11 February. International day of women and girls in science

The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring 11 February as the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. The United Nations declare international days to "raise awareness, to point out that there is an unresolved problem, an important and pending issue in societies so that, through this awareness, governments and states act and take action, or for citizens to demand it to their representatives".

In its resolutions, the General Assembly also usually makes a description of the situation that prompts it to proclaim International Day on a certain date, as it is the case for 11 February: "Science and gender equality are both vital for the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Over the past 15 years, the global community has made a lot of effort in inspiring and engaging women and girls in science. Unfortunately, women and girls continued to be excluded from participating fully in science. According to a study conducted in 14 countries, the probability for female students of graduating with a Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree and Doctor’s degree in science-related field are 18%, 8% and 2% respectively, while the percentages of male students are 37%, 18% and 6%." This international day is declared in order to achieve full and equal access to and participation in science for women and girls, and further achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.

The Spanish National Research Council supports this initiative (enlace a nota de prensa del CSIC) through its president's Advisory Commission "Women and Science". This Commission has proposed to all the institutes in CSIC to make a picture with all women in their research centers, to use this picture in their welcome web page, and a mosaic of them at the CSIC welcome web page, from 10 to 13 February 2017, with the aim of making visible CSIC and their research centers in their support for the participation of women and girls in Science. The Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía has enrolled this initiative since we share the European Commission vision, which considers that without gender equality in science and without a better use of the human resources available, scientific excellence will never be truly achieved within the European Research Area. IAA is engaged in making the institute more attractive for women working in the fields of Astronomy and engineering research & development.