Women Contributing to Innovation & Smart Growth in Europe

A lot of exciting things have been happening for European women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics since our last post.  Please find out what we’ve been up to on my personal blog here, and on the website of our foundation, greenlight for girls.

In the meantime, I have been honored by the European chemical industry council, Cefic*, to organize an event in Brussels on 23 November, which showcases the contribution of women to innovation and smart growth in Europe, especially linked to science.  Please see an outline of the event below, and don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions or feedback on this wonderful initiative, and of course, to register.

“European Women: Innovating for Smart, Sustainable & Inclusive Growth” is a high-level panel discussion, hosted by Cefic, on the contribution of women leaders, entrepreneurs and scientists to achieving the Europe 2020 vision, where speakers, panelists and audience members will contribute to a moderated discussion addressing the following topics:

• Challenges to achieving smart, sustainable and inclusive growth in Europe;
• Contributions to smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, and lessons learned by leading women in science and innovation in Europe; and
• Opportunities for increasing women’s role in achieving the Europe 2020 vision through science and innovation.

Speakers and panelists will include high-level representatives from Europe’s public sector; leaders from private industry, enterprise, and the non-profit sector; as well as policy and media experts in gender, science and innovation. Confirmed speakers to date, include:

Ms. Luisa Pista, European Commission Head of Unit for Green Technology, and former Head of Unit for Women in Science and Innovation

Dr. Ellen de Brabander, Member of the Governing Board of the European Institute for Innovation & Technology, and Chief Scientific Officer and Global Head of R&D for Merial Ltd.

The following is the schedule for the event:

14:00 – Keynote Speech
14:20 – Panelist Briefings
14:50 – Coffee Pause
15:00 – Panelist Briefings
15:20 – Moderated Discussion with Audience Contribution
15:45 – Summary Statement & Closing Keynote
16:00 – End

Attendance at the event is free, but pre-registration is necessary.

This panel discussion is part of a three-day “Tomorrow starts with Chemistry” event celebrating the International Year of Chemistry in 2011, hosted by Cefic, the European chemical industry council, at the Palais des Academies in Brussels.

Registration closes on Monday 21 November 2011.

*Cefic, the European Chemical Industry Council, represents an industry which makes an invaluable contribution to the welfare and quality of life of European citizens. The European chemical industry is a key contributor to the sustainable development of our society, ideally equipped to provide solutions to global challenges such as climate change.

The CSI Effect

As an outcome of the conference on “Women in Science, Innovation and Technology in the Digital Age” held in Budapest on 8-10 March 2011, a Gender Action Plan (“GAP”) was drawn up by the European Center for Women in Technology, DG INFSO and others, which reflects the interests of women as key stakeholders in the Digital Agenda for Europe.

The CSI Effect: Riley Adams

In the lead up to the first-ever Digital Assembly for the Digital Agenda, digital working groups were created to research and write recommendations on the eight focus areas of the Gender Action Plan for the DAE. The findings of each of the working groups was presented on 17 June 2011 in the “Women for Smart Growth” workshop at the Digital Assembly.  A report from this workshop will be available online soon for consultation and feedback.

As Belgian National Point of Contact for the ECWT, CEO of Zen Digital Europe, and a founding board member of Greenlightforgirls.org, I had the honor of representing the digital working group on “Women Role Models in the Digital Age” to the Digital Agenda Assembly.  On the basis of input and work from more than 100 individuals, mostly women, who contributed to the focus area “awareness building, role models, films, television, video games and the World Expo 2015 in Milan,” I presented the following recommendations to the conference:

1. Create a pan-European initiative to research, create benchmarks for, study and report on progress, and actively support programs promoting “women in (digital) media” broadly, and “positive women role models in (digital) media” specifically;
2. Support initiatives that promote real female role models (in STEM) directly to young girls; and
3. Support projects that promote real and fictional female role models (in STEM) to society-at-large, especially children, specifically girls, via all media channels:  books & magazines, TV, cartoons, comics, video games, films, events, online, mobile apps, etc.

