[Gesth-l] Fwd: InterAcademy Council Report: Women for Science

[Rédai Dorottya]

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InterAcademy Council Report: Women for Science
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Worlds Science Academies Must Increase Female Participation

And Urge Policymakers to Support Women in Science and Technology

                         AMSTERDAM  The world's academies of  
science, engineering, and medicine must take immediate action to help  
remedy the widespread and persistent underrepresentation of women in  
scientific and technical fields, says a new report by the  
InterAcademy Council (IAC), an organization created by 90 science  
academies across the globe.  As a start, the academies themselves  
need to implement internal management practices that encourage and  
support women, and influence policymakers and other leaders to bring  
about broader change.  On the whole, the disproportionately small  
number of women in the science and technology (S&T) enterprise,  
particularly in leadership positions, is a major hindrance to  
strengthening science capacity worldwide.

                         If we are to spread science and its values  
around the globe, both in industrialized and developing nations, the  
full potential of all populations must be harnessed for scientific  
endeavors, said IAC Board co-chairs Bruce Alberts, past president of  
the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and Lu Yongxiang, president of  
the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and science must belong to all  
citizens, whether male or female, rich or poor.

                         The advisory report, Women for Science,  
targets the IAC's membership, pointing out that women typically make  
up less than 5 percent of an academy's members.  And many research  
institutions around the world have resisted fully opening their doors  
to women in science and technology, or eliminating barriers they  
often face after they do gain entry.  As a result, women drop out in  
the early stages of their S&T careers more frequently than men, and  
few rise to the top strata of leadership.

                      "The perspectives, talents, and skills of women  
will enrich the science and technology enterprise," said Johanna  
(Anneke) Levelt Sengers, co-chair of the advisory panel that wrote  
the report, and scientist emeritus, National Institute of Standards  
and Technology, Gaithersburg, Md.  "Global S&T capacity building is  
not possible without including women."

                         "All nations, whether industrialized or  
developing, face a broad array of challenges that require the  
application of up-to-date scientific knowledge and technology, such  
as finding strategies to stimulate economic growth, mitigate  
environmental problems, safely adopt beneficial new technologies, and  
quickly respond to sudden outbreaks of diseases," said Manju Sharma,  
co-chair of the panel that wrote the report, India's former secretary  
of biotechnology, and the current president and executive director of  
the Indian Institute of Advanced Research, Gandhinagar.  "But the  
research enterprise is being deprived of the vibrancy that results  
from the inclusion of a wider range of skills, experiences,  
viewpoints, and working styles.  Every person counts."

                         The report urges academies to formally  
commit to the full inclusion of women in their organizations, in any  
research institutes they manage, and throughout the S&T community.   
It concludes that good management practice is required to help  
reach this goal, including commitment from the top leadership, clear  
criteria for promotions and awards, professional training and  
mentoring, and inclusion of women in formal and informal  
organizational networks.

The report is available online at http://www.interacademycouncil.net/.




 		
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