This Tuesday the fifth Global Breakfast of Women in Science was commemorated at the Córdoba Convention Center. The event was organized by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Province and brought together more than 200 people. Several professionals were awarded and three were the main highlights this year.
One of the goals of the event is to inspire the younger generation to pursue scientific careers. Also, establish an active network of men and women to overcome the barriers to gender equality in science.
“It is important to recognize women, we want science to be known, so that more girls and adolescents are encouraged to enter this profession in the future,” said Pablo De Chiara, Minister of Science and Technology of the Government of Córdoba.
The meeting is held together with the United Nations Day of Women and Girls in Science. It is part of the IUPAC World Women’s Breakfast, which takes place on the same day, in more than 75 countries. Each event is organized independently and is represented by #GWB2022.
The motto of this activity is “Breaking barriers in science”. Some of the issues that were put up for debate in the first part of the day were the incorporation of gender perspectives in the area, job quotas, public policies and representation of women in the scientific profession.
Córdoba has 53.4% of women scientists, a promising figure but with ongoing gender equality issues. “When we explore the leadership positions in women they are low. We have to build public policies in the public and private spheres to achieve more hierarchical positions and investigations in charge of women”, expressed De Chiara at the end of the event.
Highlighted themes
The initiative had the participation of three speakers who put into debate, according to their experiences, the different problems that are a barrier in the female scientific labor world.
Lorena Saletti Cuesta, PhD from the Spanish University of Granada and Researcher at Conicet and UNC, in her speech reflected on gender, women and science. The professional herself indicated that feminisms criticize androcentrism in the construction of knowledge. She questioned that the idea of man as the measure of all things still persists in science. In addition, she aimed to eradicate gender violence, the barriers that women have such as the “glass ceiling” in this area and to increase the trans labor quota.
Likewise, Brenda Bianquet, responsible for the Public Affairs strategy at L’Oréal Argentina, aimed to make visible and reinforce the empowerment of women from childhood and the stereotypes of the scientific field. “There is inequality from a young age, from girls they tell us that these careers are not for us, and this is the first barrier. The membership system is the second problem, they tell us that it is only an activity of men. The initial educational environments are essential to break with these models”, indicated the head of L’Oréal Argentina.
At the same time, Vera Alejandra Álvarez, a Materials Engineer and PhD in Materials Science, recounted the initial inequalities she encountered when she was a woman in a career composed, in the beginning, mostly by men.
The winners
At the end of the day, different mentions and recognitions were given to women to make their contributions to science visible. More than 50 people applied for these awards.
Special mentions were awarded to Marcela Aspell, Liliana Beatriz Pierella, Sara María Palacios, Vanesa Granero and Andrea María Smania.
The outstanding ones were three: Natalia Tumas, Carla Giacomelli and Beatriz Caputto.
Natalia Tumas was the winner of the Young Promise category. She has a degree in Nutrition, a Master’s in Maternal and Child Health, a PhD in Demography and is currently doing a post-doctorate entitled “Current Population Challenges”.
Carla Giacomelli was named scientist of the year in Córdoba, they have extensive experience in biophysical chemistry of surfaces and physicochemistry of colloidal systems. She is a doctor in chemistry and works as a CONICET researcher. Besides,
He integrates work groups in a network of international collaboration and training of human resources with the Autonomous University of Mexico.
Beatriz Caputto was recognized for her career in science. She has been a member of the CONICET Scientific Researcher Career for more than 40 years, and developed as a Senior Researcher from 2014-2018. Her research work has resulted in the publication of more than 60 papers, most of them in journals. international circulation.