These recommendations were reached on the basis of a pilot survey carried out by the Women Role Models working group whose findings are corroborated in wider research on the subject of “women and media” around the world.  Specifically, our research indicated that:

1. There is a shortage of women* role models in society;
2. Girls need women role models;
3. We need more success stories about women in media;
4. We need better stories about women, real & fictional, in all media;
5. The Educational System, Media & Society do a bad job of promoting
   female role models; and
6. Digital media present an opportunity for creating & promoting female role models.

Add to this context the appalling global statistics on pursuit of STEM studies and careers by girls, and you have a clear problem scenario which could seemingly be addressed with more and better promotion of female role models in STEM to girls via all available media channels.  Given the precarious state of things, this could even form the basis of a proactive strategy to empower girls and give them the tools they need to save the world, as I personally believe they will.

From our research, it is clear that females are shockingly under-represented, stereotyped and over-sexualized in all media, including digital, today.  Eye-opening statistics include the following:

1. In all TV and films, male characters outnumber female characters 2 to 1, even in crowd scenes;

 => The Pixar Phenomenon:  In 16 years of producing 12 well-loved, global, block-buster movies, Disney-Pixar has never made a movie with a female lead character.   [NB:  They will release a movie with a female lead this month.  She is a princess.]

1. In children’s books, male lead characters outnumber female lead characters 2 to 1, even in animal books; and
2. Females are hyper-sexualized and otherwise represented as one of three gender stereotypes in television and film.

It is also clear from our research that digital media present a huge opportunity for creating and promoting positive female role models (in STEM) facing all members of society, but for children, and girls, in particular.

This is possible because:

1. Deployment of the Digital Agenda for Europe means greater penetration of digital media (TV, movies, online content, etc.) in the daily lives of all of us;
2. Women already dominate the digital media landscape; and
3. Young women are influenced in their study direction by positive women role models, in films and TV–media which are increasingly delivered digitally.

=> “The CSI Effect”: Research found that 51% of young women enrolled in Bio-engineering studies at the University of Oslo had been positively influenced by television and film in choosing their study direction.

To address problems facing “women in media,” we can take our cue from the CSI Effect and focus on the opportunities that greater use of digital media promises, and as will be delivered in practice by the Digital Agenda for Europe.

Our digital working group members will attempt do this by formalizing and scaling initiatives which promote our group’s recommendations in Europe (and beyond!), and by exploiting existing platforms, like the EIGE and ECWT, whose mission already embodies the vision and priorities identified in our recommendations.

Please stay tuned here for further word on how we fare with our seminal initiatives to promote “women in media” in Europe, and thank you again for continuing to engage with us on this topic in our digital working group on “Women Role Models in the Digital Age” going forward!

*NB:  I use the terms “women” and “female” here interchangeably.  I would use the term “women” exclusively, but I also want to emphasize the importance of “girl” and “young girl” role models, as well, for which the term “ female” may be more suitable.  “Women” is therefore never used here with the intent to exclude young/er women and girls.  In the same sense, I always use the term “girls” in an inclusive sense, as well — in general, referring to “girls of all ages,” i.e. women too. 😉

“Women for Smart Growth” Goes Live!

Today was the big day!  We tackled the eight focus areas of the Gender Action Plan for the Digital Agenda, and are now ready to make our concrete recommendations to the European Commission on how to actively take our shared agendas forward!

The link to all the presentations is here.

And a link to the final version of our presentation on “Women Role Models” is below.  Click on the image, which is an ode to YOU!  All you amazing women are also our inspiration, motivation… and role models!

Thank you for your collaboration!  And watch this space to see what happens next!

Every Woman Digital

Regardless of which women we choose to model ourselves after, feedback from our ongoing survey on “Women Role Models in the Digital Age” indicates that digital media is key for learning about, keeping informed about and staying in touch with the women who inspire us and who we consider “role models”.

Every Woman Digital

As you might recall from our previous post on the subject, the vast majority of respondents to our survey inform us that the women they most look up to are real, living women — from their families (75%), circle of friends (68.8%), school and civic communities (31.3% and 18.8% respectively), and professional environments (31.3%).  At the same time, 59.4% of respondents say that their role models also include “Celebrity or Public Figures.”

