"As an international scientific organisation, the IAEA is aware of its need to strive for gender balance," said IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano. "This is not just a matter of fairness. It is because if we fail to do so, we are missing out on 50% of the finest minds. As Director General, I take this seriously. I will do my best during my tenure to improve this situation."
He was speaking during an event at the IAEA's Vienna headquarters to highlight and honour the achievements of women on 8 March 2012, International Women's Day. Other speakers at the event - Yury Fedotov, Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime; Taizo Nishikawa, Deputy Director General of The United Nations Industrial Development Organization; Vorian Maryssael, Director of the International Monitoring System Division of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO); and Tibor Tóth, CTBTO's Executive Secretary - also lauded the important contribution working women make to the world in general.
Inspiring Women
In recognition the theme of this year's International Women's Day, Connecting Girls, Inspiring Futures, the IAEA on Facebook has profiled women for the last eight days. These eight women's lives, work and attitudes, can serve to inspire others. They are from very different educational backgrounds; having studied math, physics, nutrition, public health, languages, social sciences and management.
Their stories show that there are many different ways to make a contribution to the Agency's goal of promoting the peaceful uses of nuclear technology for the benefit of mankind.
These, and other inspiring profiles are also available here.
Check out our Resources for Women page to find out more about working at the Agency and about the IAEA's efforts to achieve gender parity.