International Day of Women in Science

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Science: The importance of the role of women

The female contribution to science begins long before Women's Day and the feminist revolution movements exist. However, the United Nations General Assembly designated 11 February as the International Day of Women in Science, created in 2015 as a way to combat gender inequality in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) in educational institutions and research.

Over the past few years, the global community has made many efforts to inspire and engage women and girls in science, but unfortunately, many continue to be excluded from this area. According to a study carried out in 14 countries, the probability of women obtaining a bachelor's, master's or doctoral degree in science-related fields is less than half that of men.

However, we know that many women have had and still have a great impact in the field of science and their discoveries continue to be taken into account today. Female performance was recorded, for example, in medicine in several ancient civilizations, and the oldest record of a female scientist in the history of science belongs to Merit Ptah (2700 BC), in Ancient Egypt. Merit Ptah (2.700 a.C.), no Antigo Egito.

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Hildegard de Bingen (1098-1179) wrote books on botany and medicine during the middle ages. Her abilities were known and often confused with miracles. If you remember the asteroid 898 Hildegard, it was named after this scientist.

Maria Gaetana Agnesi (1718-1799) who discovered a solution to equations that is still used today and also the first to be invited to be a professor of mathematics at a university.

Ada Lovelace (1815-1852) was the world's first programmer for her interest and research in analytical engines, the tool that based the invention of the first computers.

Marie Curie (1867-1934) known as the “Mother of Modern Physics” and for her research on radioactivity. She was the first woman to win a Nobel and the first person to be awarded twice.

Florence Sabin (1871-1953)known as “the first lady of American science”, who studied the lymphatic and immune systems of the human body. She was the first woman to win a chair at the US National Academy of Science, and in addition, she fought for women's equal rights.

Elizabeth Arden (1884-1966) created the first formulas for beauty products. Graduated in nursing, she started her career creating creams for burns, using milk and fat, originating the recipe for a moisturizing cream. Thus was born one of the most valuable cosmetics companies today.

Nise da Silveira (1905-1999), a renowned psychiatrist, struggled with treatment methods common in her day, such as aggressive shock therapies. She was even arrested for possessing marxist books.

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Gertrude Bell (1918-1999) created medications to alleviate symptoms of diseases such as AIDS, leukemia and herpes, using innovative research methods. She won the Nobel Prize for medicine.

Mae Jemison (1956-atual), astronaut, physician, entrepreneur and Star Trek fan. She was the first black woman to go into space.

Kalpana Chawla (1962- 2003), Indian astronaut who studied aerospace engineering and moved to the US to pursue his dream, despite her parents not supporting his career decisions. She was the first Indian woman to go into space, and this made her famous, inspiring many young people to pursue the dream of being a scientist.

, born in Iran, the only woman to win the Fields Medal, the Nobel Prize in Mathematics. To get where she is, she had to ask her school, which was just for girls, to give the same content as schools for boys., Indian astronaut who studied aerospace engineering and moved to the US to pursue his dream, despite her parents not supporting his career decisions. She was the first Indian woman to go into space, and this made her famous, inspiring many young people to pursue the dream of being a scientist.

Carolina Beatriz Ângelo (1878-1911), médica, ativista e sufragista foi a primeira em muita coisa. Foi a primeira mulher a operar no Hospital de São José, e a primeira mulher a votar em Portugal.

Maria de Lurdes Pintassilgo (1930-2004), known for being the first woman to serve as prime minister in Portugal, graduated in 1953 in chemical-industrial engineering, something unheard of at the time.

Odette Ferreira (1925-2018) was a Portuguese pharmacist, university professor and researcher who was part of the team of scientists that identified a second type of AIDS virus in 1986. Thanks to her intuition, Portugal was placed on the map of scientific research on the virus that terrified the world in the 1980s.

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According to the United Nations, science and gender equality are vital to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. For the past 15 years, the global community has strived to inspire and encourage women in this field.

Worldwide, women still represent only 28% of engineering graduates and 40% of computer science and computer science graduates (UN, News, 2021). The UN secretary-general said that “promoting gender equality in the scientific and technological world is essential for building a better future”.

The UN chief calls on the international community to ensure that girls have access to the education they deserve and that they can see a future in fields such as engineering, computer programming, cloud technology, robotics and health sciences. 

After reading this article we can conclude that women have always had, from a very early age, great impacts on science and deserve an equally deserved place as all other scientists, and it is up to us and the next generations to change mindsets for a better future!

References:

ONU comemora primeiro Dia Internacional das Mulheres e Raparigas na Ciência – Nações Unidas – ONU Portugal (unric.org)

Dia Internacional das Mulheres e Meninas na Ciência | ONU News

Mulheres na ciência – Wikipédia, a enciclopédia livre (wikipedia.org)

10 grandes mulheres da ciência – Revista Galileu | Ciência (globo.com)

Conheça 10 mulheres que mudaram a história da ciência mundial – Revista Galileu | Ciência (globo.com)ONU celebra primeiro Dia Internacional das Mulheres e Meninas na Ciência | ONU News

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