From further analysis, it is clear that — whether personal, celebrity, real or fictional — digital media play a pivotal role in allowing us to learn about, contact, and keep informed about our female role models.

Based upon feedback we received from the 70 people from around the world who took our survey (69 of whom are women), the following was revealed:

Email is the most popular way for us to keep in contact with our real, living and personal role models.  This channel is followed closely by direct, personal contact (i.e. “face-to-face meetings“), and phone calls.

Where celebrities and public figures are concerned, we get most of our news, not surprisingly, from newspapers and magazines, although almost half of our survey-takers say they also get news about the “famous” women who inspire and/or mentor them via digital media like online-news websites, email, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.  These same digital channels are used in much greater intensity (i.e., 24% to 36.4% depending on the medium) to keep in touch with real, female role models — mothers, sisters, friends, professional mentors, etc.

Extrapolating these findings to the digital public at large, we might conclude then that:

• digital media have become an essential channel for having and maintaining contact with female role models from our various personal communities;
• digital media provide important channels for keeping informed about female role models who are celebrities and public figures, and
• digital media are a key way to become aware of and inspired by fictional female role models too.

As such, exploited to the fullest, digital media could play a potentially valuable role in the following:

• building and promoting women role models to other women, including girls and young women, and to the public-at-large;
• reinforcing natural and physical women’s networks around the world in order to contribute to solving issues of interest to women and the rest of society; and
• giving women a better standing in society and improving the status of women overall.

In this sense, the connection of Women with Digital Media can be seen as something clearly beneficial and even potentially very powerful, if harnessed to its fullest extent.

When asked directly, survey respondents echoed this sentiment:  80.9% think digital media presents an opportunity for building and promoting female role models of all kinds to society-at-large.  An even greater percentage, 92.6%, believe that more women role models is something that we all, and young girls in particular, really need.

Update 7 June 2011:

What can I say?  Great minds think alike!  Look at the International Women’s Day post by Neelie Kroes, Vice President of the European Commission, Responsible for the Digital Agenda — a great role model, and the women behind this very initiative!  It’s entitled — and please believe me when I say I had not seen the blog post though I heard Ms. Kroes’ speech on that day –“Every Woman Digital.”  Fabulous.  🙂

The Top 10 Traits of a Female Role Model

Are you a woman holding a political office?  The manager of a group of people, a mentor, or a leader of any kind?  Do you fancy yourself a possible role model?  Then read on to see how your personality traits stack up against what our survey respondents say are the top characteristics of a female role model.

The results are in! With 69 people responding to our ongoing survey on Female Role Models, we now know which traits you think a good female role model should have.  The Wordle above summarizes our total findings, where the 10 answers which received the most votes were the following:

Trait & Number of Votes:
1.  Intelligent – 62
2.  Determined – 52
3.  Strong – 47
4.  Talented -42
5.  Honest – 40
6.  Brave – 39
7.  Reliable – 34
8.  Generous – 32
9.  Ambitious – 30
10.  Powerful & Outspoken – 27 each

When given the option to randomly note the most important trait a female role model should have, again “intelligent” was the top response, and the total feedback looked like this:

Other traits you thought identified female role models include “kind,” “resilient,” “generous,” and “somehow has perfected the balance between successful career and family.”  Oh, and my favorite:  “Unflappability.”  Now, I don’t even know if that’s a word, but I’m sure we all know exactly what it means!

So, thank you to everyone from around the world who’s filled in our survey, and now, please tell us:  Do you know any women who represent the female role model attributes we have identified here?  If so, please share their names with us so we can get the world out about them.

For the record, we’re especially interested in hearing about those s/heroes who’ve mastered the fine art of “unflappability”!  😉

Female Role Model Survey – Report #1

Data is rolling in on our first Women Role Model Survey. Thank you for your incredible feedback — keep it coming! Meantime, please check out what kinds of female role models our respondents have!

