agree with the authors of the report that women's potential in European science is seriously underused, especially at senior level. I also deplore the lack of reliable gender statistics and the fact that many highly trained women are lost to science during their career.'
The report recommends several areas requiring action, including: attracting more young people to science; encouraging women to apply for research fellowships and senior posts; making an effort to improve gender statistics; access to public records; evaluating and achieving gender parity in academia; supporting networks of women scientists; facilitating parents return to science after a career break; and mainstreaming scientific institutions and organisations.
Achilleas Mitos, a Director in the Research DG of the European Commission will open the conference, and MEPS Eryl McNally and Elizabeth Montfort, both rapporteurs for women and science, will outline the expectations from the European Parliament.
The ETAN report will then be presented by Mary Osborn of the Max Planck Institute and Teresa Rees of Cardiff University.
Delegates will have the opportunity to debate the issues in a series of four parallel sessions on the subject: 'Science by women: universality or specificity'; 'Scientific education and scientific careers: is there a masculine bias'; 'Measuring inequality to reach equity'; and 'Positive discrimination or mainstreaming which policy-mix'.
Commissioner Busquin and José Mariano Gago, the minister for science and technology in Portugal and President in office of the Research Council, will be present to hear and comment on the conclusions of the two-day event.
For further information please contact:
European Commission
Research Directorate-General
'Women and Science' sector
Socio-economic research: analysis and forecasting
Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 200 (SDME 3/75)
B-1049 Brussels
Fax +32-2-2993746
E-mail: annalisa.colosimo@ec.europa.eu
URL: http://cordis.europa.eu/improving/src/hp_women.htm(opens in new window)
The objective of the conference is to debate the European Technology Assessment Network (ETAN) report 'Science Policies in the European Union: promoting excellence through mainstreaming gender equality'. This report was commissioned by the Women and Science sector of the European Commission to examine the challenges of the under-representation of women in scientific research and the means and measures required to tackle the problem.
The policy report, produced by a group of 12 women experts, was recently presented to Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin, who said: 'I am strongly committed to the issue and I agree with the authors of the report that women's potential in European science is seriously underused, especially at senior level. I also deplore the lack of reliable gender statistics and the fact that many highly trained women are lost to science during their career.'
The report recommends several areas requiring action, including: attracting more young people to science; encouraging women to apply for research fellowships and senior posts; making an effort to improve gender statistics; access to public records; evaluating and achieving gender parity in academia; supporting networks of women scientists; facilitating parents return to science after a career break; and mainstreaming scientific institutions and organisations.
Achilleas Mitos, a Director in the Research DG of the European Commission will open the conference, and MEPS Eryl McNally and Elizabeth Montfort, both rapporteurs for women and science, will outline the expectations from the European Parliament.
The ETAN report will then be presented by Mary Osborn of the Max Planck Institute and Teresa Rees of Cardiff University.
Delegates will have the opportunity to debate the issues in a series of four parallel sessions on the subject: 'Science by women: universality or specificity'; 'Scientific education and scientific careers: is there a masculine bias'; 'Measuring inequality to reach equity'; and 'Positive discrimination or mainstreaming which policy-mix'.
Commissioner Busquin and José Mariano Gago, the minister for science and technology in Portugal and President in office of the Research Council, will be present to hear and comment on the conclusions of the two-day event.
For further information please contact:
European Commission
Research Directorate-General
'Women and Science' sector
Socio-economic research: analysis and forecasting
Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 200 (SDME 3/75)
B-1049 Brussels
Fax +32-2-2993746
E-mail: annalisa.colosimo@ec.europa.eu
URL: http://cordis.europa.eu/improving/src/hp_women.htm(opens in new window)