Dr. Brigitte Mühlenbruch, EPWS Vice-President, Dr. Adelheid Ehmke, EPWS President, Prof. Dr. Ene Ergma Former Vice President of the Estonian Academy of Science and current President of the Estonian Parliament, Prof. Dr. Dalia Satkovskiené BASNET President and Dr. Maren Jochimsen, Secretary-General EPWS at the opening ceremony of the 2008 EPWS Annual Conference.
 The aims of the conference were to investigate the current situation and environment in which women scientists work as well as to look into possibilities to narrow the gap between the number of women and men in high positions both in the field of science and research but also in business. The conference explored and highlighted the current and future impact of women scientists on the scientific community, on scientific culture in Europe, in the policy making process, and in reflecting social aspects of science. The conference also looked at the opportunities for the creation a better working climate for women scientists and how to encourage more women to take up an academic or scientific career or to join technological industries, which are dominated by men. Particular attention was paid to the development and support of networks of women scientists in Central and Eastern Europe, especially in the Baltic States .The latest European Commission Reports on Women in Research Decision Making and on Benchmarking Policy Measures on Gender Equality in Science were presented and discussed.
The Conference was attended by more than 160 representatives of European organisations of women scientists from 28 countries. For three days Vilnius became a melting pot of lively discussions, in-depth presentations and networking.
The opening day of the conference took place in the Lithuanian Government under the patronage of Prof. Habil. Dr. Kazimiera D. Prunskiené, the First Prime Minister of Lithuania after independence in 1991 and current Minister and Member of the Lithuanian Parliament. Prominent speakers included the Chief Executive of the European Science Foundation Prof. Dr. Marja Makarow with her presentation entitled “Women scientists in the European Research Area – from female perceptions to gender quotas”, the Former Vice President of the Estonian Academy of Science and current President of the Estonian Parliament Prof. Dr. Ene Ergma who spoke on the topic of “Women’s role in science: the situation in the Baltic States”, and Prof. Dr. Ada Yonath, Structural Biology Department at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, and L’Oréal-UNESCO Laureate For Women in Science Life Science Europe 2008 with her presentation “Climbing scientific Everests against all odds while being a loving parent”. Women in leadership positions in industry, such as Sasha Bezuhanova, General-Manager of Hewlett Packard, Irina Tanaeva from Shell Global Solutions International and Christine Patte, R&D Electricité de France (EDF) were also present. The European Commission was represented by Florence Bouvret, Directorate-General Research, Unit Scientific Culture and Gender Issues. BASNET was represented by its President Prof. Dr. Dalia Satkovskiené.
Speakers presented data, which showed the obvious imbalance between women and men in decision-making positions in academia, the public sector, and in various business and industrial sectors, especially those related to high technology.
The main conclusions drawn were that women in science have to shape science and scientific culture to make Europe the most dynamic, competitive, knowledge-based economy in the world, that women scientists want a high-quality oriented scientific culture in Europe defined by excellence and innovation and that there is no time to lose in paying attention to gender in research. It was also concluded that the present environment for women scientists must be improved as a precondition for reaching the goals of the Lisbon Agenda of the European Union, and last but not least that there is no quality without equality.
|
Supported by the 7th EU Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development
