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New June 2010
Under the umbrella of the WiTEC Association e.V. the results of the two projects NINA (New Innovations for New Areas) and FEPIC (Female Engineers Pushing Innovation in Companies) will be presented to the public. On the 2nd September 2010 in Tallinn, Estonia the final conference of both projects will take place at the Tallinn University of Technology (TUT).
For further information you find here the conference program, the conference registration and information about accommodation or contact
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please.
Please visit also the project websites www.nina-project.eu and www.fepic.eu .
New May 2010
WiTEC Central Board met on the 8th May 2010 in Rimini, Italy with participation of 9 WiTEC partners. The present Spanish member, UPC Barcelona, will drop out at the end of June and will be replaced by Platforma Enlaces Madrid from the 1st July 2010.
New January 2010
“She Figures 2009 – Statistics and Indicators on Gender Equality in Sciences” are available. Please see here.
New December 2009
WiTEC UK (Inova Consultancy) is a key partner in a new project called “WOMEN@BUSINESS” which was started by the Enterprise DG of the European Commission.
New September 2009
WiTEC Central Board Meeting took place on the 19th September 2009 in Sheffield, UK with participation of all 10 WiTEC partners.
New network partners are wanted. Potential partners should contact the Secretariat.
New January 2009
More than 8 European countries travelled to Halmstad, Sweden in order to participate in the WiTEC Central Board Meeting and the election of the new WiTEC Executive Committee on the 30th January 2009.
The new executive members are:
- Marina Larios (UK) - President
- Miretta Giacometti (Italy) - Vice President
- Nadia Chrysikopoulou (Greece) - Vice President
- Ute Wanzek (Germany) – General Secretary
- Taru Kankkunen (Austria) – Treasurer
New 28 May 2008
WiTEC Board Meeting and 20th Anniversary are going to take place in Amsterdam May 30-31.
Newsflash
National policy Austria:
Gender Days is a joint initiative of two Austrian Federal Ministries (BUKK and BMSK) and Federal Chancellery of the Republic of Austria to enhance the discussion on role stereotypes and gender-specific violence. Gender Days 2007 were organised for the first time between 3rd November and 10thDecember 2007. Gender Days 2007 offered among others educational material for schools, background information and literature tips, tips for further education and theme-specific helpdesks. The information and educational materials will be available online. More information and educational material you can find under (in German)
Link to Gender Days 2007
Link to Gender article
New research Austria:
Gender and Excellence. Determination and Assessment of Evaluation Criteria in Scientific Systems by I. Schacherl, N. Schaffer, M. Dinges, W. Polt (Joanneum Research Institute of Technology and Regional Policy) Scientific excellence is often defined in ways that are biased in various ways. This is shown by a survey commissioned by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Science and Research that was published in May 2007. The project aimed at analysing the established definitions and assessments of scientific excellence and the reasons causing this indirect gender-bias. The entire study is available in German but a comprehensive executive summary (page numbers 1-7) is in English.
Gender Exzellenz.pdf
Best practices: Infineon Austria
Infineon Technologies Austria AG initiated the project „FIT – Chancen und Vielfalt durch Frauen in der Technik“ (2005-2007) to counteract the rather low representation of women in the technical field. The project is carried out under the patronage of Monika Kircher-Kohl (CEO of Infineon Austria), and Reinhard Petschacher (CTO of Infineon Austria). The goals of the project were to integrate more women into the technical field, to recruit more female apprentices for the technical field and to create more family-friendly basic working conditions for women and men. Infineon defined various measures to achieve these goals. Some of them were adopted into the company’s daily business. Examples on the measures include the maternity/paternity package, discussion guidelines for the employee and the manager, (agreement on the re-integration after the maternity/paternity leave), flexible working time models, teleworking, co-operation with childcare facilities, founding a network, setting up an Intranet homepage with relevant information, internal mentoring-program for female engineers, gender mainstreaming workshops for managers, presentations about topics closely linked to women, publication of information folders dealing with specific topics, award “Female Engineer of the Quarter”, participation in “Girls’ Day”, supporting the Carinthian Lilith Award. Please find the FIT report under (please choose „FIT Bericht“, available as a pdf in German.
Link to Infineon Regional Subsidiaries
Link to Infineon Austria
National policy Italy:
2007 is the European Year of Equal Opportunities. All member states appointed a national body in charge of coordinating a local strategy to implement equal opportunities policies. In Italy the Department of Rights and Equal Opportunities was appointed and it planned 15 actions to pursue the above mentioned policy. Among its actions, there are
- setting up an Anti-Discrimination Observatory and legal assistance desks;
- overcoming gender wage differential and the growing women precarious work;
- Rights and Equal Opportunities Fair;
- reduction of gender disparities and approaches in heath policies.
Link to Pariopportunita
New research Italy:
On the occasion of ‘The Best Graduate Girls’ Prize (May 2007), Miretta Giacometti, Italian delegate for WiTEC, presented the first results of a survey on female and male students in the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Bologna, focussed on motivations and future perspectives of job choice. The employment in different business sectors after 1, 3 and 5 years since graduation date was considered as well. The same kind of survey is planned for male and female students from the Faculty of Economics of the same University. Details will be available online at http://ilo.unibo.it
Best practices Italy:
The Emilia Romagna Regional Council launched a Prize entitled ‘Imprenditrici e professioniste per innovare’ (Female entrepreneurs and professionals for innovation) which opens a competition among women entrepreneurs in Emilia-Romagna Region. The winners will be awarded with € 5000 made available by the region.
