Minister highlights the increasing role of women in Science, but defends reinforcement

«I am convinced that greater involvement and recognition of women in research and development activities is fundamental»

The Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education today highlighted the increasing role of women in the scientific and innovation context, but defended the strengthening of their involvement, «fundamental to increase the innovative capacity» of the country.

«I am convinced that a greater involvement and recognition of women in research and development activities is fundamental to increase innovative capacity in Portugal and to create a more sustainable and balanced world», said the minister.

Elvira Fortunado was speaking during the conference on “Industrial Property, Sustainability and the Future of the Planet”, which is taking place until Tuesday at the National Laboratory of Civil Engineering, in Lisbon.

In a panel dedicated to gender equality in science and innovation, the minister said that, currently, women already have an "extremely relevant role" in innovation, noting that, between 2010 and 2019, Portugal had the second highest percentage of women female inventors in Europe (27%, compared to the European average of 13%).

«However, the evidence points out that if we do not do more and faster, it may take about 300 years to achieve gender equality», he warned.

«The participation of women as inventors has had a growing trajectory, but it is quite unbalanced when compared to the number of applications [for patent registration] of inventors who are men», he added.

On the other hand, the minister also defended the strengthening of relations between the scientific system and the business ecosystem, stressing that «the history of science and innovation is full of remarkable women, whose inventions changed our lives».

The Secretary of State for Equality and Migration also participated in the same panel, who warned of inequalities in access to the digital world that "disproportionately affect women", as well as online violence against women.

Isabel Almeida Rodrigues also considered that not understanding or intervening in the scope of these differentiated impacts will deepen them and defended that «all policies must take into account, in a systematic way and throughout their process, the specificity and situations of women's needs ».

The perspective is similar on the other side of the Atlantic, according to the director general of the National Institute of Industrial Property in Chile, who agreed with gender inequalities in digital transformation, driven mainly by men.

«If women have a more active participation in the creation of this technology, the gender difference will be reduced», maintained María Loreto Bresky.

 



Comments

Ads