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1. What is NEWS?
NEWS is the acronym of “network on ethnicity and
women scientists”. It is a project which aims at investigating the
situation of foreign women scientists and those from foreign origin
(migrants or ethnic minorities) pursuing scientific careers in 7
European countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, The
Netherlands, United Kingdom) and one Eastern European candidate
country for the EU entry (Bulgaria).
If gender scholarship shows
that the level of gender awareness among scientists is rather uneven
in Europe, there is still little knowledge on how the combined
discriminatory effect of gender and ethnicity operates in the
scientific community. As far as gender and
ethnicity are concerned, can we say
that the university still sticks to its image of “ivory towers”
or that it is opening to the society's changes? Do academic institutions and scientific communities
practice equal opportunities and equal treatment in employment
regardless of gender and ethnic belonging? NEWS project does not
pretend to answer thoroughly to such difficult questions, which
require
in depth-research, but it will consist in a first attempt to collect
information on the issue in 8 countries in a view to raise the
attention on the reality faced by women scientists from ethnic
minorities working in institutions of 7 EU countries and Bulgaria.
The global objective
of the NEWS project is to boost gender equality in the field of
science and technology in EU member states through stimulating the
participation of foreign women scientists and women scientists from
foreign origin (migrant and ethnic minorities) in the European
research workforce, both within the public and the private sectors.
The creation of a specific network of
foreign women scientists as well as women scientists
from ethnic minorities
will indeed not only make this reality more visible but will
encourage their better integration of in
all existing scientific networks.
NEWS project wants to contribute to an increase of the knowledge
base on women in science through:
- Assessing the
participation and the position of foreign women scientists and
those from ethnic minorities in the existing European research
workforce as well as the potential they represent for the full
realisation of the European Research Area;
- Highlighting their
contribution to European science and technology development;
- Looking at the way
gender and ethnic diversity is taken into account for the
increasing of the European research workforce and for the
improvement of the quality of European science.
NEWS project aims at raising attention on possible existence of
gender and ethnic discrimination in science and its negative effects
on science development because of a loss of talents, of competence
and of knowledge. On a social level, the NEWS project also
contributes to challenge the still popular vision of scientists
being white 40 years old males.
NEWS is intended to enrich the work of the Helsinki group by
bringing new insights on the way to promote gender equality in
research and science policies. The project results may serve as a
channel for the Helsinki group to enlarge its understanding on women
in science by taking into consideration the specific position of
foreign women scientists and women scientists from ethnic
minorities.
2. Who are the targeted women scientists?
NEWS project propose to examine the situation of
three targeted women scientists: migrant women, refugee women and
women from ethnic minorities.
Migrant women
are foreign women admitted in the framework of a bilateral agreement
of workforce, as workers or in the family reunion process. They are
usually called “the first generation” of migrants. Refugee women
are those who migrated in the Geneva’s Convention framework and
obtained a refugee legal status. Women from ethnic minorities
are foreign women naturalized (migrants and refugees), foreign or
naturalized descents of migrants (usually called “second and third”
generations), and national citizens coming from old colonies
(France, UK). In the Bulgarian case, these categorie refers also to
women from national ethnic minorities (e.a. Turkish and Roma). NEWS project will not take into account the question relating to
mobility of European women scientists working inside the European
Union like, for example, Italian or Spanish women scientists working
in Ireland or foreign women students from all origins on a grant.
3. The
NEWS tasks
The strategic objective of the NEWS project is
both to step up the science/society dialogue and to address the role
of women in science through the promotion of gender and ethnic
diversity in European science.
To
achieve this objective, NEWS project aims at investigating the
position of foreign women scientists and of women scientists from
ethnic minorities – both in terms of
educational attainment and professional career – in 7 EU member
states and one European candidate, Bulgaria, building a
network of women scientists – covering as many scientific
fields as possible – in these countries and linking it with existing
national and international networks of women scientists as well as
with the newly established European Platform of Women Scientists,
and promoting a public debate at national and European
level on the issue of gender and ethnic diversity in science.
The project aims are:
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Establishing a state of
the art on gender and ethnic diversity in science careers in 8
European countries and at the EU level and producing a policy
paper to be addressed to the European commission and to the
national policy makers;
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Mobilising the foreign
women scientists and those from ethnic minorities in order to
produce a lasting impact in each country concerned around the
issues of increasing their participation in science, improving
their working conditions, ensuring equal opportunities and
reinforcing the realisation of gender and ethnic diversity in
science;
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Building and developing
a network on ethnicity and women scientists in the countries
under investigation and connecting it to established national,
European and international networks of women scientists;
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Promoting exchange of
experiences, good practices and policies in such a way that
national and European research policies can be reinforced;
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4. The NEWS
partners |
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Belgium : Interdisciplinary Research Group on « Gender and
Migration », Institute of Sociology, Free University of Brussels,
Nouria Ouali (coordination) |
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France :
Simone-SAGESSE, Race and Gender Group, University
of Toulouse-le-Mirail, Prof. Judith Ezekiel |
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Germany : Institute of Industrial and Organizational
Psychology, (LS für Betriebs-und Organisationspsychologie) Institut
für Psycholgie der
RWTH Aachen University, Dr. Parminder Kaur Bakshi-Hamm |
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Bulgaria : Centre of European Refugees, Migration and
Ethnic Studies (CERMES), Department of Political Sciences,
New
Bulgarian University, Sofia, Prof. Anna Krasteva |
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Italy : Department of
Work
and Industrial Relations,
University of Bari, Prof. Emma Corigliano |
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The Netherlands :
European Research Centre on Migration and
Ethnic Relations (ERCOMER), Faculty of Social Sciences, Utrecht
University,
Prof. Karen Phalet |
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Portugal :
Institute of Social Sciences, University of Minho, Braga, Prof. Maria Engrácia Leandro |
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United Kingdom :
Policy Studies Institute, University of
Westminster, London, Dr. Maria Hudson |
5. Finance and duration
The sixth framework programme of the European Commission,
Science and Society, finances the NEWS project. It started in
January 2006 and its duration is 24 months.
6. Coordination
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Free University of Brussels |
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Institute of Sociology
Interdisciplinary Research Group on “Gender
&
Migration” (GEM)
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