The International Day of Women and Girls in Science was established by the United Nations to recognize the critical role women play in science and technology. The day also aims to address the gender gap in STEM fields and promote gender equality. The choice of February 11th is in honor of the birthday of Marie Curie, a pioneering physicist and chemist who made groundbreaking contributions to the understanding of radioactivity. Marie Curie’s achievements serve as a symbol of inspiration for countless women in science. Her legacy has paved the way for future generations, proving that gender should never be a barrier to scientific excellence.
As Ariadna Mato Montero from ANFACO CECOPESCA notes “The contribution of women to science has been very relevant since its beginnings. However, cultural biases have kept women relegated to the background in scientific careers, making it difficult to access formal, quality education and hiding their achievements. Although this situation has improved significantly in the last 100 years, the trend continues to this day. The scientific contribution of women remains less visible compared to that of men. Furthermore, there continues to be an underrepresentation of women in the STEM field. Not only that, but according to UNESCO data, in 2023, women still represent approximately two-thirds of the adults who cannot read, worldwide. In my opinion, it is essential to continue fighting for equal education. Furthermore, I consider it important to promote girls’ access to a scientific career through knowledge of scientific references. It is essential to make an effort to break gender biases from the beginning, making girls aware that they too have the ability to excel in this field. I would like to mention that, now, in ANFACO, 72% of the workforce is made up of women. I find this encouraging and makes me think that things keep improving. However, as I mentioned before, I believe that it is necessary to continue working towards equality. In this sense, in ANFACO-CECOPESCA, we participate in projects such as WINBLUE, which aims to promote the contribution of women in the blue economy, facilitating their participation in circular blue bioeconomy and biotechnology, aquaculture and fisheries, offshore renewable energy, sustainable coastal tourism, cutting-edge enabling technology for protecting and restoring marine ecosystems.”
Mackenzie Baert, from Foodscale Hub, noted that “𝐈𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝”.
Further information regarding winblue can be found at https://winblue-project.eu/
