Science and gender equality are priorities of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. An open debate is taking place on what remains to be done in these areas.
In December 2015, the United Nations General Assembly declared the 11th of February as the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, recognizing efforts made by a number of global institutions that support and promote access of women and girls to knowledge, education, and training, but also full access to scientific research for everyone, and gender equity in science.
STEM (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) areas are still culturally and traditionally assigned to men, with a deficit in the participation of women and girls.
New data from the Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality (CIG) shows a very different distribution around the world of women in the STEM professions, the proportion of STEM jobs in the total employment, the number of occupations, and the percentage of women graduated STEM.
Our researcher, professor, and Member of the Commission for Equality at the University of Beira Interior, Maria do Rosário Calado states that in “At the Covilhã branch of IT, female integrated members represent about 10% of the personnel. This shows a clear minority of Women and Girls in the universe of researchers and a significant gender polarization. It is a consequence of the low numbers of females in STEM university courses and occupations in Europe, including Portugal. When we look at technology and engineering areas only, numbers are even worse.”
Comparatively, Portugal has been standing out, being the OECD country with more women enrolled in STEM courses: in terms of education, women's share of STEM degrees is 38% against 62% for men. The percentage of women in STEM jobs in Portugal is already 44%, but jobs in this area only account for 12% of total employment.
According to our researcher Ana Fred, IT provides the “ideal conditions for the development of innovative research, both from theoretical and practical perspectives, enabling the combination of multidisciplinary areas leading to solutions with impact on the society, from health, wellbeing, to arts and entertainment. Noteworthy, IT provides support and incentives to excellence, through high standards of quality and equity.”
There is still a long way to go, in changing mindsets. It is critical for young women to know that STEM fields open many career possibilities and success opportunities, even in fields traditionally seen as closed to women.
We asked a brilliant group of women and girl researchers from IT network what it means to be a woman in science and technology; in particular, what is a woman scientist in IT in STEM areas...
Read the full testimonies:
Maria do Rosário Calado (IT, Universidade da Beira Interior)
University is a place for knowledge sharing, but also a place for the humanist construction of their members, where values such as equality, tolerance, and the appreciation of the uniqueness of everyone must be met and guaranteed. As an Engineer, Faculty Member and Researcher, I have a special interest in gender equality issues in education and investigation access and in the prevention of the intensification of segregation in professional and research occupations in the areas of Engineering and Technology. In IT – Branch Covilhã female integrated members compose about 10% of personnel, which shows a clear minority of Women and Girls in the universe of researchers and a significant gender polarization. This is a consequence of the low numbers of females in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) university courses and occupations in Europe, including Portugal. When we look at technology and engineering areas only, the numbers are even worse. Personally, as an engineering student in IST, and later as a teacher in UBI and researcher in IT, I never felt a different treatment as a woman and I always felt fulfilled in the development of my work in the area of Electrical and Computer Engineering, more specifically in the sub-area of Energy, where there is an even greater predominance of male researchers.
Carla Lopes (IT, Polytechnic of Leiria)
Mother, wife, higher education teacher, a researcher at the Instituto de Telecomunicações, a woman in science. My path in science was shaped by the goals that the teams set themselves, with neutrality, objectivity, and rationality, and the individual characteristics of each team member naturally regulate the division of tasks in a project. Being a woman in science contributed to reinforcing some personal characteristics such as persistence, patience, resistance, and management capacity. The importance of scientific productivity imposes great demands on a researcher insofar as it has to be reconciled with the importance of other professional and family challenges. Setting priorities, maintaining focus, and looking for opportunities in the research sphere are constant challenges. In this context, my path in science was built with goals (master's, doctorate, projects), at a pace conditioned by the remaining academic and family work routines. Being a woman in science is managing in real time the importance versus urgency of each item on the task list.
