Women in science must be enabled to equally participate in research and decision-making and young women should be encouraged to study MINT sciences (mathematics, engineering and technology) and build careers in scientific professions, said Commissioner for Protection of Equality Brankica Jankovic at the opening of conference “Female Scientists in Society”, which is held on the occasion of February 11, International Day of Women and Girls in Science, organized by the Ethnographic Institute of SANU.

Commissioner Janković stressed that despite the fact that women make up 43% of researchers in Serbia, traditional gender roles still have a negative impact on women’s long-term commitment to science, which reflects on their professional and material status, but also on the progress of society as a whole.  Women in science need more support and affirmative measures, said Jankovic, because, as Maria Curie once said: “Nothing in life should be feared, but understood. The more we understand, the less we are afraid. ”

At the opening of the first three-day scientific conference, which is attended by over fifty scientists, also spoke Prof. Ivanka Popovic PhD, rector of the University of Belgrade, Prof. Tanja Cirkovic Velickovic, PhD, corresponding member of SANU and Miroslava Lukic Krstanovic PhD, project coordinator. Jankovic express gratitude to the organizers of the conference for raising the issue of equality of our female scientists and full recognition of their contribution, emphasizing that it is important that this topic was initiated in such an significant institution as SANU, in the presence of its president Vladimir Kostic.

The aim of the conference is to draw attention to the crucial problems that female scientists face, primarily in the perception and evaluation of their contributions to science and society, and to encourage cooperation and greater networking of women scientists.