“Gender inclusion is not a concession, but a necessity for the comprehensive development of our society,” said the Director of the CEDENNA Foundation, Dr. Dora Altbir, when receiving her guests at the commemoration that this entity that promotes nanoscience and nanotechnology organized on the occasion of International Women's Day.
The activity, led by the executive director of the CEDENNA Center, Dr. Juan Escrig, was attended by the Deputy Director of ANID Research Centers, Nicole Ehrenfeld; of Francisco Zambrano, Secretary General of Usach; the dean of the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology, Dr. Leonora Mendoza; the dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences, Alejandro Guajardo; the head of the Department of Initiatives Oriented to Development and Innovation at Anid, Helen Ipinza, and Katherine Leveman, executive of the Anid Centers Subdirectorate.
Female leadership: the pending challenge
After a visit to the laboratories to learn about the cutting-edge research work carried out by this basal center, the Anid representatives went to the auditorium for a meeting with the CEDENNA community, an opportunity in which Nicole Ehrenfeld thanked the possibility of recognizing the work of the researchers “especially in a center as transversal and multicultural as CEDENNA.”
“For ANID and the subdirectorate of Associative Research Centers, it is essential to promote gender equality and for that it is important to recognize the challenges that we still have pending. Despite the many advances that Cedenna reports, there are still significant barriers at the national level that hinder the participation and recognition of women in this field, including the gender gap in leadership,” she commented, referring especially to “the underrepresentation in specific areas of research, many of which are related to key industries in our country. In this context, promoting the equal participation of women in all roles, and particularly those of leadership and decision-making in the scientific community, is not only an imperative of justice, but is key to promoting innovation."
Ehrenfeld assured that, in this state department, and especially in the subdirectorate of Research Centers, the need to actively address the challenge of gender equality is very present. “Only by having equity of opportunities will we be able to have all the capabilities in the present and future of our research. And in that sense, the effort of institutions, of society as a whole and of all of us is required to break down the barriers that still persist,” he concluded.
Promote STEM careers among girls and young people
The attending authorities agreed during their interventions in highlighting that in science and technology it is essential to promote gender diversity, beyond minimum standards, and in reflecting on the multiple challenges still pending.
And they agreed to emphasize that some very simple measures that have been adopted in this Center, such as a focus on results rather than compliance with schedules, have made it possible to achieve a percentage of female participation unprecedented in the country.
14 years ago we started CEDENNA, deeply committed to this equity, within a framework of recognition of our achievements as women in science and technology. Some simple measures that we have taken in our center, such as, for example, a focus on results rather than compliance with schedules, have made it possible that - even though CEDENNA is a STEM center - 50% of our students are women. . This is an unprecedented percentage of female participation in the country,” said Dr. Altbir.
Likewise, the director of the Foundation recalled that CEDENNA was a pioneer in promoting, in 2007, that the university provide coverage and financing for the pre- and post-natal periods of doctoral and postdoctoral scholarship recipients, a condition that the then CONICYT later adopted and that It is currently part of the cultural heritage of several universities.
“Today, it is crucial not only to recognize these contributions but also to ensure that no woman or girl is limited by gender bias or by false incompatibility between their personal and professional aspirations. Every woman who decides to pursue a career in STEM breaks barriers and builds a bridge for those who will come after her,” concluded Dora Altbir.
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