Narrowing gap, the rise of women in STEM

NoThey didn’t see them coming. Not all of them, at least. And there are many. A gentle but unstoppable advance. Women who have chosen to study the famous STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), once not recommended or considered too difficult. Of course, there are many ways to read numbers. The higher you go in the career ladder, the more male the power becomes. And some faculties are less frequented by girls, as reported by the Anvur “Gender Analysis” report, the university evaluation body.

Women in STEM have arrived

The imbalance exists: 60.7 percent of men versus 39.3 percent of women. But in the period from 2018 -2021 those enrolled in Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Statistics they exceeded 56 percent against an EU average of around 50. Even in the field of production and construction engineering, women, although in the minority, are more than the European average (28.4 percent versus 26.9). And in some areas the fateful threshold of 50 has been reached and exceeded. For example, the National Biodiversity Future Center (NBFC) the first Italian research center dedicated to biodiversity, financed by the Pnrr- Next Generation Eu with 320 million euros for three years and coordinated by the Cnr, involves 2000 researchers, and 57 percent are women. The six thematic areas (sea, emerged lands and wetlands, cities, training, knowledge sharing) have one goal: transforming research into value for society.

Sensitive to environmental protection

For Hellas Cena, vice-rector of the University of Pavia, specialized in Food Science and responsible for the Urbanized Environments and Health sector of the NBFC, «in recent decades we have witnessed a significant change. Women have gained visibility and recognition, the number of researchers, scientists and academics has grown thanks to more inclusive policies, awareness on gender issues and female role models in science. The greatest presence in biodiversity research it is also the result of an interest and deep connection that many women feel towards environmental protection.”

There is no male and female science

Not that there is a “male” and a “female” science. Gianmario Verona, president of the Human Technopole Foundation, rector of Bocconi from 2016 to 2022 and professor of Management, doesn’t believe it: «The women scientists have done crazy things. Let’s think about Claudia Goldin, Nobel Prize winner for studies on the Gender Pay Gap… Here we have 404 employees, women make up 53 percent of the total and 50 percent of the scientific staff. Human Technopole, born in 2019, immediately equipped itself with a Gender Equality Plan. It was easy, we are a start-up, we don’t have the burden of history. And we begin to see a new cultural humus starting from the 28-30 year old post docs. It takes time, one generation is not enough, but the time will come when there will no longer be a need for female quotas. Merit will be enough.”

Less resistance in families

Mara Tanelli, delegate of the rector for, agrees Diversity and Inclusion who teaches Automatics at the Polytechnic of Milan: «The ordinary ones went from 20 percent in 2016 to 24.4 at the end of 2022, not a gigantic growth. But type A researchers, 30.8 in 2016, are now 36.4. In digital and industrial engineering, the female presence is struggling to consolidate because it is more difficult to see women in that type of work. There is a strong influence of social models: why do you have to do it if no one does it? Then someone breaks the spell.

The Cristoforetti effect

In recent years there has been an important affirmation of aerospace engineering. Enrollments jumped by 15 to 20 percent. It’s the Samantha Cristoforetti effect. Not everyone is as exceptional as her, not all of them will go on to run a space station, but they know the possibility exists». Resistance from families has eased. Adriana Del Borghi, chemical engineer, who deals with climate change and is vice-rector of Sustainability at the University of Genoa, says: «My mother wanted to study languages ​​and my grandmother told her: “You’re pretty, go be a company secretary”» . That wouldn’t happen today. Here, out of 12 vice-rectors, half are women, and in my course there are a good 50 percent of girls who have begun their journey in science. They will do great things.” Some already do it.

«I create the identity card of butterflies»

Laura Buonafede 29 years old, degree in Environmental Biology in Florence, PhD student in Biodiversity at the University of Palermo, with research activities at the University of Milan-Bicocca. The passion for butterflies was born during my master’s degree in Barcelona. But she has always liked «looking at the flowers growing in the asphalt or on the railing of a terrace, observing how nature manages to win despite the concrete» she says. She studies butterflies in the city, «how big they are, how they tolerate temperatures, what habitat preferences they have, how they adapt. I look at Milan as a natural environment. Even though I attended classical high school, I loved scientific subjects and it was logical to approach biology, an interest that I share with many girls. My studies serve to avoid deteriorating the already very degraded urban environment. We try to create an identity card of the species present in a park or site and develop new monitoring methods, integrating environmental DNA analysis with an advanced system of sensors.” So when you find a cabbage (one of the most common butterflies) on the balcony, think that someone is studying it…

«Artificial intelligence against online hatred»

