Norvegia: donne indietro nei finanziamenti per la ricerca

http://www.wingsworldquest.org/?q=node/78

Usa: premiate cinque donne scienziate

Wings Worldquest, il cui scopo è "to celebrate and support extraordinary women explorers and to promote scientific exploration, education and conservation to inspire future generations" ha annunciato la selezione delle cinque donne scienziate ed esploratrici per il 2009.

Potete leggere la biografia e i dettagli sulle ricerche compiute nel link che riporto.

Usa Women in Science

http://eng.kilden.forskningsradet.no/c52778/nyhet/vis.html?tid=62346

Norvegia: ricerca universitaria su disparità tra uomini e donne

From August 2009, the Center for Gender and Equality at the University of Agder will have a new leader: Ulla-Britt Lilleaas. She is a professor in health science and has done research on men’s health, from a gender perspective. Now she is looking forward to establishing a high-quality research environment at the centre, with a particular focus on gender issues and gender equality in the region.

In the annually released statistics on gender equality in different parts of Norway, made by Statistics Norway, the Agder region repeatedly attains very low scores. The low educational level and employment rate among women is one aspect of this gender inequality.

gender justice Scandinavia Women in Science

http://eng.kvinneriforskning.no/nyhet/vis.html?tid=63192

Norvegia: progressi nell'avanzamento di carriera per donne ricercatrici

"In Norway, the Research Council of Norway, the Norwegian Association of Higher Education Institutions, the University of Bergen and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) have all agreed to the principles in these documents. NTNU and the Research Council of Norway have also signed on as pioneer institutions, and along with about 20 other European institutions they will take the lead on implementing the documents

"The Charter emphasizes, among other things, that the institutions should establish more flexible employment terms so that the careers of both women and men do not suffer because they have to combine work with family life. In addition, greater importance will be attached to the breadth of a researcher’s qualifications, which will be positive for many women researchers."

The Minister of Research and Higher Education must ensure that gender equality is incorporated into the mandate that lays the foundation for the national plans. Here Norway needs to lead by example

http://eng.kvinneriforskning.no/nyhet/vis.html?tid=63954

Norvegia: il Gender Equality Award migliora l'impegno delle università per la parità di genere

“One of the measures is that we will appoint more women to professor II positions, especially at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. Among other things, we will bring in professors from abroad,” says Grønmo.

“Another measure relates to our work to strengthen opportunities for women to qualify for academic positions. We have therefore started what we call a ‘women’s faculty lunch club’, in which women in academic positions form a network across disciplines. Through this network they can share experiences about opportunities to gain additional qualifications and other topics.”

Leadership training is a third measure made possible by the prize money. Grønmo explains that the percentage of women in leadership positions at the departmental level is low and that this measure focuses in particular on the areas of medicine, dentistry and psychology.

“We will also conduct a survey of the working environment with a focus on gender issues at the Faculty of Social Sciences, and some of the prize money will go to writing grants for women researchers so they can be exempted from teaching duties,” he explains.

“We focus primarily on two things in our gender equality efforts: recruiting more women researchers and qualifying female employees for professor-level positions,” says Haaland.

Haaland also focuses on talent and quality when he explains the reasoning behind the institution’s gender equality efforts.

“We want to draw on all available talent, and gender balance in recruitment can enhance the quality of our work. Also, more women on our academic staff will be important as role models for the candidates in our study programmes,” he believes.

http://www.israel21c.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7189:israeli-female-arab-physician-breaks-the-glass-ceiling-twice&catid=60:people&Itemid=110

Israele: Suheir Assady prima donna araba a capo di un dipartimento medico

Dr Suheir Assady is the first female Arab physician to head a medical department in Israel

As the first Arab woman in Israel to attain such a position, she is breaking the glass ceiling twice.

Assady comments: "At Rambam we can be very proud that 16 [women] hold very good positions ... a lot of residents and doctors are women - 30% so I am in a good league."

Israel Women at Work Women in Science

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/science/women-set-nobel-prize-record/article1315834/

Israele: Ada Yonath vince il Premio Nobel

Ovviamente non intendo dimenticare tutte le altre vincitrici del Premio Nobel e il fatto che quest'anno il numero di donne che hanno ricevuto il premio sia aumentato.

