IANAS Workshop on "Women for Science Symposium"

The IANAS "Women for Science Symposium" was hosted by the Mexican Academy of Sciences in Mexico City on April 20-21, 2009. The symposium was organized with the support of IAP, the Mexican National Council on Science and Technology (CONACYT) and ICSU's Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean (ICSU-LAC). In line with the recommendations of the IAC Study "Women for Science" (2006) the aim of the workshop was to evaluate the reasons behind the regional low representation of women in science and engineering considered as a major hindrance to regional capacity building in science and technology. Discussions focused on the analysis - through a regional perspective - of political, legislative and cultural factors limiting and/or encouraging the access of women to science and technology; successful experiences favoring gender equity in research and development; and the elaboration of a set of actionable recommendations to be addressed to the Science and Engineering Academies in the region aiming inclusion and gender mainstreaming in the Americas.

31 participants from 16 countries from academia, government, international organizations and the private sector attended, from the North America, Central America, South America and the Caribbean region. The final report will be available shortly. The agenda, list of participants, presentations are available from the IANAS website at: http://www.ianas.org/mexico_en.asp