Susana Sargento (IT, Universidade de Aveiro)
Life is made of challenges, but they are what make your journey more interesting.I have always been passionate about mathematics and physics, but at the time of choosing the course at the University, I felt that I should choose something more comprehensive and that could integrate both disciplines. That's how I chose the Electronic and Telecommunications Engineering course. They warned me that it would be a course mostly for boys, but I was always loved by all of them. Then, all my research came about by chance, largely because of the revolutionary era of communications in which we have been living since the beginning of this millennium, and also because of the dream of creating a communications network that allows everything and everyone to connect, from people to all. the 'things' that surround us. The fact of working in an area that is transversal to many others brings with it a special flavor. We can help transform research work into successful solutions, products and companies; it allows us to feel that we have managed to make a strong contribution to society, and to feel work, not as an obligation, but as a passion.
Helena Ramos (IT, Instituto Superior Técnico)
In 2016, by invitation of the President of Técnico (IST), I created and coordinated for four years the GenderBalance@IST working group that supports the development of the strategy to promote gender equality and inclusion at IST. Recent studies on equality show that the covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing inequalities between women and men in almost all areas of life, penalizing women. It is therefore increasingly important to spare no effort to encourage and accelerate progress to promote greater gender equality in IT, Portugal and the rest of the world.
Ana Fred (IT, Instituto Superior Técnico)
Science is for me a source of motivation and personal realization. It enables me to put into practice the innate interest in understanding the why and how of things, integrating diverse areas of knowledge and research, addressing from multiple perspectives challenging problems, being creative, and developing innovative solutions to research problems with application to real-world problems. Combining data acquisition, signal processing, and analysis based on machine learning and artificial intelligence, theoretical accomplishments and practical solutions include pioneering work in the area of unsupervised learning, systems and solutions in health assessment, diagnosis and prediction, emotion, and biometrics-based on biosignals. IT provides the ideal conditions for the development of innovative research, both from theoretical and practical perspectives, enabling the combination of multidisciplinary areas leading to solutions with impact on the society, from health, wellbeing, to arts and entertainment. Noteworthy, IT provides support and incentives to excellency, through high standards of quality and equity.
Ana Aguiar (IT, Universidade do Porto)
I work on mobile systems and networks, and their applications to future city problems, especially smart and connected mobility. It is very exciting to dedicate much of my time to exploring solutions that can make our daily lives healthier and happier, and at the same time contribute to reducing our negative impact on the planet. In addition, I have the opportunity to work very closely with very competent and energetic young people who also take what we do to society and help to achieve a better future.
Maria Medeiros (IT, Universidade de Coimbra)
I would like to express my gratitude to my female Ph.D. students. I feel very lucky to have supervised two powerful women Dr. Noélia Correia and Dr. Paula Laurêncio and presently co-supervise Beatriz Oliveira. These talented women have lots of things in common, they are special, resilient, and courageous, very early in their lives, they decided to do research in Telecommunications Engineering and worked hard to achieve their objective. The younger generation of women can benefit from gender equality policies and legislation; however it is easier to approve legislation than to change minds, but we are working on that!
Tânia Ferreira (Master in Electronic Engineering and Communications and Ph.D. at University of Aveiro)
I have always been fascinated by technology, but the lack of knowledge of women professionals in the field made me doubt if this could be my future. Despite my reservations, I decided to follow my interests, and in 2016 I entered the integrated master's degree in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering at the University of Aveiro. Even though it's a male-dominated area, where we are sometimes underestimated, I realized that there were more women like me. In 2020, while I was still a master's student, I was given the opportunity to do research in mmWave networks within the Network Architectures and Protocols group at IT, a group headed by Professor Susana Sargento. It is an honor to be mentored by one of the great national references in networks.
Sofia Martins (Sofia Martins, CMU Portugal Ph.D. researcher in Computer Engineering at IT Porto, University of Porto)
As I advanced in my academic career, I gained a growing fascination with engineering, with computer engineering. Today, after finishing a master's degree in the area, I found in IT an opportunity to continue to foster this interest, as a researcher and Ph.D. student. The gender stereotype in engineering is still present, because of an area that is still predominantly male. However, this factor never stopped me from continuing my path, not least because I came across colleagues of the opposite sex who never discriminated against me because of my gender and who supported me in achieving my goals. I see with great enthusiasm the growing demand for STEM areas by girls who, like me, defy stigma by following their passion. By encouraging each other, I believe we will be able to contribute to an increasingly inclusive, fair, and diverse environment, where women can feel fulfilled and where girls can find inspiration.