Yonath, who is 70, was awarded this year's Nobel Prize in chemistry for her groundbreaking work in understanding how cells build proteins. She is only the fourth woman to win the Nobel chemistry prize, and the first since 1964, when British woman Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin received the prize.

The professor, who is head researcher in the field of structural biology and biochemistry at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, shares her prize with UK scientist Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and American Thomas A. Steitz. The decision was announced today by the Nobel committee in Stockholm.

Yonath is widely considered the pioneer of ribosome crystallography. Her research, carried out over a 25-year period, has revealed the modes of action of over 20 different antibiotics that target bacterial ribosomes.

Through this work she has been able to identify how bacteria become resistant to antibiotics, a problem of great concern worldwide as the growth of antibiotic resistant super bugs like MRSA, continues unabated.

"Women make up half the population," she told ISRAEL21c. "I think the population is losing half of the human brain power by not encouraging woman to go into the sciences. Woman can do great things if they are encouraged to do so."

http://www.israel21c.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7259:israeli-scientist-ada-yonath-wins-the-nobel-prize&catid=60:people&Itemid=110

Israel jewish women Women in Science

http://eng.kvinneriforskning.no/nyhet/vis.html?tid=65758

Norvegia: aumento di donne nel Dipartimento di fisica e tecnologia all'Università di Bergen

“I have taken gender equality into account ever since I started in my position six years ago,” says Jan Petter Hansen, head of the Department of Physics and Technology at the University of Bergen. At that time only one woman was employed as a professor in the department. Today four more women have been hired in academic positions, and new, promising female doctoral and post-doctoral research fellows are in the system.

“It’s clear to me that if we want to recruit the researchers of the future, the best researchers, we have a much better chance of getting a hold of them if we can choose from among the entire population. And then the students who come here need to see that we have female lecturers who teach the subject and that physics is not a discipline for only half the population,” he continues.

However, Hansen feels that he has gotten good support from the top administration, noting it is crucial that the leadership backs up the efforts of the department heads who are “involved in the struggle on a daily basis”.

“What is enacted at the highest level, what the Rector says, is all-important. A clear signal must be sent about the leadership’s vision on practical policy, and the University of Bergen has done this. I perceive gender equality to be an integral part of all the university’s activities, from the top administration to the faculties to the academic departments.”

Based on six years of experience as head of a highly male-dominated department, Hansen has some advice for politicians who want to ensure that gender equality efforts continue within the research groups:

“Rather than short-term, piecemeal measures, there needs to be a long-term plan with a ten-year perspective that awards new, permanent resources to successful groups. This could be viewed in connection with academic plans drawn up by departments which currently have an unacceptable gender balance,” he concludes.

http://universitas.no/news/53884/more-women-in-technology/

Norvegia: aumento della presenza femminile nei dipartimenti di tecnologia delle università

2009 seems to be a record-breaking year concerning to gender balance in the technology department. 35 per cent of the doctor’s degrees taken were conferred to women.

This is a very gratifying development in the fight for equal rights, says Linda Rustad, senior consultant for the Committee for Mainstreaming – Women in Science (WIS). The newest numbers from the Doctor’s Degree Register show that the number of women with a PhD in technology subjects now is 35 per cent, making it higher than ever within this specific field.

It’s good news that girls are finally guided and stimulated to take doctor’s degrees in subjects usually dominated by men. More financial resources have to be used to make people see that women should get the top positions, and people need to work on their attitudes, cultural changes and work environment, she says.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091206/ap_on_re_eu/eu_sweden_nobel_women_2

Svezia: appello in favore di un maggior numero di donne scienziate

The two female winners of this year's Nobel Prize in medicine on Sunday urged scientific institutions to change their career structures to help more women reach top positions.

Americans Elizabeth H. Blackburn and Carol W. Greider said as many women as men start out in science but are often unable to advance after having children because of a lack of flexibility.

t is the first time two women have shared a single Nobel science prize. Over the years only 10 women have won the medicine prize.

Blackburn said a more flexible approach to part-time research and career breaks would help women continue to advance their careers during their childbearing years.

"I'm not talking about doing second-rate quality science, far from it," she said. "You can do really good research when you are doing it part-time."

