At the site of the XII International Forum ATOMEXPO, a cooperation agreement was signed between the Foundation "Association of Women of the Nuclear Industry" and the Leningrad Electrotechnical University (LETI).
The signatories were the co-founder of the Foundation Alexandra Ryabykh and the Vice-Rector for International Affairs of LETI Anastasia Minina.
The agreement is aimed at cooperation in the implementation of youth policy and career guidance activities aimed at popularizing engineering and scientific and technical professions among female students.
On November 22, 2022, as part of the ATOMEXPO business program, an international mentoring session "Women in STEM" was held, organized by the Association of Women in the Nuclear Industry.
The event was held in the format of an open dialogue of women technology leaders, scientists, young professionals and students about the role of women in the development of nuclear technologies, opportunities for professional and personal development through the presentation of role models, the transfer of leadership experience and mentoring.More than 150 female students from the main universities of the Rosatom State Corporation and other technical universities in Russia and 16 foreign countries - Russia, Ghana, Ethiopia, Zambia, Rwanda, Indonesia, Turkey, Philippines, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Nigeria, Bolivia, Tanzania and Albania, as well as members of the professional women's community of Rosatom took part in a mentoring session in face-to-face and online formats.
Why is the gender agenda important for the nuclear industry? How do gender stereotypes in nuclear education affect the career path of female students? Why is it important to popularize the role models of women leaders in the scientific and technological field? How to overcome the difficulties of choosing a profession and find opportunities for self-realization? These and other questions were answered by the speakers of the international mentoring session "Women in STEM".
The speakers of the event were experts from the Rosatom Corporate Academy and 8 countries of the near and far abroad: HIMNI (Indonesia), Uzatom Agency (Uzbekistan), Africa for Nuclear (South Africa), VinAtom (Vietnam), Nuvia India Private Limited (India), Mon-Atom Group of Companies (Mongolia), the Association "Nuclear Society of Kazakhstan" (Kazakhstan), NUTEK Energy Consulting Technology and Industry Inc. (Turkey).
"Over the past 15 years, the world community has made a rapid step in involving girls and women in high-tech fields. However, despite this, we see that stereotypes, myths about career opportunities for the beautiful half of humanity remain. And I think that after today's session, all the doubts and questions are "Will it be possible to continue building your successful trajectory? Can I get started? What do I need to do?" - they will be dispelled thanks to our speakers. The women's community of Rosatom conducts systematic work on mentoring among female students of technical universities, organizing platforms for an open dialogue between women technology leaders and youth," said Alexandra Ryabykh, moderator of the session, co-founder of the Association of Women of the Nuclear Industry Foundation, member of the Council of the Eurasian Women's Forum under the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, during her opening speech.
Yulia Uzhakina, CEO of ANO "Rosatom Corporate Academy", spoke about programs to support women in the Rosatom State Corporation, about examples of women's careers in the State Corporation and why women go to STEM a little. "We at Rosatom strive for a balanced personnel potential. From the point of view of personnel strategy, it is important to look at the balance from different points of view: gender, age, diversity of professions, education. Our task is to ensure that every woman reveals her potential, finds her place and becomes a professionally happy person. To do this, we are developing mentoring programs and helping women navigate the world of professions," the speaker noted.
During his speech Geni Rina Sunario, partner of the Association of Women in the Nuclear Industry, Head of the Department for the Development of Women's Potential of the Nuclear Society of Indonesia (HIMNI) told about her professional path, what challenges women specialists faced at HIMNI, shared her personal experience and answered the question of whether it is necessary to involve and encourage girls in building a career in technology industries. "Based on my 15-year work experience, an understanding has been formed about the challenges we face today. I have always really wanted to break down stereotypes about my country and show its technological potential, become recognized in the world community, for which my team and I have made great efforts. Being a woman in technology is sometimes very difficult, because today men still dominate in this field, but it is very interesting! And my advice to the younger generation: always say "yes" to the opportunities that open up before you, cooperate, take part in projects, set big goals and not be afraid. Develop positive thinking and then you will be able to overcome yourself in the future and achieve maximum results ," shared Geni Rina Sunario.
Deputy Head of the Department for the Coordination of Construction Projects of the Uzatom Agency, Rosalia Kamayeva in the format of the videoconferencing told about the general situation with ensuring gender equality in employment in Uzbekistan and about the programs implemented in the country: "Gender equality plays a key role in ensuring peace, harmony in society and the full realization of human potential, since the involvement of women in society leads to increased productivity and economic development. In the Republic of Uzbekistan, additional opportunities are being created for the education of girls who seek to master the professions necessary for the development of society. To implement this task, grant programs are actively developing in Uzbekistan, including in high-tech specialties, allowing to form qualified personnel potential and attract girls to STEM, and through the development of a mentoring system to transfer their experience to them . "
In turn, Dorzhbal Dalaizhargal, Executive Director of Mon-Atom shared his male vision regarding the role of women in technology industries, - "The ratio of men and women in Mongolia is 49% to 51%, in addition, since 2017 we have approved a whole "National Gender Equality Program equality". So, for example, in the mining industry, on which the main income of the country depends, gender equality policies and rules have already been created, conferences for "mountain women" are being held and the supporting "Association of Women of Mineral Wealth" is functioning. According to statistics, the number of women working in the industry involved in various engineering projects is increasing. The country is trying to do everything possible to support the beautiful half, which is why the gender situation in our country is rather the reverse of the usual one, where men usually prevail in industries -women here . "
Deputy Director of the VinAtom Personnel Training Center, Mai Huong in the videoconferencing mode told the session participants about the strategy and best practices in the development of human resources and leadership in Vietnam: "Personnel development strategies are very closely related to the organization of the scientific direction, especially in the nuclear industry of the country. We conduct scientific research and, thanks to the process itself, we train specialists immediately in practice. This approach allows us to achieve positive results, develop in related industries and attract investment by increasing industrial orders, as well as implementing various support programs with the help of the state for girls who want to study in industrial and scientific and technical areas . "
Director of NUTEK Energy Consulting, Technology and Industry Inc, President of the Turkish Women's Atomic Association, Bahire Gul Göktepe in her speech noted the harmony, cohesion and effectiveness of Russian-Turkish cooperation and shared her experience in the development of STEM-direction in Turkey: "Women are very creative, hardworking energetic, many have made incredible discoveries, and the more women work in technology industries, the more the scientific and technical potential of countries will grow. It is necessary to work more actively with the issues of educating girls and attracting them to the field of nuclear energy in order to move faster towards the promotion of nuclear technologies and the peaceful use of nuclear energy. In the STEM direction, it is important to increase the importance and number of women, to work with the issues of educating girls, to move away from the stereotypes that women cannot work and develop in the field of high technology. Back at school, I got acquainted with the knowledge about radiation, atomic fission, released energy, and I was so impressed with this information that I decided to connect my life with it. We must be repeaters for the younger generation to pass on the accumulated experience to them!».
