Muhayatun Santoso, a senior researcher at the National Nuclear Energy Agency (BATAN) of Indonesia, conducted a breakthrough study of air pollution in Indonesia. (Photo: BATAN)
According to experts, women make up less than a quarter of the entire workforce in the nuclear sector in the world, which negatively affects not only gender representation in this industry, but also its competitiveness. Many organizations, including the IAEA, are making significant efforts to increase the proportion of women involved in all categories of work.
"Despite the fact that there are many talented female professionals working in the nuclear industry, we are still clearly underrepresented. We still have a lot to do," says Gwen Perry—Jones, Executive Director of Operations Development at the Novaya Wilfa Nuclear Power Plant in the United Kingdom. "Gender diversity in the team is beneficial for everyone, and I fully support initiatives that help women start working in the nuclear industry and create career opportunities for leadership positions.".
The nuclear industry must have programs to attract and hire women, otherwise they will not be able to realize their competitive advantages thanks to their talents. Agnetha Risingh, Director General of the World Nuclear Association.
Women who have become leaders make a significant contribution. Muhayatun Santoso, a senior researcher at the National Nuclear Energy Agency (BATAN) of Indonesia, conducted a breakthrough study on the use of nuclear methods to measure air pollution in many Indonesian cities. Not least thanks to her work Бандунг , Indonesia's third largest city, received the 2017 ASEAN Award for Environmentally Sustainable Cities.
"Air pollution is the biggest problem in Indonesia's cities: the growth of industry and motor transport leads to an increase in harmful emissions into the atmosphere," she said. "I am proud that I can help my country in the fight against this acute problem."
Agnetha Rising, Director General of the World Nuclear Association, is a leading expert on nuclear energy and the environment. When she served as Vice President for the Environment at Wattenfall AB, the Swedish state operator of nuclear power plants and hydroelectric power plants, she headed the department dealing with energy, environment and sustainable development in Europe. She is also a co-founder of the Association "Women in the Nuclear Field" (JNR), where she served as president in the past. Under her leadership, the number of members of the JNR has grown fourfold.
"Women are extremely important for the effective development of the global nuclear industry. Any company needs the best personnel to stay ahead of the competition. The nuclear industry must have programs to attract and hire women, otherwise they will not be able to realize their competitive advantages thanks to their talents," says Risingh. "When the personnel situation reflects the diversity of society, including in terms of the representation of women, it also helps to create public confidence in nuclear technologies."
According to the IAEA, women currently account for only 22.4% of the workforce in the nuclear sector.
"Women in the nuclear field"
The JNR , a non-profit organization with 35,000 members in 109 countries, advocates for the expansion of the role of women in nuclear science and technology, as well as for raising awareness of the importance of gender balance in areas traditionally considered "male". It also encourages women to choose this area of work."Despite the fact that the proportion of women holding senior technical positions is growing in all branches of nuclear science and technology, women are still not widely represented," says Gabrielle Voigt, President of the JNR, who previously held the positions of head of nuclear installations and laboratories in Germany and the IAEA."
"The problem also lies in the fact that too few girls receive secondary and higher education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics," she notes. "Another reason is the ubiquitous "glass ceiling" and biases, conscious or not, which are difficult to eliminate in work."
The JNR helps to change this by introducing girls to topics related to the nuclear industry from an early age, creating a network of strong partnerships for women and showing the next generation role models. In some countries, including with the help of the IAEA, nuclear science teaching is organized for high school students, especially for high school girls.
"Introducing girls to science at an early age, especially nuclear science, is the best way to increase the proportion of women scientists in this field," says Maika Pacheco, head of regional science programs at the Philippine Ministry of Education, under whose leadership nuclear science and technology curricula have been added in several schools in the Manila area. — Atom is fascinating, let the girls find out for themselves!"
Filipino students conduct practical experiments as part of the study of nuclear science. (Photo: M. Gaspar/IAEA)
Progress of the IAEA in ensuring gender parity
At the end of 2017, the proportion of women working at the IAEA in the Professional and higher categories was 29%, compared with 22.5% a decade earlier. According to CEO Yukiya Amano, he would like to see gender parity in most senior positions achieved by 2021."The Agency has taken a number of concrete steps to increase the representation of women in the Secretariat through targeted recruitment and awareness—raising activities, and we have already seen that the representation of women in the Secretariat has improved," says Mary Alice Hayward, Deputy Director General, Head of the IAEA Department of Management. — But we understand that not all problems have been solved. To achieve gender equality in the workforce, it is necessary not only to improve statistics, but also to make women want to work in the IAEA."
And this requires creating a favorable environment for employees (for example, flexible working hours), which will allow them to combine their work and family responsibilities, as well as conduct special awareness-raising campaigns, telling young women about the benefits of working at the IAEA.
A successful example of achieving gender parity among senior staff is the Information Technology Department of the IAEA. Despite the fact that men used to work mainly in this field, thanks to an active campaign and a strategy for finding human resources, many qualified female candidates were found.
In the Legal Affairs Bureau, the majority of Professional staff are women.
"We have not only a female director, but also two out of three section heads, that is, 75% of all senior employees," says Director Peri Lynn Johnson. "In addition, we have 11 female lawyers and 10 male lawyers, and we try to ensure parity among interns."
This article was published in the November 2018 issue of the IAEA Bulletin"Nuclear science and technology: solving current and new development challenges"
A source: https://www.iaea.org/ru/newscenter/news/ustranenie-gendernogo-razryva-v-yadernoy-nauke