Disbelief over gender balance of nuclear nominees

The European Commission has criticised the range of candidates put forward by national governments for the scientific committee of the EU’s Euratom nuclear programme, 91 per cent of whom were men.

“Despite having raised the issue on several occasions, only four out of 42 nominees (just over 9 per cent) are women,” the Commission said in a statement to the EU’s Council of Ministers published on 24 October.

“The Commission finds it hard to believe that European countries in 2018 are unable to identify female experts,” it said. “In view of the inter-institutional consensus on gender equality in research and innovation and the importance of diversity in the composition of expert groups, greater effort should have been made to ensure more gender balance.”