11F: "Close the Scissors"
Led by the IBE Communication and Outreach Unit and the Diversity Committee, this initiative aims to raise awareness of the gender gap in the research world through the #CloseTheScissors campaign, which will unfold over the coming weeks on the Institute’s website and social media channels.
Additionally, between February 11 and March 8 (International Women's Day), IBE researchers will visit schools to share their personal experiences as scientists and discuss their current research.
#ClosingTheScissors: Awareness Campaign
Science evolves. Does the scientific career evolve?
According to the 2024 Women Researchers Report by CSIC, although women are the majority in the early stages of a scientific career (academic and predoctoral), gender ratios reverse in the later phases (postdoctoral and principal investigator). As a result, only 26.9% of principal investigator positions are held by women.
This gender gap in scientific careers is represented by the Scissors Graph or the Leaking Pipeline, which illustrates how women are gradually pushed out of the professional advancement system at each career stage, as if it were a pipeline with leaks.
At IBE, we aim to shed light on this gender gap with the Scissors Graph and remind everyone that science needs us all.
Throughout the campaign, we will share the research experiences of IBE scientists to explore the reasons behind the gender gap in science and discuss how we can drive change to ensure that #ClosingTheScissors becomes a reality.
Visiting Schools: The Women Who Decipher Evolution
Between #11F and #8M (International Women's Day), IBE researchers will also visit schools to share their personal experiences as scientists and discuss their current research with students.
Thanks to Josefa Cruz from the Developmental and Evolutionary Biology Laboratory, Viviana Pagone from the Genomics Service, Maria Estarellas from the Systematics, Biogeography, and Evolution of Reptiles and Amphibians group, and Alba Nieto from the Population Genomics Algorithms group, this year we will reach a hundred secondary school students to highlight the women who make the study of evolution possible.