It is commonly known as Women's Day. In fact, the exact definition for March 8 is International Day in Defense of Women's Rights women. Among the many female themes we could talk about, an important chapter is that represented by women who work in science. In particular of research related to the medical, chemical, pharmacological, biomedical fields, and never as in these days the topic is current. Fifteen women scientists have decided to write an open letter to the new Prime Minister Mario Draghi to make their knowledge and professionalism available to the Prime Minister. Their knowledge, which is not inferior or superior to that of male colleagues, because it is not a question of entering into competition with the male universe. Rather than reiterating the importance of the role of women in the scientific field. Today more than ever.
The letter was written by Top Italian Women Scientists (TIWS), a body set up within the Onda Foundation, the National Women's Health and Gender Observatory, which brings together Italian scientists engaged in biomedical research. And registered in the ranking of Top Italian Scientists (Tis), the census of Italian scientists with the greatest impact in the world, measured with the value of H-index, the indicator that encompasses both the productivity and the scientific impact of the researcher.
Professor Patrizia Burra among the signatories of a letter to Prime Minister Draghi
“We met just in the days of the appointment of Draghi - explains the Professor Patrizia Burra of the TIWS, pro-rector of post-graduate training of the'University of Padua and professor of Gastroenterology at the School of Medicine of the Hospital of the University of Padua - Hence the idea of the open letter to the new Prime Minister. Not so much to get an answer but to let people know that we are here and that we can make our competence and professionalism available to the country. We do not want to compete with male colleagues but to highlight the value of meritocracy. A proposal that we hope the Premier will be able to take into consideration. Today and in the future ". As if to say: here we are.
Women are the majority of those on the front line against Covid
It is not the first step that Italian academics and researchers of international level take towards the Government, especially since the pandemic broke out. A stance had come with the open letter “We expect a parity of genere", published in the Corriere della Sera at the end of April last year, "Women are the majority of those on the front line against Covid". Those were the times when this female majority, effective on the field, in the first place had not found space in the newborn Scientific Committee. Then the then president Conte had corrected the shot, five women in the Task Force and six in the Technical Committee. The installation of the new government has prompted the scientists of the TIWS to make their voices heard again, to eliminate a gender disparity that is particularly evident in the scientific field.
Many women doctors, very few primary women
“In my field - adds Professor Burra - the numbers speak for themselves. Of the medical students, 70 percent are women. The percentage drops to 50 percent when they enter PhD. Later we go with the academic career, as the data gradually fades. At the end of the course, only 20 percent of women become full professors. Regarding the full professors of my discipline, Gastroenterology, there are 5 professors in Italy, our fellow professors in the same position are 31. In the hospital setting the same thing happens, the women doctors who work in the hospital are very many. How many that become primary? Still very few ".
The female world: more resistance, more perseverance, more obstinacy
Can we speak of an added value of women, in medicine as in other fields? "Yes of course. Women are biologically different, this is a certain fact. Female biological diversity causes women to have greater endurance, perseverance, obstinacy in achieving a goal. Sometimes they can also compete, but not necessarily with men, even with other women. One of the main characteristics of women is to be very determined ”.
Women and Coronavirus, tireless and very busy
A determination that has been clearly highlighted in the current health emergency. And that has seen female figures, especially in the health sector, tireless and always busy, often in background work. This morning at 11 the president of TIWS, Professor Adriana Albini of the University of Milan Bicocca and Irccs Multimedica, will be a guest on the Elisir broadcast on Rai 3. To talk about women, about the precious contribution that women scientists offer to the world of research, about the need for their role to be valued, today more than ever. This also means 8 March.
