International Day of Women and Girls in Science

 

Madrid, 11 February 2025 (ESAA)

This 2025 marks 10 years since the United Nations General Assembly declared February 11 as the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, a recognition of the work and empowerment of women in the scientific and technological sector. This day is an opportunity to develop initiatives that promote the presence of women in science and promote the access of young women to STEM careers.

Achieving gender equality in the scientific field entails the reconstruction of stereotypes in different areas of society, raising inspiring references for girls and supporting actions or initiatives that bet on a diverse inclusion.

Therefore, from AESA, we want to give a voice to some of the professionals who are part of the Agency, companions who decided to venture, in some way or another, into the aeronautical world without having female models to follow. Today, we wanted to pay tribute to them by reminding the girls that one day they were:

 

- Alicia Rasero, Inspector of Commercial Air Transport Operators

“From a young age I was fascinated by Space, I had a telescope with which I spent hours looking at the Moon and the stars. I would say it all started there.” Alicia tells us that it was her high school teachers who told her about Aeronautical Engineering seeing her skills for Mathematics and Physics. Upon entering his career, he observed that it was mostly a male environment, ‘Istarted my studies 20 years ago, then there were some colloquiums at the university to boost the female presence in engineering, and with the time that has passed, these careers continue to have a very low presence’.

The presence of female referents in science is something that with the work and momentum of society is changing. Alicia recalls attending Pedro Duque’s talk at the University, although today, she is happy that these talks are carried out by women such as Sara García, a biologist and the first Spanish woman in the Astronaut Corps of the European Space Agency, ‘sheis doing a brutal job teaching everything she does and how beautiful she can be’.

In addition, assuming pre-established roles or models of conduct is an incentive to enter certain professional subjects, so that they help you lose your fear, ‘itis important that we are told from a young age about the existence of these tasks, what you are going to discover with them, make many talks, bring these careers closer to young women, teach them what you can become’.

 

- Carmen Peco, Head of the Aeronautical Medicine Division

From a young age, there is always someone or something that helps us choose the professional, or even personal, path we want to follow. Carmen Peco, head of the Division of Aeronautical Medicine, was visiting with her institute an employment fair when the terrorist ward of 11-M occurred in Madrid. That morning, listening to the news, he recalls a phrase that stuck with him from a medical student, ‘I, who am training to save lives, do not understand how there are people who want to destroy them’. This was one of the reasons that made Carmen clear that she wanted to dedicate herself to that profession.

During his career years, in a mostly male faculty, there was a figure that left his mark: ‘Shewas a paediatrician who worked in a health centre and with whom I used to train in the summer. I found it impressive how I diagnosed, followed up and accompanied families in sometimes very difficult processes. He really was a very inspiring figure for me.”

Identifying female examples in science and technology careers is essential for other girls, and even women, to opt for professional careers. “The work of women in STEM careers helps to bring a different vision to what has been so far”.

 

- Elena Revenga, Head of Professional Flight Licensing Service

The support of the family environment is essential in certain cases to open paths in professions with predominant male presence. This is the case of our colleague Elena Revenga, who tells us that she grew up surrounded by relatives who worked at the then CASA (Construcciones Aeronáuticas S.A.), which made her link almost without realizing it to the aeronautical sector.

“In the first years of working at CASA and studying at the EUITA there were practically no women, neither in the factory nor in the school. Bear in mind that when I entered as an apprentice at Construcciones Aeronáuticas when I was 14 years old, they had just started to ‘admit girls’ to the apprenticeship school, so female referents in my environment ... none’.

It has been possible to make more visible the presence of women in other professional fields, more linked to culture and art, far from the purely scientific. ‘Outsidethe aeronautical environment, there were women whose work I loved, such as Carmen Martín Gaite, Isabel Coixet, Patty Smith, Hole ... although male figures won by a thrashing at that time, of course’.

It is of utmost importance to continue working to create female referents in any field, but specifically in the scientific and technological. AESA, as a public entity, will continue betting on making these references visible and promoting the vocations of the aeronautical sector among the children of our country, in order to attract talent to the public service.

Among AESA's actions in the fight for equality, the recent union with the Ellas Vuelan Alto association stands out with the signing of a collaboration agreement, thus reinforcing our commitment to gender equality in the aerospace sector. In addition, within our Strategic Plan, it has been included as one of the fundamental objectives of the area of Excellence to promote equality and diversity in the aeronautical sector.

As our colleague says, "it is important to make the job opportunities of the different STEM careers more widely known. When it comes time to choose, there is still a lot of information and references, and it is difficult to imagine doing work that nobody has told you can exist and that, of course, women also do.