Today, March 8, International Women’s Day, we convene in front of the CFTMAT building at 12:30 pm to continue claiming for real and effective equality in all areas of society and, specifically, in science. During the event, a joint manifesto prepared by the IFT and the ICMAT, based on the text by CRUE, will be read.
Manifesto 8M, International Women’s Day
(This manifesto has been translated and adapted from the one elaborated by CRUE)
Madrid, March 8, 2022.
The UN declared March 8 as International Women’s Day, in order to demand women’s rights and equal opportunities between women and men. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, approved in 2015, seeks to join efforts to achieve this effective equality in all fields through the Sustainable Development Goals, especially its number five, which refers to Gender Equality.The COVID-19 crisis has not only contributed to increasing sexist violence, it has also accentuated gender inequalities and highlighted the clear disadvantage of women and girls. The pandemic has intensified the caregiving gap, which falls mostly on women and hinders their professional careers and access to promotion opportunities, and with it, the wage gap and its corresponding impact on their future pensions.
Although the presence of women in undergraduate studies exceeds that of men, their underrepresentation in positions of responsibility and in STEM careers is worrying. The growing importance of the mastery of technologies to access occupations of social relevance urges us to act to close the existing digital gender gap. Educational segregation is also observed in the low presence of men in degrees related to education, caregiving and attention to people, areas which are often perceived as less prestigious by society. It is necessary to achieve a balance to favor co-responsibility.
The CFTMAT ratifies the need to fight against all these inequalities with the implementation of gender studies, the inclusion of the gender perspective in research, teaching and transfer, and social commitment.
It is mandatory to value the work and effort of the Equality units of universities and CSIC for the development of equality plans; the coordination of services for the eradication of violence against women; the promotion of training activities from the dimension of equality and non-discrimination, or the integration of the gender perspective in all university and CSIC activities.
We cannot forget rural women, women with disabilities or migrants, or those who have been silenced by sexist violence. In short, all those who, at some point, have suffered discrimination for the simple fact of being women.
We need to continue commemorating every March 8th and to continue fighting for effective equality between women and men every day of the year. It is our duty as institutions that promote a more just and egalitarian society.