From October 13 to 15, the III Eurasian Women's Forum was held in St. Petersburg - the largest international platform uniting world women leaders to discuss the role of women in the modern world and develop common approaches to solving global problems.
The Foundation for the Support and Development of Women's Initiatives "Association of Women of the Nuclear Industry" organized a number of sites, and representatives of Rosatom also took part in the business program of the Forum.
Tatiana Terentyeva, Deputy General Director for Personnel of Rosatom State Corporation, spoke at the session "Global Corporate Responsibility for Women", where representatives of the largest companies discussed the most effective corporate programs for women and new approaches to business social responsibility that appeared in the pandemic.
«Rosatom always adheres to the principle of equality of opportunities in its activities and contributes to the disclosure of the potential of each employee. We thank the Council of the Eurasian Women's Forum for their trust in our project "Women in the Nuclear Industry", which is implemented by the foundation "Association of Women of the Nuclear Industry". I am sure that the activities of the association will contribute to the expansion of women's participation in the development of the nuclear industry," Tatiana Terentyeva said.
Alexandra Ryabykh, Head of PR and GR of the Federal State Budgetary Institution "Hydrospetsgeology", co-founder of the Foundation "Association of Women of the Nuclear Industry", became the speaker of the discussion session "Development and support of civic activities and public institutions as the main condition for successful public policy. International experience of state-public interaction". Alexandra spoke about the importance of supporting industrial communities as public institutions, the development of women's civic engagement and the Women of the Arctic project. "The Arctic is a unique region, the development and preservation of which requires the involvement of representatives of various civil society institutions. In our community, representatives of the Atomflot, residents of the northern territories – this opens up an opportunity for us to see the agenda from the inside. It seems to us that there really are tasks in the Arctic that women need to be involved in solving. The development of the northern territories and the preservation of a fragile ecosystem require the maximum use of a volunteer approach. According to statistics, the majority of volunteers are women, their share is about 80 percent," Alexandra noted during her speech.
On the second day of the Forum, an international mentoring session "Development of STEM skills in the digital World" was held jointly with the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency, which allowed to reveal the personnel capabilities of the nuclear industry for more than 30 students of St. Petersburg Polytechnic University. Peter the Great and NRU MEPhI from 4 countries, namely: Turkey, Russia, Botswana and Thailand.
William Magwood, Director General of the OECD NEA, addressed with a welcoming speech, noting the importance of mentoring for involving girls in STEM professions. The mentors at the session were Tatiana Ivanova, Head of the Nuclear Science and Education Department of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency, Nadezhda Salnikova, Head of the Department of Development and Promotion of New Business Lines of Afrikantov OKBM JSC, and others. They discussed with the participants the problems that women may face on their career path and shared their experiences.
On October 15, on the sidelines of the III Eurasian Women's Forum, an international teleconference of women working in the nuclear industry organizations of Russia and China, namely, the Jiangsu Nuclear Energy Corporation and JSC "Machine–Building Plant", took place. The moderator of the meeting was Alesya Yunikova, Director of the Center for International Cooperation of the Rosatom Technical Academy. The participants of the meeting discussed the challenges and difficulties faced by women who have chosen a career in the nuclear industry; what motivates them to stay in the industry and what practices are used to involve women in scientific, technical and research activities. Women specialists from Bulgaria also took part in the online dialogue. This format gives a new impetus to the development of fruitful international cooperation and competent interaction for the exchange of best practices in the global dialogue of women in the nuclear industry from different countries. The result of the teleconference was an agreement on the signing of a memorandum of cooperation between the Foundation "Association of Women of the Nuclear Industry" and the Friendship "Marry in the nuclear industry – Bulgaria".
An open meeting with the participation of the International Working Group of the Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD NEA) on improving gender balance in the nuclear field was also held on the sidelines of the Forum. The Group was established in 2020 to collect and analyze data on women's involvement in the nuclear sector, exchange best practices and develop recommendations to improve gender balance in 34 participating countries. The meeting presented the official mandate of the working group, presentations on gender balance in the nuclear industry, individual country "cases" on maintaining equality of opportunities from Argentina, France, Russia, initiatives to develop STEM skills among girls in India and data on gender balance in the fuel and energy complex of Russia.
Alexey Likhachev, General Director of Rosatom State Corporation, in his address to the participants of the event, noted the activities of the industry women's community: "Women's leadership is traditionally characterized by a spirit of cooperation, willingness to take on difficult tasks and respond quickly to changes. Without these qualities, it is impossible to develop and move forward. Let's work together to ensure that the labor market develops on the basis of cooperation and the use of the potential of each employee .
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The event was attended by representatives of the OECD NEA, Rosatom State Corporation, ANO DPO Rosatom Technical Academy, the Energy Center of the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO, the Women's Twenty and BRICS.
Following the results of the open meeting, the participants discussed the possibility of implementing the international project "Women's Faces of the Nuclear Industry", which has been implemented with the participation of Russian girls by the Association of Women of the Nuclear Industry on the official website and on social networks.
On the same day, the session "Modern Technologies in Healthcare" was held, organized by Rusatom Healthcare JSC (the division accumulating expertise of Rosatom State Corporation in the field of healthcare). Natalia Komarova, General Director of Rusatom Healthcare JSC, moderated the session. At the session, the heads of the largest companies in the field of medicine discussed successful practices and prospects for the development of healthcare, as well as the role of women in achieving the goal of improving the quality of life of the population. "It is extremely important to equalize the gender balance in healthcare, where decisions are made every day that affect the lives of millions of people. The imbalance hinders the development of effective and patient-oriented medicine. It is necessary that both women and men work in leadership positions — this will allow them to represent different opinions and experiences," Natalia Komarova said.
Inna Pigulevskaya, Ambassador of the Association of Women of the Nuclear Industry, Deputy Head of the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Service of JSC "Mashinostroitelny Zavod" took part in an open dialogue "Women's associations and communities in the work on the environmental and climate agenda". Inna, using the example of the implementation of environmental projects by a community of women in the nuclear industry, told how to increase the influence of women and industrial communities on the sustainable development agenda. The association implements the socially significant eco-project "Ecolife", aimed at popularizing the principles of conscious consumption and "green" initiatives, replication of eco-practices among the population and businesses at the regional and federal levels through women's communities.