Best practices Netherlands:
Dutch Gender Equality policy paper 2008 – 2011 Minister Plasterk of Education, Culture and Science (and responsible for gender equality policy) published the Dutch Gender Equality policy paper 2008 –2011 recently (September 2007). The primary objective of the gender equality policy is the promotion of equal rights, opportunities, freedoms, and social responsibilities in Dutch society for women and men. Economic independence is the core objective of the emancipation policy. The participation of women in the workforce is increasingly important to the economy. In order to be able to maintain our high level of prosperity and to continue to be able to pay for the welfare state, today’s ageing society and globalising economy needs all the talent available. Female talent and female qualities increase the performance of companies and management teams, and can make or break a modern service economy. In this context the government mentions the need to break the current segregation of the labour market and to encourage female students to study science, engineering and technology.
Other objectives are:
- Stop violence against women
- Social participation of women
- More women in decision-making and management positions
- Work-life balance
In a speech at the WISER festival (More Women in Science, Engineering and Research, 04-10-2007) Minister Plasterk underlined the political sense of urgency for taking a stand in support more women in sciences.
National policy Sweden:
Since September 2006 there is a new government in Sweden that is investing 400 000 € on work with equal opportunities. The Swedish policy says that women and men shall have the same opportunities in their own life and the same opportunities to choose between different jobs, the same opportunities to earn a living, to build a career, but also to feel secure in everyday life. The Swedish Government implements a series of measures designed to increase equality between women and men. Tax reductions for low and middle income earners, more rehabilitation measures, employee takeovers of public sector services, more resources for women to start up their own businesses, new jobs within the public sector, lower taxes in the service sector and an action plan to stop violence against women – these are all changes that will make everyday life better for many women.
See more at: Gender Equality
New research Sweden:
An assignment from the government has been given to KTH (The Royal Institute of Technology) to compile a plan of action with suggestions for different actions that empower equal opportunities in the ICT sector. The assignment focuses on education companies, manufacturing corporations within ICT, companies concentrated on selling ICT products and ICT solutions, as well as higher ICT-education. The action plan covers three central target areas: ICT-trade (the industrial and business world), higher ICT education and government. The starting point in this assignment is the inbalanced gender allocation within the ICT area, not only within education but also in the professional trade. The Swedish government has three main tools to influence the current situation: cooperation, funding and law/policy making. The government can take responsibility for improvement of equal opportunities within the ICT sector through clear directives to authorities. One suggestion to rectify women’s position in the ICT sector is empowering female entrepreneurship within ICT.
Link to article
Best practices Sweden:
The project SuperMarit is a national development project that supports and strengthens/empowers women’s position in the world of computer games. It is desirable that more women be active game creators which is a requirement for a new game trade to grow. SuperMarit turns to women, researchers, future developers but also users for stimulation of new meetings and cooperation. The aim of the project is to empower women to create their own games industry with women as the target group and to change attitudes about games and gamers along the way. SuperMarit activities include workshops and seminars, working with game education, running a Nordic network with focus on more female game developers, starting a one year folk university for girls within game design, starting a fund for girls within game areas. SuperMarit finished on the 1st October 2007. According to the project coordinator Annika Olofsdotter Bergström, the project contributed to raised figures on game development educations.
http://www.supermarit.se/
National policy United Kingdom:
Parents of children younger than six, or younger than 18 in the case of disabled children, now have the right to apply for flexible working. Employees are able to request a change to the hours they work, a change to the times when those hours must be worked, or to work from home. Options include job sharing and term-time working. Although employers do not have a legal obligation to grant these requests, they do have a duty to consider them carefully.
See more at: Link
Statutory maternity pay and maternity allowance for mothers in the UK has now been extended to 39 weeks. This applied to all staff members, regardless of the length of time they have been working for their employer.
Guidance Giving Information on the Rights for Pregnant Women
New research United Kingdom:
The Women in Enterprise research project of London Metropolitan university has carried out 3 years of research on the needs of women entrepreneurs. The research assessed the gaps in support for women entrepreneurs and the how women can be supported in growing and developing their businesses. As illustrated in the report, early findings show that:
- Women's enterprises are more likely to be micro enterprises (i.e. 0 to 5 employees).
- After the start-up phase, the period from 6 months to 3 years is a critical period when women-run, micro businesses are vulnerable to closure.
- Investigation into business training support for women in England has revealed a short term and 'one-off' initiative approach.
- Over 50s women are one of the most rapidly growing groups setting up in business.
Professional Courses
Best practices United Kingdom:
Equalitec has produced a good practice guide entitled Effective Recruitment Strategies and Practices: Addressing Skills Needs & Gender Diversity Challenges in ITEC and Related Sectors. Roehampton University, a partner in Equalitec, carried out the research to explore how organizations can attract and recruit more women into ITEC roles. Using 20 case studies ranging from household names (Google, Unilever) to public sector organisations and SMEs, the report offers recommendations for educational institutions and women themselves as well as recruiting organizations to address diversity issues.
News 2007
News 2006
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