It is often said that the place of a woman is where she wants to be. The last few years have been the scene of great changes, despite a long road ahead. Currently, according to UNESCO, female presence in the world of science is less than 30% of the total. In Brazil, a UFRGS search indicates that the number is even lower: only 14% of scientists are women.
THE UNITED NATION INITIATIVE
In 2015, the UN launched the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, an action plan with global social, economic and Environmental Development Goals, such as combating hunger and access to basic sanitation, to be achieved in 15 years. Aiming to change the inequality between men and women, gender equity is one of the goals contained in the plan. The creation of commemorative dates, such as international days, is one of the ways to bring the debates to light and achieve the set goals.
If access to the scientific area is more difficult for girls, the International Day of Women and Girls in Science seeks to encourage new generations to pursue the career of research. To encourage young women, the UN has some actions: in 2020, for example, it published on the UN Women website a list of seven women – such as the chemistry and physics Marie Curie and the brazilian Márcia Barbosa – who have played a key role in the development of Science and for the world.
THE CLAUDIA MARIA PENA BIZI'S STORY
Pirelli has always been always attentive to gender equality and, within the group, there is no lack of examples of female scientists. Today we will portray the story of the chemist Claudia Maria Pena Bizi, who entered the company as an intern and today is a formulator, developing the recipes of the compounds with which the tyres are made. For this, the scientist seeks to use more and more renewable materials and improve the performance of products.
Claudia, whose parents moved from the countryside of Minas Gerais to the city of São Paulo, became interested in science from an early age, through television programs and the experience of her father that worked in a chemical industry. At that time her favourite reading was “O livro dos porquês", in English, the book of whys.
Education did the rest, indulging her passion: Claudia first enrolled a technical course – which at the time divided the courses for men and women – than she graduated in Industrial Chemistry from the Faculdade Oswaldo Cruz and did the master's degree in Materials Engineering from the Escola Politécnica (USP).
The Pirelli journey, on the other hand, began with an internship. After being hired, her managers noticed the desire to deepen and she had the opportunity to become a researcher, cultivating her passion for chemistry and research.
