27 February 2024. The International Day of Women and Girls in Science, celebrated every February 11, aims to promote women and girls in science. As reflected by UNESCO and UN Women on their websites, this day is an opportunity to promote full and equal access and participation in science for women and girls. To commemorate the Day of Women and Girls in Science, Aludium employees participated in an informative event on women and science at the San Blas School in Alicante, which included the participation of 17 women with professions dedicated to and/or related to science.
Aludium’s goals include giving greater visibility to the role of women within STEAM careers and providing female role models within these disciplines. Gender equality is one of the top priorities of the company’s social sustainability strategy and this action was part of that.
Numerous professions within STEAM
Aludium’s participation in the sessions was very dynamic, addressing different areas and professions within the sciences, engineering and the environment. Irene García, Aludium environmental engineer, and Laura Rodríguez, an Aludium project engineer, were in charge of showing students how to protect the environment through good practices in waste recycling. They also explained the diversity of professional profiles that may be found in an industrial sector company such as Aludium and the aluminium transformation process.
Irene led an enjoyable and didactic activity about the environmental area. The kindergarten students had fun participating in a game about waste separation and recycling, and learned good practices for taking care of the environment on a daily basis.
For fifth grade students, Laura explained the aluminum transformation process and showed them physical samples of final products from the different markets the company supplies. In addition, to raise awareness on the different professional opportunities that a company like Aludium offers, they played a game that consisted of identifying professions through watching videos where women employees of the company explained the functions of their job without naming their professions. This way, a wide variety of women was shown talking about their work in a company linked to science and engineering, so that the students could guess their profession. Some of the professions included in the game were: technologist, process engineer, financial analyst, nurse, computer scientist and human resources.
Closing the gender gap in science: accelerating action
This year, UNESCO organized an event on the topic ‘Closing the gender gap in science: accelerating action’. According to UNESCO data, “despite the statistics showing similar performance of boys and girls in science and mathematics, gender stereotypes persist: many girls still do not feel encouraged in STEM fields and have limited options for their education and professional development.” On the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, delivered the following message: “Women need science and science needs women. Only by leveraging all sources of knowledge, all sources of talent, can we fully unleash the potential of science and meet the challenges of our time.” At Aludium we will continue to work to make this goal a reality.
