Gender equality in science and technology: a new paradigm?
Forum to be held within the framework of the Workshop on Astrophysical Opacities. Everybody is welcome!
Speakers:
- Sylvaine Turck-Chièze (President, Association Femmes & Sciences, France)
- Jennifer Lentner (Senior Director, Marketing Communications, Stryker)
- Carla M. Koretsky (Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, WMU)
Place: Ladies' Library Association
333 South Park Street
Kalamazoo MI 49007
Date: 2 August 2017, 6:00 pm
It has been shown by the World Bank that women represent more than 40% of the global workforce, and in the case of the scientific and technological establishments, gender equality is bound to lead to a paradigm change in economic productivity and growth. Therefore, much has been done to increase women engagement in R&D, but some outstanding gender disparities remain that are not easy to dissolve.
They start at the school level where it has been cumbersome to nurture the full potential of girls, particularly when trying to cultivate their interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) careers. STEM higher education and careers are driven by environments of knowledge creation that have been custom-tailored during centuries, particularly in the physical sciences, for a male-dominated institutional culture, and are still not proactive enough to fully integrate the modern woman on an equal footing. For instance, women are still underrepresented in academia at leadership levels, and biases prevail in hiring, authorship, recognition, promotion, and international collaboration.
In the competitive and entrepreneurial high-tech workplace, gender gaps, e.g. due to stereotyping, persist even when women are more educated than men. Innovative public policies to ensure more gender neutral legal systems for business and lending markets, attention to the special needs of minority groups, and the organization of networks for women entrepreneurs are thus necessary. Sexual harassment must be uprooted once and for all in the workplace.
In the present forum on this important topic, which will be held at the emblematic Ladies’ Library of Kalamazoo on Wednesday 2nd of August 2017, 6:00 pm, we take advantage of the visit of Dr. Sylvaine Turck-Chièze to Western Michigan University. She is currently President of the Association Femmes & Sciences of France, and has worked at the ministerial level to improve the conditions and dynamics in the research labs, especially for women. Recent accomplishments in Europe will be compared with those in the USA, as discussed with Jennifer Lentner, Senior Director, Marketing Communications of Stryker, a well-known medical technology firm based in Kalamazoo, and Dr. Carla M. Koretsky, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences of Western Michigan University.
This event is organized and financed by Western Michigan University.
