The IAEA celebrates International Women's Day
March 8 is International Women’s Day, and this year the International Atomic Energy Agency is marking the occasion by bringing more than 400 women together for a two-day event on March 7 and 8: For More Women in Nuclear: IAEA Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship and the Lise Meitner Programs.
The event is a gathering of alumnae and current participants in either the MSCFP or the LMP, as well as senior experts and representatives of the nuclear industry, for sessions and networking activities designed to foster the exchange of ideas and strengthen networks and leadership skills with the objective of addressing the underrepresentation of women in the nuclear field. Plenary sessions are being livestreamed and will be available to watch after the event. At the closing session, a “Statement for More Women in Nuclear” will be presented by the program recipients to the IAEA and will be published on the event webpage.
Progress on an international stage: Through its Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship Program (MSCFP), launched in 2020, and the Lise Meitner Program (LMP), launched in 2023, the IAEA is enabling more women to enter and pursue careers in the nuclear field, and increase women’s representation in the future nuclear workforce. The fellowship program provides scholarships for master’s degree programs and an opportunity to pursue an internship facilitated by the IAEA, while the Lise Meitner Program gives early- and mid‑career women professionals the opportunity to participate in a multiweek visiting professional program.
Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the IAEA since 2019, has made achieving gender balance at the IAEA a personal priority. As he delivered the opening remarks for the event, Grossi said that when he became director general, “This institution was doing very bad in terms of gender equality. The staff here was around 28 percent women.”
Grossi pledged to achieve “gender equality, 50/50, by 2025. Many people said no, that is going to be impossible.” But, Grossi said, “By now we are at 46 percent. I still have a few months to go. So maybe, maybe, there is a chance that we might make it.”
Last year, the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency timed the release of a new report for International Women’s Day. The task force behind Gender Balance in the Nuclear Sector gathered the first publicly available international data on gender balance in the nuclear sector and found that women make up just about 24.9 percent of people employed in the nuclear sector, and for STEM positions in that field specifically, women account for just about 20 percent of the workforce. In June 2023, the 38 nations of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development agreed to a recommendation from the NEA in support of increasing the number of women participating in the workforce.
March 8 is International Women’s Day, and this year the International Atomic Energy Agency is marking the occasion by bringing more than 400 women together for a two-day event on March 7 and 8: For More Women in Nuclear: IAEA Marie Sklodowska Curie Fellowship and the Lise Meitner Programs.
