OBSERVER: Women & Copernicus: together towards a better world
OBSERVER: Women & Copernicus: together towards a better world
knight@spacete…
Thu, 10/03/2022 – 16:05
Each year on 8 March people celebrate International Women’s Day, a global reuniting event in celebration of social, cultural, political, and economic achievements of women. To honour women and their efforts, the European Commission presented through Eurostat a series of statistics on women and the European labour market showcasing the improvement of women’s involvement in a previously male-dominated environment (e.g., in 2020, the share of women working as environmental protection professionals exceeded the share of men). The European Parliament organised a series of meetings around gender equality, mental health, unpaid care, and teleworking. In addition, the European Institute for Gender Equality published an article about the importance of societies built on equal rights and opportunities. As the years go by, women are becoming more involved in being an active part of building a better future and thanks to several European initiatives, such as Women in Copernicus, a slight yet important improvement has been noticed.
As the number of EU citizens in universities are rising throughout the years, the number of female doctorates is rapidly increasing. Yet, in the European Union, approximately 35% of females are part of higher graduates in STEM-related disciplines and the gap increases throughout the typical academic career path. Nevertheless, women’s representation has been continuously improving since 2019. In the Earth Observation sector, female employees slightly increased by 2.8% compared to 2013 (33% to 35.8%). Additionally, according to Eurostat, in 2020 there were almost 73 million employees in the science and technology industry with the split being 51.3% women and 48.7% men.
So how is the STEM gender gap addressed in Europe and how does Copernicus contribute to its improvement?
Understanding the STEM gender gap
On 18 October 2019, the first 100% female spacewalk took place on the International Space Station (ISS). Although it represents a great achievement for women’s representation in the aerospace industry, a world predominantly dominated by men, unfortunately, it also reminded the considerable gender gap still currently present in the STEM industry.
Several studies demonstrate that a diversified set of skills along with different perspectives are one of the most important features that foster and generate greater innovation success. In particular, ensuring equal access to STEM education for women and girls, and eventually a STEM career, is an essential aspect from human rights, scientific, and development standpoints. According to the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), 90% of future jobs need skills related to STEM, a field with increasing contemporary influence on society.
Throughout the years, different surveys have been conducted on the reasons behind this gender gap. Among those, some were focussed on the factors influencing gender inequality in the Earth Observation – Geoinformation (EO*GI) sector; a rapidly growing field where demand for technological and STEM skills is increasing. In 2020, Women in Copernicus, a project promoting an inclusive and gender-balanced education and working environment in Copernicus, carried out a survey on the topic. It was released in 7 languages with 50 questions related to demographic, educational and career path background including skills, position, accomplishments, experienced gender disparities during study and at work, as well as any barriers, facilitators, and reasons for gender inequality in STEM, EO*GI and Copernicus.
Barriers for choosing STEM education (Riedler, et al., 2021)
The survey shed light on the main barriers young women face throughout their STEM education. Societal stereotypes, comprising cultural and gender norms and influence of family, and missing female role models, figured to be one of the most recurrent reasons. These were followed by the influence of media, such as television broadcasts, and the lack of self-confidence. The latter seems to be a rigid barrier in individual career matters intrinsically rooted in the self-selection bias and poorer perception of girls’ STEM abilities. When female students find themselves being a minority during their STEM studies, it consequently affects their self-confidence which is further undermined when the education system lacks enough role models to demonstrate the countless possibilities for women to be part of the future leaders in STEM fields. Moreover, in the workplace, when female leaders are promoted, all women are seen as more competent. As such, it is clear that a gender-balanced education and thus, a better representation is crucial to strengthen the confidence, motivation and support of young women in choosing STEM education and career paths.
Director Catherine Kavvada, responsible for Innovation and Outreach at the Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space of the European Commission, underlines that “The green and digital transitions are large-scale opportunities with a potential to improve social and economic outcomes. Yet, they also pose the risk of perpetuating existing patterns of gender inequality. Despite several important initiatives, our sector has a high percentage of highly skilled and specialised professionals, but the gender gap is considerable – around only 20% of women employees. This is similar to any other technology sectors in Europe, whose talent pool consists mainly of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics graduates. It nevertheless causes shortages and mismatches, affecting the smooth functioning of its supply chains and its worldwide competitiveness.”
