Speaker
Description
In the Strategy for equality between women and men 2010-2015 (European Commission 2010) the link with gender balance and competitiveness is again emphasised: «The prevailing gender imbalance in science and research is still a major obstacle to the European objective of increasing competitiveness and maximising innovation potential».
In spite of the young global disaffection with all the scientific domains, the evolution of the proportion of women in Mathematics, Sciences, as well as Technology and Engineering, confirm that women continue to be vastly underrepresented in all the cases. I will first present an overview of European or governmental statistical studies on the place of women in these disciplines, in all the position levels. Then I will give an overview of actions and initiatives to encourage young women in favour of scientific studies, and/or to promote female researchers in each scientific field, proposed by EU, European governments and also industrial enterprises in Europe. After a short review of the main stereotypes and barriers faced by women, I'll conclude with a non-exhaustive list of Associations and/or Women Networks allowing cooperation between women scientists in Europe in order to improve the gender imbalance in science and research.
Summary
Statistical results given by EU or several governmental sources show that a great effort ùust be done to encourage girls to scientifical sciences and jobs. Taking into account the main stereotypes which wheigh on the girl motivation, EU and European government propose actions to improve this situation. Association and/or women networks can be also a great help to reach this objective.
