Gender Summit 2013 – North America

Established in 2011, the Gender Summit has become the foremost forum for engaging top-level researchers, policy makers, science and innovation leaders, and other and stakeholders in STEM, to address gender issues in research and innovation. The 2013 forum will leverage the international capacity in advancing the knowledge base about the influence of gender considerations on the efficacy, quality and success of various sectors in promoting discovery and innovation in the scientific enterprise.

The Gender Summits are dedicated to supporting and advancing excellence and effectiveness of research and innovation at all levels, through the inclusion of gender. The overarching theme of the events is “Quality Research and Innovation through Equality”.

In 2011 and 2012 the events had a specifically European focus. The European Gender Summits provided a forum for stakeholders from research, industry and policy to jointly explore how gendered methodologies can stimulate innovation and advance scientific excellence. The summit mapped the current state of knowledge, provided a forum for interdisciplinary debate and drew up concrete action plans for research and innovation policy. The European Gender Summit 2012, under the sub-theme ‘Aligning Agendas for Excellence’, took place on 29 -30 Nov 2012. The main venue was be the European Parliament in Brussels, sending a clear signal that the gender equality in science deserves the highest policy attention.

The aim of the 3rd Gender Summit, which is focused on North America, is to interconnect all relevant stakeholders in a Call to Action to achieve positive change towards greater diversity in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) workforce and leadership, and greater inclusion of biological sex and gender considerations or the “gender dimension” in research content and process.

The Gender Summit will promote evidence-based, concerted and integrated actions by all participating stakeholders engaged in STEM. More specifically, this effort will:

  • Develop a collective commitment and capacity to strengthen human capital development, research and innovation through diversity, by creating an innovative STEM conceptual framework of transformative opportunities that is responsive to the needs of both women and men 
  • Demonstrate quality evidence of how incorporating the gender dimension into STEM research and innovation contribute to excellence and maximize capacity to address societal challenges 
  • Expand and transform the Gender Summit into a global level forum for collaborative dialogue and activities focused on shaping science and society through the inclusion of gender dimension in research, innovation, and markets for science knowledge
  • Share solutions on how to incorporate the gender dimension in research methods, institutional structures, funding structures and peer review processes 
  • Maximize national and international capacity to address common and diverse societal challenges by fostering an inclusive community of experts — cross-disciplinary, government, industry, academic, and citizen partnerships.