Women in the Educational System of Galicia: current situation
The Regional Government Galicia, in response to the request made by the Galician Parliament, agreed to create a Women and Science Unit. The fundamental aim of this unit is to increase the presence of women in scientific and technological settings in Galicia. Its actions will be focussed on integration, promoting the elimination of the imbalances that may exist with regard to scientific training in the field of research and innovation and in the management of R&D+I, as well as bringing into the foreground the gender perspective in studies and scientific activities.
One of the main roles attributed to the Women and Science Unit is that of producing reports that allow us to reveal the current state of the issue in Galicia and its evolution over time, raise awareness in society about the real presence of women in these settings, both at the educational level and in professional development, and allow actions to be designed that contribute to achieving equality between men and women in science and technology.
As such, the Unit had to take advantage of this important opportunity and present itself to Galician society with part of the work it has done. The report that is being presented, entitled Women and Science in the Educational System in Galicia, includes data and figures that allow us to have a better knowledge of the situation of women in the scientific and technological field in our community.
The objective of this study is not to propose solutions and formulate specific proposals, but rather, for it to be used as an assessment to begin working along these lines. However, we must highlight that, in light of the data that we will analyse later, it is important to emphasise that we cannot waste the potential capital that Galician women who currently work in the field of science and technology possess. Galician society, its institutions and its companies know the situation of inequality in this field, but they cannot continue to close doors to the quality of Galician female science professionals.