Debora Nozza 34 years old, computer scientist and assistant professor at Bocconi in Milan she is a brilliant computer scientist and mother of two children, aged two and a half and three months. You have just obtained the largest European funding (one and a half million euros). Her research focuses on detecting and countering hate speech, discriminatory algorithm biases, and social media. Nothing more relevant today. She explains: «I use artificial intelligence to recognize and counteract hate online. I focused on Italian (English is very different), on homophobia and misogyny, topics that had not been discussed until 2018-2019, much less in our language. The idea is to create transparent algorithms to offer a personalized and positive social media experience.” Hers was an early vocation: «In elementary school I said: I’ll do IT. In high school I chose a commercial technical institute. There were only three girls in the class, but I believe that representation matters more than difficulty. If you see other women in IT you understand that you can do it too. She’s tough, no doubt, but from a business perspective she’s a great choice. Indeed, a certainty.”

«We put all the plants in a single database»

Jessica Frigerio 33 years old, researcher at Bicocca in Milan and Malika Ouled Larbi 25 years old, research fellow in Bicocca:
they work to create a digital database of the nine thousand Italian plant species. He has a doctorate in convergent technologies for biological systems. Jessica is working on a platform on which all plant species will be digitized. Practically? «Once we have extracted the DNA, we deposit a small genetic sequence to which scientists from all over the world can have access. It’s not just a catalogue. Example: saffron is expensive – around 12 thousand euros per kilo – and is sold mixed with turmeric and calendula. A DNA test can tell how much saffron there really is in the sachet. One day the consumer will be able to do it too.” Malika graduated with a thesis evaluating the impact of urbanization on the diet of pollinating insects. She knows everything about the bumblebee, which cannot find enough nourishment in the city. She says: «I have always been fascinated by biology, I spent days watching TV documentaries! Now I create the identity card of the plants. This work will allow us to rethink urban spaces and enhance the Italian heritage of flora and fauna.”

«I had my victory in Milan»

Francesca Coscia 38 years old, structural biochemist, research group leader at Human Techonopole studies the thyroid. Ultimate goal: create drugs against autoimmune diseases and cancer. She explains it like this: «Let’s take the clock. It doesn’t work, the hands are stopped. We open it and study the gears. In the case of the thyroid, proteins, very small molecular machines. To observe them you need an electron microscope. After Grenoble (doctoral), London and Cambridge (post-doctoral), I returned to Italy, where I had one. In 2021 I set up a laboratory: three men and four women plus me. I could have done architecture (I loved construction as a child), then I became passionate about enzymes and proteins, and here I am. To return to the clock, by analyzing the gears we can understand how to repair it or predict when it will break. I like this job. Over the years I have experienced different scientific environments. In Italy there are many women, but few in managerial roles, in France a little better, in England no prejudice, I was fine. But then, in Milan, I had the electron microscope, my research and now also a daughter. I called her Vittoria.”

«We chase the perfection of the human body»

Francesca Berti, 31 years old, biomedical engineer at the Polytechnic of Milan loved mathematics. «With my father I played games counting the legs of the cows in the countryside or, in the car, calculating the kilometers and the speed». Undecided between biomedical and mechanical engineering, he put them together. «I am a biomechanical engineer, and this was exactly my path, more applied than theoretical. Work on cardiovascular prostheses, heart valves, stents. If you design a car brake, install it, and then it breaks, you replace it. Here, however, there is the interaction of the device with humans: after the implant you shouldn’t touch it anymore. The human body is perfect and we chase its perfection…”. He had an interesting experience at MIT in Boston, «but I must say that we Italians are very creative, even if we don’t have resources. I won the L’Oréal “Woman in Science” award for research on congenital heart defects in newborns treated with 3D prostheses. Of course you need to have robust data to test them on real patients and not just on computer models. Since this February I have been a researcher (I was a research fellow). I have a four-month-old baby and confidence in the future.”

«I study the signals arriving from space»

Arianna Renzini 32 years old, astrophysicist, co-chair of a research group in the Ligo/Virgo/Kagra observatories, researcher at the University of Milan Bicocca. She’s a little celebrity. She likes difficult things: «I enrolled in Physics in Padua because it seemed the most challenging to me, and also the one with the most job opportunities. I was worried that some majors might be “too easy,” and that I wouldn’t learn enough.” You did your Erasmus at Imperial College London where you got a scholarship. “After four years of mapping gravitational waves (that is, producing maps of the intensity of waves on the sky), I was offered a temporary research position at the California Institute of Technology, in Los Angeles.” From there, with a scholarship, Marie Skłodowska-Curie returned to Italy in September. Arianna analyzes the signals arriving from space in the Ligo observatories, in the United States, Virgo, in Italy and Kagra, in Japan. She moves in a very masculine world and she knows it: «There are more and more young women in science, but it remains difficult to find them at high levels, as professors or research directors. Let’s hope for the next generations”

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