Etan-main text

Introduction
•
to improve girls’ access to scientific and technological studies and careers;
and
•
to achieve greater equality in the relations between men and women
throughout society.
Similarly, the International Council on Science and the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) debated the
subject at their World Conference on Science held in Budapest in June 1999
(UNESCO, 1999).  Again, we draw upon their deliberations in this report.
Some common themes emerge from these Member State, EU and wider
reports, discussions and debates.  The EU must draw upon all this work and
not get left behind in the endeavour to open science up to women.
Promoting excellence through mainstreaming
gender equality
The Commission has requested this report in the context of its concern to
mainstream gender equality in science policy.  Its authors are senior
scientists from different disciplines from ten Member States, from
universities, research institutes, business and politics, many of whom have
been active in promoting the issue of women in science policy (see Notes
on Contributors).  The purpose of the report is to encourage and inform
debate on women in science with a view to acting as a catalyst to change.
The social justice and business case arguments for mainstreaming equality in
science and technology are pressing.  The status quo is wasteful and
inequitable.  The abuse of the ‘old boys’ network’ in some of our scientific
institutions is an anachronism.  The emphasis on gender in hiring and
promoting has no place in modern institutions.  It is not only bad for
science but it denies many women the benefits of a scientific career that are
enjoyed by men, such as the satisfaction of curiosity, setting one’s own
priorities, some status, and a certain degree of autonomy.  This undoubtedly
provocative report does not argue for special pleading for women.  Rather,
it points out the unjustifiable advantages that men currently receive through
the organisation of science.  It makes the case for genuine equal treatment
for men and women, for an authentically gender-neutral science.  While
gender is an important and legitimate variable to control in some research,
for example in medical science, it is not appropriate for the organisation of
scientific professions themselves, nor for the allocation of resources and
rewards within them.
The main questions addressed by the report are as follows:
•
What is the position of women in science?
•
How can institutions that employ and promote scientists open up more
to women?
•
How can fairness be assured in funding and assessing research?
•
How can women have a more active role in shaping science and
scientific policy?
•
How can schools and the media encourage more girls to enter science?
•
How can stereotypes be challenged?
•
How can gender equality be mainstreamed into scientific institutions?
•
How can gender disaggregated statistics and equality indicators be
developed?
•
How can change be made to happen?
... Women share ... the belief
that there is no evidence that
sex is related to success in
scientific research and are
prepared to be judged by the
same objective standards as
their male colleagues.  However
in return women have the right
to demand the same job
opportunities and the same
resources, and to enjoy the
same privileges as are given to
men at similar stages in their
careers.
from a letter to Nature by Mary
Osborn, 360,101 (1992)
5

---

Science policies in the European Union
The report concludes with a series of recommendations for institutions of
all levels.  The overall aim is to ensure that the best human resources
available for science and technology in the EU are given the opportunity to
shape policy, take up careers, receive investment in their ideas and have their
work rewarded appropriately.
The scope and purpose of the Report
The main focus of the report is on science and science policy, within which
we include engineering, the social sciences, computing and technology.  We
have not considered the arts and humanities but work is needed here too.
We are concerned with organisations that:
•
determine science policy (such as the European Commission and its
committees, national and regional governments, research councils,
funding bodies, large corporations);
•
employ and organise scientists (universities, research institutes,
professional associations, trade unions, employers in the private sector,
especially medical fields and companies in certain sectors (high tech small
and medium size enterprises, multi-national pharmaceutical companies,
computing industry and agro-businesses);
•
educate and train scientists (schools, further and higher education,
museums and exhibitions, the media);
Our focus is on influencing policy at all levels to improve the position of
women in science and in the development of science policy in the EU in
the short, medium and long term.  Integrating equality into the range of
institutions, which teach, train, recruit and fund science would make a
considerable difference.  Our key themes are fairness in career structures, in
peer review and funding excellence and in academic leadership and the
setting of scientific policy and priorities.
While change will cost money, so does doing nothing.  While waiting for
equality to happen of its own accord may be rewarded with some progress
in some areas, it can also lead to backward steps.  Scientific thinking needs
to be applied to the issue of women in science.
‘Each generation of young
women including those who are
currently senior faculty, began
by believing that gender
discrimination was ‘solved’ in
the previous generation and
would not touch them.
Gradually, however, their eyes
were opened to the realization
that the playing field is not level
after all, and that they had paid
a high price both personally and
professionally as a result’.
Mary-Lou Pardue and colleagues (MIT)
(1999), cited in Nature, no 401,p 99.
6

---