You are so numerous here. It’s great to see so many women scientists and I think about the words of Hegel on the French Revolution, he said: “This event brings the flame of enthusiasm that liberty established in the veins of every living being’. So really, it is real enthusiasm. Thank you for coming to Warsaw! - said Maciej Gdula, Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, during the opening of the Perspektywy Women in Tech Summit 2024.
Unfair and outdated division into subjects for boys and girls
But apart from this enthusiasm we have to get real and support this liberty. And I’m thinking about my days at school. Those days there were subjects for girls and subjects for boys. Of course, subjects for girls were not STEM subjects. And I was infuriated by it! Not because of my natural sense of justice, but because I liked the girls’ subjects. I liked literature and painting. And I was thinking it should work some other way.
The other thing related to school I didn’t like was that teachers were thinking: “We have to educate pupils by creating obstacles. We make them better and harder men and women”. I think it is not working.
When we combine both: subjects for girls and boys and this idea of education by obstacles - we have the actuation that creates an environment that is very hostile for developing talents. And we have to change it! This tradition is not gone. Of course, schools are changing and academia is changing, universities are changing but we have to create a different environment.
Open, diverse, and supportive environment
This environment should be open, diverse and should support talents. That is why in ministry we care about equality and diversity. We focus and measure how many women are in STEM.
33% of scientists in STEM are women. This is not a small number. But we will work as hard as we can to increase this number. We are determined! It's not only about gender diversity but also diversity in terms of nationality, ethnicity, and sexual orientation - this is important! If we want to have modern innovative universities and good achievements in science we have to support diversity. And we will do it. I think this event is a great inspiration for that. I wish you great meetings, great discussions, and great new friends and I think I can say it: see you next time!
Watch the Opening of the Perspektywy Women in Tech Summit 2024
