• For the third consecutive year, the center has brought together workers in a commemorative session for the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.
• The event responds to one of the actions established in the ‘Gender Equality Plan 2022’.

February 13, 2025

For the third consecutive year, the Centre de Recerca en Economia i Desenvolupament Agroalimentari (CREDA) held, on Monday, February 10, a day dedicated to learning about the current situation of women in its research team, within the framework of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. Thus, the event is one of the centre’s tools to promote gender equality in education and employment in science and technology.

The session, which brought together a total of 28 workers from the centre, was divided into four sessions led by three colleagues from CREDA and a guest from the Polytechnic Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC).

The first intervention was given by Nuria Salan, PhD in materials science and metallurgical engineering and professor at the UPC, who presented a comparison of the visibility that occurred throughout history of male and female inventors. Thus, Salan showed the difference between the results of our searches in web search engines, depending on whether we are looking for information about personalities such as Louis Pasteur, promoter of the pasteurization process, or Beulah Louise Henry, inventor of an ice cream machine.

Then, Cristina Poyato, head of communication at the research centre, presented the situation of women at CREDA, highlighting the maintenance of 50% of women in the different departments studied: research, technical and administrative staff. In her presentation, Poyato highlighted that although the figures for 2024 show a parity of 19 women and 19 men, it is necessary to hire more female postdoctoral researchers, since there is a large gap with men.

After a more introspective session, Wafa Mehaba, a doctoral student at CREDA, shared the situation of women in her country of birth, Algeria. Starting from the presentation of a complicated position for those girls and women who want to dedicate themselves to science and work, Mehaba explained her own experience, having chosen to emigrate from her country and pursue an academic future in Spain.

Similarly, Marianna Sebő, PhD in Economics and researcher at CREDA, explained her steps in research to get to where she is now. She also took advantage of the session to share the differences and gaps that exist between men and women in research, highlighting the example of Katalin Karikó, winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2023.

By holding this event, CREDA expressed its position on the global barriers that prevent girls and women from accessing and participating in STEM fields. In addition, the event responds to action 11 of the centre’s ‘Gender Equality Plan 2022‘, which seeks to promote communication and distribution of events around the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.