Sith Lady Lumiya, A Role Model for the Digital Age - from starwars.wiki.com

In response to the question “Please tell us what kind of female role models you have,” of 32 respondents so far, the answers broke down as follows:

Percent – Response
1. 75.00% – Family Member (Mother, Aunt, Sister, etc.)
2. 68.80% – Personal Friend or Acquaintance
3. 59.40% – Public Figure or Celebrity (Politician, Athlete, TV/Music/Movies Star, etc.)
4. 31.30% – School Figure (Teacher, Professor, School Counselor, etc.)
5. 31.30% – Mentor (Professional or Other)
6, 28.10% – Other/Comment(*)
7. 25.00% – Virtual Friend or Acquaintance (Someone you mostly have contact with online)
8. 21.90% – Fictional Character (From a TV Show, Movie, Video Game, Book, etc.)
9. 18.80% – Religious or Civic Community Figure
10. 6.30% – Sport or Other Social Club Member

(*)Of people who said “Other”, the comments included: “Female writers,” “Ada Byron,” “Colleagues,” “authors, politicians or trade unionists,” “many role models in Albanian society,” “I followed my own path,” “a man” and… “a Sith”!

I must confess that the last comment came from a personal role model very near and dear to my own heart. 🙂

Stay tuned, as we’ll be putting more of your answers (and more questions for you to answer ;-)) online every day. And if you haven’t yet had time to fill out the quick, five-minute survey, please be sure to do so!

And, of course, THANK YOU all for your awesome input! The more you share, the more we learn about this very important topic!

Let your voice be heard!

As an outcome of the “Women in Science, Innovation and Technology in the Digital Age” conference held in Budapest on 6-8 March 2011, a Gender Action Plan for the Digital Agenda with eight focus areas was drawn up.

In this context, Commissioner Neelie Kroes has decided to include a “Women for Smart Growth” workshop at the Digital Agenda Assembly in Brussels on 16-17 June, at which the Gender Action Plan focus areas will be discussed.

Lady Kate: A Female Role Model for a New Generation

To explore the Gender Action Plan topic “Creating positive images through role models, awareness campaigns, TV programmes, video games & the World Expo 2015 in Milan,” we have started a virtual working group — and have launched the first in a series of short surveys on “Female Role Models” — and would like to encourage your participation.

Please join our social network (links below), take the first survey on “Media & Women Role Models,” and join in the discussion!

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

Your comments are welcome, so please let your voice be heard!

Ladies Launching

As an outcome of the “Women in Science, Innovation & Technology” conference held in Budapest on 6-8 March 2011, a Gender Action Plan, linked to the Digital Agenda for Europe, was drawn up which sets out eight focus areas for women in STEM in Europe.  To discuss this plan and propose a roadmap to implement it, a workshop on “Women for Smart Growth” will be carried out at the first-ever Digital Agenda Assembly, in Brussels, on 16-17 June 2011.

The EU Women “Women Role Models in the Digital Age” blog was started as part of a virtual working group to address the GAP focus area of “Creating positive images through role models, awareness campaigns, TV programmes, video games & the World Expo 2015 in Milan,” for which we are still collecting feedback via a very short survey which we welcome you to fill out!

In the meantime, our mission has broadened to include all the eight topic areas of the Gender Action Plan, as noted below, and about which you can get more background here.

• Flexible academic structures and pathways for new gender relations and scientific careers
• Integration of gender in research and innovation
• Targets for Member States for female entrepreneurship
• Careers in industry: mentorship, internship, recruitment, transparency
• Creative positive images through role models, awareness campaigns, TV programmes, videogames World Expo 2015 – Milan
• Global collaboration project(s)
• European multi-stakeholder based GAP partnership and platform
• European-level benchmarking and monitoring

If you would like to contribute to the discussion heading up to the “Women for Smart Growth” workshop at the Digital Agenda Assembly, please feel free to subscribe to this blog, and join our other social networks:
LinkedIn
Facebook
Twitter @euwomen  Hashtag:  #daa11women

For questions and inquiries on this initiative, please contact us, and thank you for letting your voice be heard!