The 2019 Annual Meeting brought together about 100 participants from 50 IAEA member States, and for the fourth time a panel discussion was held on the role that women currently play and should play in nuclear safety.
"The underrepresentation of women in the field of nuclear sciences and nuclear safety deprives the world of creative solutions to the problems that women bring," said Oum Keltum Hakam, chairman of the Women in Nuclear Safety group. "Given the challenges we face, we cannot afford to give up 50 percent of the world's talent."
The panelists confirmed the common challenges that women still face in the field of nuclear science, technology, safety, security and politics. Conscious and unconscious bias, demonstrated by both men and women, has emerged as a universal problem. According to the panelists, one of the most common assumptions reflecting bias was that women do not have the technical training and experience to be leaders in this field.
"Overcoming barriers at the institutional level requires constant efforts on the part of institutions to ensure that their culture includes women," said Rhonda Evans, member of the commission and head of the Academy of the Institute of Nuclear Security.
IAEA Educational Program
The meeting participants learned that the number of women participating in nuclear safety education programs is growing. Moreover, 40% of graduates of international and regional nuclear security schools are women. Meanwhile, the gender ratio of users of the IAEA e-learning modules on nuclear safety is about 55% men and 45% women."As an agency, we are committed to the principles of gender equality both in the work we do around the world and in attracting and retaining the best specialists," said Mary Alice Hayward, Deputy Director General of the IAEA and head of the Department of Management. "The best talents and competencies are nurtured through education and gender equality."
INSEN was founded in 2010 as the fruit of a partnership between the IAEA and educational and research institutions dealing with education in the field of nuclear security. It was created to increase the representation of women in the field of nuclear safety. As a network, INSEN provides leadership opportunities for female teachers on the network, while the high-quality educational programs supported by INSEN encourage more young women to participate in the field through personal mentoring, providing positive role models and a variety of academic opportunities.
"We see that women are making positive changes in strengthening the national nuclear security regimes of their countries," said Raja Abdul Aziz Raja Adnan, Director of the Nuclear Security Division of the IAEA. "However, we need to change the narrative and continue to take measures to empower women in the field of nuclear safety and nuclear sciences. The increase in the number of women in our nuclear safety courses gives us hope that through education we will increase the number of women employed in the nuclear industry."