Greider added that she especially wants to see measures to get more women onto committees and decision-making positions.

http://eng.kvinneriforskning.no/nyhet/vis.html?tid=68371

Norvegia: strategie per l'aumento di donne nella ricerca scientifica

It is pointless to start a search for female applicants one week before the application deadline. If you want to increase the number of women in a male-dominated field, you have to make long-term plans. This is according to Tor Grande, who recently stepped down as head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU

“I think I have been successful in giving our female researchers confidence.”

“We have many talented students, especially women, yet they choose other career paths. It seems to me that female research fellows and researchers in our field perhaps need a little more acknowledgement that they are doing a good job. The men seem to have a greater degree of innate self-confidence.”

He believes the challenge is often to increase women’s interest in having the jobs that are advertised.

“This involves an awareness of how you approach women. There are some things that are important for women which may still not be so important for men, such as showing that the job can be adapted to family life.”

Three of the women hired in the department in 2008 were encouraged to apply. Grande believes it was important that they received a clear signal that they were well qualified and had a good chance of being appointed to the positions.

“In my experience, this is an issue you have to work with over time. Applying for academic positions is a matter of maturation. It is crucial to understand that some women who are potential job applicants need some persuasion.”

“What advice would you give other leaders in male-dominated fields who want to recruit more women?”

“I would encourage them to be aware of talented women starting at the student level. Notice those who are most able, find them good mentors and encourage them to apply for research fellowships so that several of them gain researcher expertise. I believe we will reap the benefits five to eight years later.”

http://www.cphpost.dk/news/commentary/142-commentary/48543-opinion-we-need-more-women-in-science.html

Danimarca: appello per incrementare la presenza femminile nella ricerca scientifica

The challenge, then, is not to get more women in the universities since they already make up a high percentage, the challenge is to maintain them in research and to make the journey on the career ladder just as easy for women as it is for men.

To prepare girls for a scientific career we must work on those stereotypes from a very early age. The encouragement and support from parents and teachers in this respect is highly valuable in order for girls and young women to see a scientific career as a plausible career path. But, changing dominant stereotypes is not something that can be done overnight, but it is nevertheless an important issue that needs our utmost attention.

The first step is therefore to increase the awareness of the problem. In my report on women and science, adopted by the European Parliament in May 2008, I highlight the need for a critical look at the assessment groups and selection committees in universities.

On a concluding note I strongly believe we need more women in science

http://www.aauw.org/research/whysofew.cfm

Usa: studio sulla carenza di donne negli studi scientifici

In an era when women are increasingly prominent in medicine, law and business, why are there so few women scientists and engineers? A new research report by AAUW presents compelling evidence that can help to explain this puzzle. Why So Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics presents in-depth yet accessible profiles of eight key research findings that point to environmental and social barriers – including stereotypes, gender bias and the climate of science and engineering departments in colleges and universities – that continue to block women’s participation and progress in science, technology, engineering, and math. The report also includes up to date statistics on girls' and women's achievement and participation in these areas and offers new ideas for what each of us can do to more fully open scientific and engineering fields to girls and women.

Usa Women Education Women in Science

http://www.ncwit.org/news.press.php?action=display&pressrelease_id=601

Usa: Report sulle donne nel settore della tecnologia

The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) has just released its free comprehensive report, Women In IT: The Facts, which addresses the current state of affairs for women working in information technology (IT) and computing careers. The Facts discusses reasons why women in the industry leave at staggering rates and what companies can do to attract and retain them.

“The percentage of computing occupations held by women has been declining since 1991, when it reached a high of 36 percent,” the report says. “Meanwhile, the percentage of jobs held by women in almost all other sciences has increased significantly.”

The Facts offers businesses extensive data about how the loss of women in IT affects corporate profitability and U.S. competitiveness. For example, “companies with the highest representation of women in senior management teams had a 35 percent higher return on equity,” but “56 percent of women in technology companies leave their organizations at the mid-level point (10-20 years) in their careers.”

The report also provides detailed advice about what companies can do to combat the loss of female IT talent. The primary recommendation is for companies to develop an “ecosystem of reform,” which author and NCWIT senior research scientist Catherine Ashcraft outlines in the report.

http://www.ncwit.org/resources.thefacts.html

http://www.ncwit.org/pdf/NCWIT_TheFacts_rev2010.pdf

Usa Women at Work Women in Science