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Women in science
Increasing the participation of women in science
The DEFEND consortium shares the EC’s view that equality between women and men is a fundamental EU value.
Throughout it’s lifespan, the DEFEND consortium promoted equality between men and women in all its activities, and, more broadly, pursued sustainable structural and cultural change to advance gender equality. These aims were guided by policies such as those outlined in EC’s Strategic Engagement for Gender Equality 2016-2019
The DEFEND project undertook practical activities to increase the participation of women in science.
We describe here some of the activities we undertook as a H2020 consortium to increase the participation of women in science.
We recommend them to other consortia. One of the key things we did was to design DEFEND activities in order to promote gender equality, and visible female leadership in the DEFEND consortium. Female scientists in leadership positions are valuable role models for all scientists, especially early career female scientists who may strive for such a position in the future.
Gender equality activities that have been undertaken in DEFEND:
- Defend Gender Equality Action Plan
- Information about gender equality was shared via the DEFEND website.
- There was a discussion during the consortium kick-off meeting focused on the participation and promotion of women within scientific fields.
- Financial support was provided to cover additional caring responsibilities for consortium members attending DEFEND conferences.
- Tweets about gender equality, particularly linked to women in science, were shared on the DEFEND Twitter and X platforms.
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Further Information
Resources to explore
For further information about gender equality: https://eige.europa.eu/
Equality Challenge Unit UK: https://www.ecu.ac.uk/
For further information about gender equality in academia:
European Institute for Gender Equality:
https://eige.europa.eu/rdc/eige-publications/promoting-gender-equality-academia-and-research-institutions-main-findingsEuropean Platform of Women Scientists:
https://epws.org/EqualBITE:
https://www.ed.ac.uk/equality-diversity/innovation-development/equal-biteThe Royal Society of Edinburgh:
https://www.rse.org.uk/inquiries/womeninstem-2018/Seven Actionable Strategies for Advancing Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.stem.2015.02.012
Tapping All of Our Talents Review 2018: https://www.rse.org.uk/inquiries/womeninstem-2018/ Published by the Royal Society of Edinburgh in November 2018, Tapping All of Our Talents Review 2018 examines the progress that has been made on increasing the proportion of women working and studying in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) in Scotland. It builds on the RSE’s 2012 original “Tapping Talents” report of women in STEM in Scotland.
WIAReport: https://www.wiareport.com/ Women in Academia Report is a website focused on the progress of women in academia, particularly the United States. It announces significant appointments of women to positions of influence in higher education, reports important awards and grants to women scholars, and reviews and provides a database of books of importance to women in higher education.
Women Leaders in Global Health conference: https://www.wlghconference.org/ The Women Leaders in Global Health conference took place on 8-9 November 2018 at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. The WLGH conference brings leaders from across sectors and cultures to work towards gender equity in health leadership and to improve health for all. Podcasts featuring key participants are available on the website.
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