Vienna, 15 May 2006
Companies with well-managed gender mainstreaming policies often see an improvement in their economic performance. This is a key finding of a report on Women in Science and Technology (WiST), presented today at a conference being held today in Vienna, organised by the Austrian EU Presidency and the European Commission, and based on 12 months of work with multi-national companies. The objective of the conference, and the WiST report, is to examine what can be done to attract more women researchers into industry. While female participation in research is generally quite low in the EU, women are much more under-represented in the private sector (18%) than public (35%). This is despite the increasing number of female university graduates.
European Science and Research Commissioner Janez Potočnik said, &ndashœIf Europe is to become a world-class destination for science, then we need to make better use of our female scientists. Industry needs them, our education institutions need them, and our policy choices need them. If we don&ndash™t create a fairer system, where all can participate equally, we lock out a huge pool of talent and potential that we just can&ndash™t afford to lose.&ndash
The WiST group looked at issues such as working conditions for women in industrial research and how gender diversity can be managed in the workplace. It makes recommendations on how to integrate diversity in industrial research management and proposes strategies for increasing the numbers of women involved in business research. At the conference, companies such as Airbus, Hewlett-Packard, Shell and Xerox will present their strategies for the recruitment and retention of female researchers.
This conference comes as the European Commission&ndash™s latest figures on women in science and technology &ndashœShe Figures 2006&ndash show that the number of female researchers in universities and businesses continues to increase. The &ndashœShe Figures 2006&ndash is a handy reference publication giving a comprehensive overview of the participation of women in science. While a positive shift is occurring overall, progress remains slow and is as good as static in some sciences. Also, while female participation is increasing, this is not being reflected in increased participation at senior levels, with only 11% of women in natural sciences and 6% of women in engineering making it to senior levels.
The conference will also be attended by 16 &ndashœambassadors&ndash from 4 on-going EU-funded projects, who are chosen to act as role models in 4 areas: women in nanosciences, girls and science in school, image of science; and policy-makers.
For more information:
&ndashœShe&ndash Figures 2006:
http://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/home_en.cfm
http://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/pdf/she_figures_2006_en.pdf
Link for the WiST report:
http://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/page_en.cfm?id=2909
http://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/pdf/wist_report_final_en.pdf
Item source: IP/06/614 Date: 15/05/2006