The meeting brought together leaders from public universities in the State of São Paulo and researchers from the Observatory Center for Institutions at USP
By Erika Yamamoto The event Women and Institutions was promoted by the Vice-Rector of USP and the Observatory of Institutions Center – Photo: Marcos Santos/USP Imagens
“Women’s Day is a day to celebrate achievements, but it is also a day to reflect on what still needs to be done. The lack of women in leadership positions, for example, are challenges that we still need to face”, said rector Carlos Gilberto Carlotti Junior at the opening of the “Women and Institutions” event, which took place on the morning of this Friday, the 8th. of March.
The rector also argued that good experiences need to be shared among universities in the State of São Paulo and that joint discussion helps to bring new solutions. According to him, “universities are important actors for social change. Society counts on universities to solve its problems.”
With the theme Tackling gender inequality in scientific careers and in the Brazilian Justice Systemthe meeting was organized by the Vice-Rector of USP and the Observatory of Institutions Center (COI), chaired by the Minister of State for Justice and Public Security, Ricardo Lewandowski, which analyzes and proposes the improvement and development of Brazilian institutions.
“When we present research on gender at universities, the issue of inequality permeates the whole. It is in this scenario that this event sheds light both on the gender condition in central institutions of our society – the Justice system and universities – and celebrates Women’s Day, seeking to get closer to a portrait of our own condition”, says the vice -rector Maria Arminda do Nascimento Arruda.
Maria Arminda also drew attention to the growing number of femicides in Brazil. “At a time when women’s rights tend to increase, forms of violence also increase. This is an issue that demands research to know what issues are behind this fact,” she said.
During the event, an agreement was signed with representatives of universities in the State of São Paulo, formalizing the Data Harmonization Working Group between public universities – Photo: Marcos Santos/USP Imagens
The meeting also included the participation of the dean of the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp), Raiane Patrícia Severino Assumpção; the general coordinator of the State University of Campinas (Unicamp), Maria Luiza Moretti; the dean of Community Affairs and Affirmative Policies at the Federal University of ABC (UFABC), Cláudia Regina Vieira; and the coordinator of the IOC Gender Working Group, Ana Elisa Bechara.
In the first panel of the day, the coordinator of the USP Academic Performance Indicator Management Office, Fátima Nunes, presented the project Harmonization of Gender Data in Public Universities of São Paulo, carried out in partnership with technical representatives from universities to develop common indicators on gender issues in these institutions.
USP Women and Men
Then, the IOC researcher, Rodrigo Correia do Amaral, presented the results of the study USP Women and Menwhich analyzed the sexual division of higher education and scientific careers at USP between the years 2000 and 2022.
The research points to a greater concentration of women in courses in biological areas, especially in professions associated with care, such as Nursing. On the other hand, in the areas of Exact Sciences the predominance is male, mainly in STEM courses (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, its acronym in English).
Another aspect of the study that draws attention is that the most unequal scenario, in terms of gender, is that of teachers. On the historical average, female teachers represented 24.8% of the total number of teachers. Not even in the area of Life Sciences, female teachers are the majority, and represent only 35.6% of teachers.
Closing the program, the federal judge, advisor to the National Justice Council (CNJ) and associate researcher at the COI, Helena Refosco, spoke about women and the Brazilian Justice System and what the National Justice Council (CNJ) is doing for gender equality.
Watch the full event below Women and Institutions.