News
Amsterdam, 31 January 2007. The Board of the InterAcademy Council has unanimously passed a resolution affirming its commitment to increased participation of women in science, engineering, and health professions. The resolution states that “gender issues relevant to study topics will be included within the scope of IAC studies, giving close attention to gender aspects within reports produced. The IAC will strive to increase female participation in study panel memberships. The IAC will foster increased opportunities for women in employment of Secretariat and consultative personnel.”
This resolution follows the June 2006 release of the third IAC report, Women for Science, at a publication release event hosted by the French Academy of Sciences in Paris.
That advisory report is addressed primarily to the world’s academies. Given their prestige and alliances with governments, universities, and nongovernmental organizations, academies should play advocacy and leadership roles beyond their own doors, the report says. Academies should support the higher education of women in science, engineering, and industrial management while advising governments to remove barriers to their education and employment. Furthermore, they must help to empower in S&T arenas not only professional women but also women at the grassroots level in the developing world. Academies should help establish and promote science and technology "knowledge centers," where women scientists and engineers can work with grassroots women of their own culture on technologies for local needs and applications, thus enabling science and technology capacity building.