International Women's Day (8th March) is a global day celebrating the achievements of women. The International Women's Day 2019 campaign Balance for Better is a call-to-action for driving gender balance across the world. For this reason, several members of our team were invited to share their thoughts.
"The MELOA consortium fully supports and promotes gender equality in accordance with the H2020 principles: Promoting Gender Equality in Research and Innovation. We are enforcing the gender balance up to the level that nowadays almost 40% of the MELOA team is composed of women." - Diego Lozano García, Project Coordinator
Why is gender balance important for science?
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Vânia Fonseca, Deimos Engenharia"Diverse teams are more likely to come up with innovative solutions, by having an inclusive approach." |
Nuno Almeida, Deimos Engenharia"Science needs all genders, and excellence is only achieved with a fair balance between them." |
Rita Esteves, Instituto Hidrográfico"Gender diversity in science can provide different approaches and ideas for the research." |
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Rogério Chumbinho, SmartBay Ireland“Women are a clear minority in top science management and research positions. The balance observed in junior scientific posts starts to distort in mid- to senior-level permanent research positions and is clearly absent in leading and directing roles which are dominated by men. Perhaps this is also a result of old cultural and educational practices that will gradually wear away and contribute to a more equitable balance among genders, but it is also true that our omnipresent unconscious biases play a significant role here. This has been demonstrated. Perhaps more important than achieving “gender balance” in science, it is vital that “equal opportunities for genders” is constantly in our minds and becomes a reality, not an empty statement. The balance will come naturally.” |
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Irene Eleta, Deimos Space"Gender balance is important in science because women can add fresh new perspectives on problems, they can ask important and overlooked research questions, they can think of innovative applications in areas or for populations that were previously disregarded. Science needs more women because they could lead and manage people in different ways than men do, driving change in organizations in line with values for the common good: cooperative, responsive to social challenges, environmentally-friendly, committed to promote diverse and family-friendly work cultures." |
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Claudia Lorenzo, Deimos Space"Gender balance is important in Science because the more woman we are, the better the environment for other women to work in this field, which is our ultimate goal: to attract more brilliant people, so Science can progress faster and more efficiently." |
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Teotónio Barroqueiro, IH"For me, as a man and team leader, it is a huge privilege to belong to an organization where 35% of its employees are civilian and military women. Women who are involved at all levels of the organization, with whom I have learned a lot over these years of cooperation." |
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Luísa Bastos, IH“Multidisciplinary teams, favouring the clash of ideas and visions, lay the ground for new advances in science frontiers. Gender diversity strengthens that multi-vision approach and boosts further advances.” |
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08/03/2019 |