Group picture for the 'Solutions for inclusive leadership' meeting
The Solutions for Inclusive Leadership conference brings together leading institutions in biomedical science and the pharmaceutical industry at the National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO).
This is the first event organised by CNIO’s new Equality Office, coordinated by CNIO researchers Marisol Soengas and Isabel López de Silanes.
Despite training and visibility initiatives and active policies, women in leadership positions in science are still in the minority.
Inclusive leadership in science is about “creating trusted environments, listening, recognising non-linear career paths and understanding that scientific excellence and human quality are interdependent,” said the Secretary General for Research, Eva Ortega-Paíno.
“Leading is a public service, it’s using part of your time and energy in the service of others,” stated Carmen Fenoll, former president of the Association of Women Researchers and Technologists (AMIT) at the event Solutions for Inclusive Leadership, held this week at the National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) to celebrate International Day of Women and Girls in Science.
This was the first act organised by CNIO’s new Equality Office, coordinated by CNIO researchers Marisol Soengas and Isabel López de Silanes.
One key objective was to “find solutions” to address stagnation in the drive to bring more women into leadership positions in science. The reports Women Researchers drawn up by the CSIC Commission, and Scientists in Figures compiled by the Women and Science Unit of Spain’s Department of Science, Innovation and Universities, show that the proportion of around 28% women to 72% men in principal researcher positions has remained almost unchanged for over a decade. So the question is, if there are both equality plans in place in various organisations and general awareness of the issue, which barriers are still blocking parity? What are we missing? What solutions can be proposed for short-term action? Fourteen female experts and two male experts from the academic and private sectors reflected on these topics in different round table discussions.
Physics: resistant to change
Inclusive leadership in science is about “creating trusted environments, listening, recognising non-linear career paths, making decisions that impact people and understanding that scientific excellence and human quality are not parallel paths, but rather profoundly interdependent,” said the Secretary General for Research, Eva Ortega-Paíno.
For José Manuel Bernabé, CNIO’s managing director, the values of equality and inclusion must translate into “specific policies, daily practices and a strong and coherent organisational culture”.
The various discussions in the round tables –moderated by Pampa García Molina, director of Science Media Center Spain, and Esther Valdivia, president and editor of Mujeres a seguir– focused on the possible causes of this stagnation and on proposals to deactivate it.
Regina Revilla, former managing director of Farmacia and current president of Fundación Carmen and Severo Ochoa, recalled how in 1974 a pharmaceutical company had to change its bylaws in order to hire her, as they did not admit married women.
Today, the participants said, there are still fields that are “very male” in certain environments, including theoretical physics or emerging technological fields, such as data science. There, “policies such as not attending panels if there are no women represented can help,” said Amelia Martín Uranga, Director of Clinical and Translational Research at Farmaindustria.
A tonne of feathers
Many barriers to real inclusion in leadership are less explicit: decisions about committee members or opinions on merits that are discussed in hallways and informal meetings; expressing surprise when all-female teams perform well; the use of titles such as ‘doctor’ only for men, and so on. Xosé Bustelo, director of the Cancer Research Center (CIC) in Salamanca, indicated that participation in equality initiatives can help raise awareness of these situations.
The coordinator of the Women’s Working Group of the Spanish Association for Cancer Research (ASEICA), Patricia Sancho, believes that reflection in mixed environments is important, “because this is a structural problem of society”.
García Molina referred to the metaphor seen in the documentary Picture a scientist: a tonne of feathers still weighs a tonne. When there are already equality plans in an institution, minor discriminations go unnoticed, but together they still weigh… a tonne.
The way each person presents themselves can contribute to that issue. Speaking from the audience, María José Alonso, a biological pharmacist at the University of Santiago, based her comment on her experience in evaluation committees: “[in general], men sell themselves better, often pretending to know more than they do, while women tend to only show what they have fully mastered and even express their doubts openly.”
Care and the economy
There are also social and cultural factors at play. In Spain, 84.4% of care leaves and 90% of work hour reductions are requested by women, according to the White Paper on Health and Gender published by the Health Observatory. Its director, Marta Riesgo, argued that “there is a need to create safety nets that support women in this caregiving journey. And financial security is an important one.”
The participants agreed that solutions must come from multiple fronts: even though equality plans may be “little more than a statement of intentions, at least they put into writing issues that were previously unmentionable,” said Ana Jesús López Díaz, vice president of the Specialised Group of Women in Physics (GEMF). López de Silanes detailed the measures implemented at CNIO, whose equality plan includes measures to promote a healthy work/life balance.
When evaluating CVs, Arkaitz Carracedo from Fundación Ikerbasque and CICBiogune, suggested focusing on scientific quality. “Elements such as international mobility, age or the amount of time passed since earning a doctorate are secondary and can disadvantage women.”
Other participants suggested reviewing the evaluation criteria in CVs to include administrative actions, volunteering, training or networking, among others, which can bring benefits to the institutions involved and to society in general.
Awards that reflect reality
Regarding the problem that prestigious awards continue to be predominantly awarded to men, Ortega-Paíno presented the experience of the National Research Awards. “In 2024, we requested that public institutions submit at least two CVs, instead of one, as was the case until then. Profiles of women, previously invisible, began to emerge. With equal juries, we went from having no more than one woman receiving an award to 60% this year”.
Marina Pollán, director of the Carlos III Health Institute, highlighted “the importance of creating cross-cutting, often informal structures. In my experience, this has helped women to feel more free, especially in very rigid hierarchical environments.”
Ana Lamas, president of the WomenCEO association, emphasised the role of training for women, “so they can identify and enhance their own type of leadership, but also to promote values such as appreciating and showcasing their skills, and negotiation. We have to learn to negotiate our future.”
Lamas also stressed that feminism is not the exclusive domain of men or women, but rather a fight for equal opportunities. The whole of society must be feminist.”
And it must be so beyond the events and dates dedicated to equality. “Every day is 11 February,” summarised Teresa Valdés-Solís, executive vice president of the Women and Science Commission of the Spanish National Research Council (CMyC-CSIC).
Fernando Peláez, acting scientific director of CNIO, gave his own vision of leadership at the end of the event: “It’s about helping.” The problem “is structural, but policies can be implemented to start changing things. I believe there’s hope.”
To ensure these shared reflections “don’t just vanish into thin air, we will promote a series of concrete actions with the participation of all participating institutions,” Soengas stated. She also stressed that to “achieve inclusive leadership, women and men will have to work together.”
Silanes also pointed out that “to make progress, we need to measure results and provide institutional support and budgetary assistance to equality offices in institutions.”
About the National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO)
The National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) is a public research centre under the Department of Science, Innovation and Universities. It is the largest cancer research centre in Spain and one of the most important in Europe. It includes around five hundred scientists, along with support staff, who are working to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer.