EFIS: Driving women's representation in immunology in Europe

摘要

Gender imbalance in science is a longstanding issue that has moved into the spotlight in recent years in the European Union (EU). It is not so much a problem of a lack of qualified female scientists (indeed, in some countries they may represent the majority), but the ranks they hold and the positions they occupy in universities and research centres. The EU Commission is taking a proactive approach towards female representation by introducing quotas for committees and panels, and by rewarding research actions that specifically and innovatively tackle gender issues. A particularly emblematic example of women's under-representation is revealed by the statistics emerging from large European and international immunology meetings, which demonstrate an unacceptably low proportion of women among symposia and keynote speakers compared to the number of registrants in these events [1-4].