UNI reports that the Embassy of Sweden in India recently hosted ‘SHE STEM: Women Leading the Way’ to honor women entrepreneurs and scientists of both countries.
The virtual event was organized in collaboration with the Atal Innovation Mission. The digital ceremony was watched by close to 5000 people comprising of students, teachers, and media representatives. Women and girls made up a large percentage of these viewers.
The primary goal of the event was to bring to the fore the success stories of women who are bringing progressive science and technology to global sustainability efforts. Ann Bernes, Swedish ambassador for gender equality and coordinator of Feminist Foreign Policy, said, “For a very long time, we have focused on promoting change in terms of gender equality, especially since 2014 when we founded the Feminist Foreign Policy. We are delighted to share that the government in Sweden is the first feminist government in the world. The factors for bringing in this change are to fight stereotyping, discrimination, and gender inequality, which still marks the lives of several million girls around the world. Sweden’s Feminist Foreign Policy seeks to be a transformative agenda that influences certain changes and structures. And enhance the visibility of women in different fields, especially STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics).”
The address was followed by a talk by Dr Beatrice Crona, deputy science director, Stockholm Resilience Center, where she discussed the link between gender and climate change. She emphasized the importance of women’s representation in environmental science and climate change research.
Her talk was followed by a session with Dr Renu Swarup, secretary, Department of Biotechnology. Dr Swarup said, “The whole idea of having the “SHE STEM” summit is so interesting because the whole area of gender diversity holds a lot of importance in terms of sustainability, science and technology contributions. In such a sustainable future discussion and scenario, it’s very important to position gender diversity overall and bring it to center stage.”
The event concluded with a panel discussion amongst Indian and Swedish scientists and entrepreneurs sharing their opinions on gender equality and personal experiences. Helena Samsioe, chief executive officer and founder, Globhe, Linnea Kornehed, chief medical officer and founder, Einride, Dr Sunita Narain, director general, Center for Science and Environment, and Sanskriti Dawle, founder and chief executive officer, Bell Labs made up the panel at the event.
