On March 29, the Spanish Parliament passed the University Law Reform Act to address laws governing universities. This law, whose objective is to bring Spanish universities in line with the agreements of Bologna and Lisbon, pays attention for the first time in university law to matters relating to gender equality.
For the last three years in Spain, concern for gender equality has spread from dynamic organisations and street demonstrations to the government and the law. The change began with the appointment of José Luis Zapatero's first Cabinet, made up of an equal number of men and women. In the three years since Zapatero took office, the Spanish parliament has passed an Equality Act and another on Individual Autonomy and Attendance on Persons in Dependent Situations that not only equal but even surpass, in many aspects, equivalent legislation in more advanced welfare state countries.
However, they are laws which have only recently been approved, and one will have to wait and see if there are sufficient financial resources and political will to set them working in all their scope. A possible general election within the next year and the changing world economy are variables that can bring such progressive measures as those indicated to nought.
In these three years, in the field of science, various measures have been taken to promote the advancement of women scientists, given the unequal position of men and women in Spanish technology and science. This inequality is seen throughout the academic career. Of those beginning a university course in the 2004-2005 academic year, 54 per cent were women; of those who completed their studies, 60.5 per cent were women while only 39.5 per cent were men, yet women constitute only 13.7 per cent of full professors. It was these data which led the government to intervene with the aim of reaching a greater sex equality.
There are enough reasons to do so. On one hand there are reasons stemming from human rights: it is only fair, if women scientists show as much talent and merit as their male counterparts, that they should occupy the same posts and in equal numbers as the men. From the human resources perspective, in the knowledge society, a country cannot do without (approximately half) of the talent at its disposal to be employed at the highest levels of research and teaching.
One of the first measures to promote equality in the academic world was the formation of the Unit of Women and Science. This unit, similar to the one existing within the European Commission, aims at identifying the obstacles and seeing where the biases lie that prevent women academics and researchers from reaching the posts that correspond to their ability and worth. Once the obstacles and biases are identified public actions are to be promoted to reduce or eliminate them. We are living and have always lived in male dominated societies.
Currently, although our laws preach equality, there are many sexist slants in everyday life. We must recognise these biases and their mechanisms in order to deactivate them. This is the only way we will achieve truly equal societies. It is not necessary to have all places occupied 50-50 by women and men. What we seek are societies where neither men nor women find hidden barriers that prevent their development in the direction of their choice.
To eliminate some of these stumbling blocks, a very important measure was introduced two years ago. It was important both for its immediate effects and its symbolic ones. It consists in awarding five points out of 100 to research projects headed by a woman or on whose research team the number of women is higher than the average in the field of knowledge under consideration. Only valid projects, that is those which have achieved the level of quality required to obtain public financing, can receive the five extra points.
Some questions have been raised against this positive action measure, alleging that this means a reduction in scientific quality. There is sufficient research to show that errors in the bias of sample selection (randomness, own personality biases and training of each person evaluating a scientific project, state of mind, tiredness, etc.) brings about a margin of error in any case greater than the five per cent advantage given by the positive action in favour of women researchers. And, indeed, five per cent is too little to compensate for centuries of discrimination against women in the pursuit of knowledge.
However, the best measure taken until now to promote equality and the advancement of women scientists is the passing of the University Law Reform Act. This law "pushes for... the establishment of systems that may help to achieve parity in the representative bodies and a greater participation of women in research teams. Public authorities must remove those obstacles preventing women from being part of the university governing bodies and being at the highest level of research and teaching in accordance with the percentage they represent of university graduates... moreover, this reform brings in the creation of specific programs for gender equality."
Thus, this law establishes the balanced composition between men and women on selection and teaching promotion boards and those for scientific evaluation of research quality.
Besides, one of the law's aims is to achieve "quality research and efficient management of the communication of knowledge and technology... (which) guarantees the promotion and achievement of equality." Therefore attention is paid to the demands of the knowledge society and the responsibility for the production and transfer of knowledge is borne in mind.
The legislators, aware of the fact that at times laws uphold high principles that are not always practised, have made it compulsory for the University Council to co-ordinate "the drawing and following up on reports on the application of the principle of gender equality in the University".
The chosen quotations from the law, together with other measures mentioned previously, help us to view the future for women scientists in Spain with a certain optimism. It means a step forward towards equality and hence a deepening of democracy.
On assuming the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, Germany wished to show its commitment to celebrate 2007, the European Year of Equal Opportunities for All, by convening a conference on "Gender Issues in Research - Innovation through Equality of Opportunity".
In Berlin, Professor Irene Sciriha of the Helsinki Group, European Commission, met another member of the HG, Dr Capitolina Díaz, associate professor at the University of Oviedo (Spain) and director of the Women and Science Unit of the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science. Professor Sciriha, formerly president of the European Women in Mathematics, is a member of the Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, at the University of Malta.
Professor Díaz, well-known for the cross-national studies she conducts, updated her about important laws, regulating universities, passed recently in Spain.