Science and math - cold and mechanical …. Women - warm, sensitive and team builders… so how do the 2 fit in together.. this was exactly what we got together to discuss and gain insights about in the session “What difference do women make in science and technology”.

A lot of interesting points came up regarding why women have such a low representation in this field and whether increasing the participation would actually be beneficial. All the panelists (mostly related to the field of science) concurred on the idea that women can bring about a definite positive change to science and technology.

Nadine Leclair and Frances O’Sullivan - 2 of the panelists, brought this out by explaining how women are more inclined to have a better customer orientation in the use of new technology, how they can they can better integrate the team and how they focus on accomplishing tasks and bringing a project to fruit.

Claudie Haignerè from the European Space Agency was of the view that we have to go beyond visibility, it is equally important to ensure that women establish their credibility in the field too. This can be done by being more confident of one’s skills and abilities and not being self-deprecating.

Another panelist- Barbara Dalibard, said the right coaching is very important. Coaching not just for the relevant skills and knowledge , but also to change the mindsets and remove young girls’ aversion to science and research; and to ensure equal opportunities across genders, regions, and ages of students. Another opportunity arising out of a crisis she saw, was the movement of young students and professionals from the financial world to the area of science and technology.

A “leaky pipeline” was how Beatrice Dautresme viewed scientific education for women in today’s world. There are a lot of young girls entering the field but they gradually start dropping out and very few make it to the end.

Turning Cyberellas from Cinderellas.. the title of this blog, was the very interesting statement made by  Viviane Reding- the Commissioner for Information Society and Media from the European Commision. She was all for promoting the exposure to the field for women, not only at the university level but right from the schooling of kids; opening their eyes to the joy of creating things, focusing on the fun aspect and removing the fear of math and science, are instrumental in harboring the interest of young minds in the direction.

The best part of the session however was that some very objective solutions to all the problems discussed came out of the discussion, summed up beautifully by Maria Livanos Cattaui (the moderator) in the end.
I put down the major ones below:

• Creating a propaganda for science and technology among students right from the start and especially female students
• Ensuring more visibility for women who have made it big in the field and highlighting their achievements
• Creating awareness about research, engineering, science etc. as separate fields of study and the possibility of having good careers after education in these fields

By Geetu Sharma and Kanika Khurana