The International Day of Women and Girls in Science
The International Day of Women and Girls in Science was established to recognize the significance of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in the scientific community. Implemented by UNESCO and UN Women, the day aims to break down gender stereotypes and encourage more women to pursue careers in science. It honours the legendary physicist and chemist Marie Curie on her birthday, celebrating the 9th year in 2024 of this special occasion.
The United Nations (UN) Women have published that only 33% of researchers worldwide are women and that they are awarded less funding and are less likely to be promoted.1 Therefore by celebrating this day they invite us all to:
- Promote gender equality.
- Recognize and promote achievements of women and girls. For example, in chemistry textbooks, you can often find the names of the male scientists who made significant contributions to their field, but not the females who made equally or, in some cases, greater contributions.
- Inspiring future generations.
- Advocating for inclusion.
This year’s theme, “Women and Girls in Science Leadership, a New Era for Sustainability,” emphasizes not only getting women into science but also promoting their leadership roles for a sustainable future, so this year it is not just about getting women into science but keeping them in science and growing their role in leading science.
The Vision of Dr Olga Kennard
The Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre, are a non-profit charitable organization that is based in Cambridge and was founded in 1965 by an incredible visionary scientist who happened to be a women. Dr Olga Kennard had a belief that the collective use of data could lead to new insights and generate new knowledge. This vision has had a huge impact on the field of crystallography, and Olga founded a database called the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD) that now contains over 1.25 million datasets shared by scientists worldwide. This valuable resource is used in academic research and to help teach chemistry and crystallography in universities all around the globe. It is also relied on by researchers in industry for example scientists working at pharmaceutical companies use the data and our software to help design new drugs. This means that what we do at CCDC following Olga’s incredible foresight has not only changed our field of science but also our every day lives.
Dr Olga Kennard started at a time when she was unable to receive a PhD because of her gender, at the time not having a doctorate caused her embarrassment but she was a determined woman and went on to not only be awarded a PhD but also receive a number of international prizes for her achievements.2,3
How Are You Marking the Day?
As a charitable scientific data organization that is used by thousands of researcher worldwide we recognise our responsibility to address the gender imbalance in science. We promote gender equality and recognize the achievements of women and girls on our social media platforms as well raising awareness more publicly through the press when we have opportunity.
We also have many activities lined up during 2024 and we hope to inspire future generations during the Cambridge Festival through our Crystal Adventures event on the 16th of March. During the day we have fun hands-on guided activities, tasty examples, and games for the whole family. You can also expect to learn about chocolate, sugar crystals, how drugs work and along the way you will get to be a crystal explorer, a model builder and use Lego! If you can’t make the day then we have activity sheets to try with children at home and a number of YouTube videos designed to engage and inspire younger generations. On our YouTube channel you will also find an interview with our founder Dr Olga Kennard talking about her career in science and some of the gender issues she faced.
The Importance of Women in Science
Crystallography has changed and evolved because of some incredible female scientists including women so it is important that everyone has an equal opportunity in science, regardless of their gender, race, or background. There are too many notable women science to mention them all but a few notable females in crystallography include:
- Dorothy Hodgkin, who received the Nobel Prize in 1964 for her work on the structure of vitamin B12 and other complex molecules such as penicillin and insulin.
- Kathleen Lonsdale, known for her work on the structure of benzene, became the first female president of the IUCr.
- Rosalind Franklin, who took the X-ray photograph of a DNA fibre that proved instrumental to James Watson and Francis Crick’s Nobel Prize-winning discovery of the double helix.
- Isabella Karle, who developed an experimental approach to using ‘direct methods’ of structural analysis for the solution of molecules smaller than 1,000 atoms.
- Ada Yonath, a Nobel prize winner best known for best known for her pioneering work on the structure of ribosomes.
What Can You Do Next?
Everyone can help address inequality in science by advocating for inclusion, learning more and helping to inspire others. We encourage you to:
- Discover more about the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.
- Learn about remarkable women in science, we have listed a few above but we encourage you to find others and share information about their achievements with colleagues, friends or on social media.
- Keep the conversation going – organize or suggest a session on equality in science at a national or international conference or contribute a talk to an existing session.
- Ghazala Sadiq from CCDC is co-chairing a session at the European Crystallographic Meeting (ECM) in Padua on Inclusion later this year so why not submit an abstract (session M42) to help raise the profile of the topic.
- Inspire others from any background into science through fun science activities with your family or by setting up activities at schools or science festivals.
- Check out the education and outreach activities on our website, and other online resources for information and support. Let’s encourage a diverse and inclusive future in science!
- Create or be part of a supportive network to help everyone know the value of what they do and how they contribute.
- Challenge your organization to discuss equality in science and steps you can take together to increase equality.
- Why not ask if you could set up a viewing of the documentary Picture A Scientist and a discussion group afterwards in your research group, institution or in your support network.