March 8, International Women's Day

International Women's Day was promulgated by the United Nations (UN) in 1975, the year in which it was officially commemorated for the first time, although it had been celebrated much earlier.

At the Margarita Salas Center for Biological Research, 55% of the staff are women, working as scientific personnel, in training and technical and administrative support.

To commemorate this day, the CIB Margarita Salas organized on March 1, 2023, in collaboration with the Equality Committees of CENIM and ICTAN, located at the Moncloa Campus of the CSIC, the conference Women and Science: breaking down obstacles. The researcher Pilar López Sancho (ICMM-CSIC) gave a lecture on the Gender Gap in Science and in a subsequent round table, a discussion about different aspects of this topic was held. The table, moderated by Asunción García Escorial (CENIM-CSIC), was attended by López Sancho, Juana Frías (ICTAN-CSIC), Carlos Capdevila (CENIM-CSIC), Teresa Suárez (CIB-CSIC and member of the Women and Science Commission of CSIC) and Beatriz Villarejo (CIB-CSIC).

In addition, we launched a campaign on social networks presenting different female colleagues of the center, as well as the work they develop in the CIB Margarita Salas.

International Women's Day, formerly known as International Working Women's Day, commemorates every March 8 the struggle of women for their participation in society and their full development as a person, on an equal footing with men. The motto that the UN has given to the celebration in 2023 is "For an inclusive digital world: Innovation and technology for gender equality". This year it will honor activists and organizations fighting for transformative technology and education for women and girls, explore the effects of the digital gender gap on the growth of social and economic inequalities, highlight the importance of protecting their rights in digital spaces, and address gender-based violence online.