Gender Issues in GoodFood The partners of the GoodFood project are well aware of the scarcity of women in scientific research and management, particularly in the fields of Natural Sciences and Engineering. This under-representation of women is recognised to be a threat to excellence in research and to this respect the consortium fully supports the national and European policies that are being implemented to promote gender equality. According to the EC Policy on Women&Science by gender equality two different issues are considered: • The gender dimension of the research content • The promotion of gender equality by encouraging women's participation. The GoodFood project deals with Research Activities in the agrofood sector concerning safety and quality. Since no direct activity is focussed on the effect of the lack of safety and quality in the human health that could affect in a different manner men and women, there is not a gender dimension in the technical research to be carried out. Despite this first consideration, during the development of the project care will be taken as to not overlook any gender dimension in the research carried out. As for the promotion of gender equality, the GoodFood consortium has defined an action plan aimed at reducing inequalities and at increasing the number of women at all levels. The action plan will be implemented in two phases: in the first a diagnosis of the current situation within the Consortium will be made and, based on the results, in the second phase practical actions will be taken. The main actions envisioned regarding Gender Issues in GoodFood are: • Establisment of a Gender Working Group of partner representatives. The GWG will analyse and discuss about the results of the diagnosis phase and propose corrective actions. • Collect sex-disaggregated statistics of the project workforce and of the attendees at project meetings and Workshops. • Encourage the participation of young women researchers in conferences, workshops, where they can make their work visible. • Contribute to activities aiming at fostering enthusiasm among female students. • Provide partners with relevant information and links to national and international organisations working on women&science. • Networking with other Integrated Projects and Networks of Excellence, in order to share information and collaborate with them. The outcome of the Gender Action plan of GoodFood will be updated during the project life. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Gender Working Group The Gender Working Group of GoodFood is composed of the following partner representatives: Francesca Campabadal – CNM-CSIC.(Contact person for Gender Issues) Begoña Alfaro – AZTI Jean-Marc Diserens – Nestec Lorenza Ferrario – ICT-IRST Barbara Mazzolai – SSSA María Luz Rodríguez – University of Valladolid Herdis Steingrimsdottir – Microzone Ibtisam Tothill – Cranfield University Anna Vilà – University of Barcelona
The commitments of the GWG are: • Propose activities in accordance to the project Gender Action Plan. • Monitor and discuss the results of the assessment of gender issues and propose corrective actions. • Report to the project Coordinator, who will inform the General Management Board. • Inform the GoodFood Consortium at each general meeting and report to the European Commission at the 18- and 42-month review meetings. Links The following are a few sites related to Women and Research. Most of them include many other useful links. Women and Science Unit of the EU-Commission's Directorate General for Research in Brussels European Association for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology European Platform of Women Scientists Italy Gender and Science Group. Center for Scientific and Technological Research of the Istituto Trentino di Cultura. Spain Asociación de Mujeres Investigadoras y Tecnólogas, AMIT. UK Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology France Association Femmes et Sciences. Switzerland The Swiss National Science Foundation. Greece Greek Association of Women Engineers VI FP Integrated Projects and Networks of Excellence Documents - Genders in/of Engineering. A Research Report. W. Faulkner (2006) - Gender and Excellence in the Making - Women and Science. Excellence and Innovation-Gender Equality in Science - Gender Action Plans. A compendium of good practices - Women in European Universities - Women in UK science: the Athena Project - La place des femmes au CNRS (In French) - Etat des lieux: Les femmes dans la recherche (In French) - Distribution of the CSIC research staff (In Spanish) - Report from the ETAN Expert Working Group on women and science - Women and Science. Statistics and Indicators - Politics, strategies and actions for Women & Science, presentation by Veronique Degraef - Women and Science. Review of the Situation in Switzerland - Women researchers of the CSIC (in Spanish). - Statement of Women and Science ( Català , Español , English ) - Mujer y Ciencia. FECYT (in Spanish) - A Photograph of the Gender Distribution in the Research Personnel at ITC-irst in 2004. What changes have occurred since 1990? - VI Congreso Iberoamericano de Ciencia, Tecnologia y Genero - Gender in GoodFood. First-year summary of activities - First Report on Gender Issues |