Gelijke kansen voor vrouwen in wetenschap: de weg naar een moderne maatschappij (en)

President Dalia Grybauskaitė i opened the international conference "Structural Change Promoting Gender Equality in Research Organizations". This event is part of the Lithuanian EU Presidency programme. Taking part in the conference are over 200 participants - heads of research institutions and universities, famous scientists, representatives of public and private research funding agencies from the whole of Europe. The participants are discussing ways to boost gender equality in sciences.

"Every European citizen, regardless of gender, must be ensured equal opportunities to contribute to building a modern society. Scientists contribute strongly to modernization, economic and cultural development of nations. The balanced representation of women and men in all fields of research is needed for the enhancement of European competiveness and better realization of the European innovation potential," the President said.

Scientific career of women is hampered not only by still effective professional gender stereotypes, but also by the problems arising in an effort to integrate work and family life. According to the President, it is vital to seek new solutions in order women could get more actively involved in science and research. Enlarging women participation in the spheres such as innovation, information technologies and engineering is a major task. It is also important to use more effectively the capabilities of European women researchers.

In the European Union today forty five percent of doctoral degrees are conferred to women, but only one-third of women are engaged in scientific work. In 2009, Lithuania and Latvia were leaders in the EU in terms of the number of women researchers. In Lithuania the latter accounted for 51 percent.