Some initiatives supporting a gender-balanced STEM industry
Since 1901, only 19 of the 600 Nobel Prizes were awarded to women in STEM; nowadays, women only make up 29% of the worldwide STEM labour force, 19% of STEM company board members, and 3% of the CEOs in the STEM industry. Additionally, women face a salary gap in the STEM industry from the beginning of their careers. It is clear, there is large room for improvement and thanks to various organisations, improvement has been made possible. On a global scale, STEM board positions rose by 18% in 2020 and on average, females appeared to outperform males in science test scores. Also, about half of all biological scientists are women. Among some of the worldwide initiatives, women are supported through:
Women in Geospatial+, a global network to promote gender equality in the geospatial industry
Ladies of Landsat, an online community whose goals are to promote equality and inclusiveness for underrepresented scientists in the field of remote sensing
African Women in GIS, an online community for African women to connect, find mentors, learn new skills, access courses, and get job-related advice in the field of GIS
In Europe, part of this improvement belongs to the persistence of the European Commission in investing in programmes such as “Women in Digital Scoreboard Observatory”, a program addressed to women who seek to train their digital skills. Among the various European initiatives, we see:
EUROGI Women in GI, a policy focus group in the European Umbrella Organisation for Geographic Information (EUROGI) focussed on providing networking opportunities for women in the European geospatial sector and developing policy positions to promote gender equality within the European Union
The European Centre for Women and Technology (ECWT), a European partnership of more than 130 organisations representing high-level expertise in women and technology development from government, business, academia, and non-profit sectors working together to meaningfully increase the number of girls and women in technology
Women4IT, a project funded by the European Economic Area (EEA) and the Norway Grants Fund for Youth Employment and supported by the European Centre for Women and Technology (ECWT) and DIGITALEUROPE. Its goal is to empower young women to build successful careers in digital by providing training tailored to their needs and their country’s labour market demand
These programmes are part of a larger-scale strategy proposed by the European Union in the European Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025. This policy’s objectives and actions are led by the willingness to make concrete progress on gender equality in Europe and towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. As Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, states “Gender equality is a core principle of the European Union, but it not yet a reality. In business, politics, and society as a whole, we can only reach our full potential if we use all of our talent and diversity. Using only half of the population, half of the ideas or half of the energy is not good enough”. As a matter of fact, according to the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), the European Union’s GDP could potentially create 1.2 million jobs and improve GDP by €610 – €820 billion by 2050 if more policies are focused on closing the STEM gender gap and solving the challenges women and girls face in science.
GDP impact of closing gender gaps in STEM education
It is with that vision that Women in Copernicus continuously promotes an inclusive and gender-balanced education paving the path to easier access to young women to the EO*GI field and especially in the Copernicus ecosystem. Networking possibilities and joint activities are offered to all women interested in this field bridging the gap between the present and the future. The Deputy Head of Unit for Earth Observation at the Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space of the European Commission, Elisabeth Hamdouch, reminds us that “Women and girls should reach for the stars. Space and Earth observation offer great career opportunities. We need women in these domains. You will be surprised to how many aspects of our lives and our society, economy and the environment this relates to”. Professions related to Copernicus and EO*GI domains comprise physicist, geographer, computer scientist, environmentalist, oceanographer, urban planner, researcher, civil servant, consultant, entrepreneur, and many others. For Women in Copernicus, representation is a priority, and their voices must be heard. Although women occupy few of the aforementioned positions, it is still crucial to share their experiences and generate more awareness about their achievements and important role in Copernicus such that they can be the role models of tomorrow’s female leaders.
Copernicus and its initiative Women in Copernicus’ vision aligns with Mae C. Jemison, an engineer and former NASA astronaut, who said that “[…] space and its resources belong to all of us, not to any one group”. We hope that in the near future the inequalities on Earth will no longer follow us in space. There, where everything seems possible and matter is structured more orderly; a new system evolving to allow men and women to work hand in hand and on an equal basis to develop the technologies of tomorrow.
References & Further Reading
Stéphenne, Nathalie, et al., ‘Women in Copernicus: Recommendations from Women Testimonials,’ 2021 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium IGARSS, 2021, pp. 33-36, doi: 10.1109/IGARSS47720.2021.9554567.
Riedler, Barbara & Stephenne, Nathalie & Aguilar-Moreno, E. & Jagaille, M. & Monfort-Muriach, A. & Fiore, G. & Antoniou, N.. (2021). TOWARDS GENDER EQUALITY IN EDUCATION AND CAREER IN THE EARTH OBSERVATION AND GI SECTOR. The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences. XLIII-B5-2021. 21-27. 10.5194/isprs-archives-XLIII-B5-2021-21-2021.
https://www.bigrentz.com/blog/women-in-stem-statistics
European Comission: Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025 (epws.org)
https://www.copernicus.eu/en/news/news/observer-women-copernicus-understanding-status-quo-and-promoting-more-inclusive
https://eige.europa.eu/news/international-womens-day-building-societies-where-everyone-has-equal-rights-and-opportunities
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/priorities/international-women-s-day-2022/20190226STO28804/women-in-the-european-parliament-infographics
Thu, 10/03/2022 – 12:00
