On February 11th, the tenth anniversary of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science was celebrated, a key date to promote gender equality and the emancipation of women in science. In this context, students from the Villa de Mijas Secondary School visited a pioneering research centre in Spain, the Bioinformatics Unit of the Centre for Supercomputing and Bioinnovation of the University of Malaga (UMA), where they had the opportunity to talk to one of its heads, Rocío Bautista from Mijas, PhD in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry. 

Dr. Bautista stressed the importance of this date as "it is great to make them see that they are capable and that there are no barriers in terms of knowledge and the career they want to develop throughout their lives. Here they are going to see examples of how many technological units are run by women and I hope this will inspire them".

 

Despite progress, Bautista pointed out that barriers still persist, especially at higher levels of responsibility: "In the first years of scientific careers, the number of women and men is quite similar. But as a career develops, there is still a bias and a glass ceiling that needs to be broken down. 

The councillor for Education, Juan José Torres Trella (PP), who was present at the visit, also stressed the importance of promoting gender equality in scientific careers, so that "men are not the majority among computer scientists, mathematicians and people in science-related careers, but also to spread the word so that women and girls see that they can have a future in this type of careers".

During the visit, the students from the secondary school in Mijas learned about the operation of the second most powerful supercomputer in Spain, the Picasso, and saw first-hand that only the sky is the limit. "More and more female students want to study sciences degrees, whether it's biology or some kind of engineering. That is satisfying for us", commented the teacher at IES Villa de Mijas, Juan Jesús Pérez.

Although they are still too young to know what they want to do in life, the students from Mijas have the chance to follow in the footsteps of great scientists such as Marie Curie, Jane Goodall and Ada Lovelace. 

 

You don't have to be a supercomputer like Picasso to understand that science has no gender, and that women have shown with their passion and determination that they are essential to the advancement of knowledge and innovation. That is why, after overcoming great barriers, the role of pioneering women in science is a beacon of inspiration for future generations.

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