The resolution of the 2023 Cecilia Castaño Award, promoted by GenTIC at Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, has been published. The Cecilia Castaño Award aims to advance equal opportunities and eliminate gender inequalities in the ICT and STEM fields, as well as to contribute to the recognition of the crucial contributions of women in the scientific and technological community. To this end, the award seek research in any academic discipline that addresses gender inequalities in science and technology and provides relevant knowledge on women’s participation in STEM fields.

 

This edition of the Cecilia Castaño Award comprised two categories: a prize for the best doctoral thesis or academic article related to doctoral thesis results, awarded with 2,400 euros, and a prize for the best master’s degree final project or academic article related to the results of a master’s project, endowed with 600 euros. As a result of the jury’s evaluation, the winners are:

 

Cristina Miralles Cardona, award for the best doctoral thesis or academic article linked to the results of a doctoral thesis for: Student teachers’ perceptions, competencias, and attitudes towards gender equality: An exploratory study.

Cristina Miralles, a researcher at the University Institute for Gender Studies (IUIEG) at the University of Alicante, examined in her doctoral thesis gender equality training in higher education at a teacher education institution in Spain. She explored the perceptions of student teachers and teacher educators regarding how gender mainstreaming is perceived and addressed in various undergraduate and graduate teacher education programs by using mixed methods research. Learn more about Cristina Miralles’ research results and its implications in this interview on UOC News.

 

Milagros Sáinz, Director of GenTIC, presented the 2023 Cecilia Castaño Award for the best doctoral thesis to Cristina Miralles Cardona.

 

Cristina Delgado Bonet, award for the best master’s degree final project or academic article linked to the results of a master’s degree final project for: Un acercamiento al estudio de la brecha de género en el sector tecnológico de la provincia de Barcelona.

Cristina Delgado developed her research project as a student of the Master’s in Human Resources Management and Leadership at UOC’s Faculty of Economics and Business. Her Master’s thesis analysed the existing gender gap in the technology sector in the province of Barcelona and studied its causes, including education, family and work environments, gender stereotypes and roles. In addition to a literature review, Cristina Delgado collected data through interviews and a survey of women and men working in the technology sector in Barcelona.

 

Cristina Delgado Bonet delivered her award acceptance speech for the best master’s degree final project virtually.

 

The jury of the 2023 Cecilia Castaño Award was composed of the director of GenTIC, Milagros Sáinz, and other relevant experts in the study of gender inequalities in STEM, such as Gloria Bonder, director of the Department of Gender, Society and Policies of FLACSO Argentina and coordinator of the Global Network of UNESCO Chairs on Gender, Ruth Mateos de Cabo, Full Professor in Market Research in the Department of Business Economics at CEU San Pablo University, and José Luis Martínez-Cantos, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Political Science and Sociology at Complutense University of Madrid.

 

On 16 February 2024, the Cecilia Castaño Awards were presented in a joint event with the Final Degree Projects with a Gender Perspective Awards, promoted by the UOC’s Equality Unit, and the Equit@t Awards for videos in the field of gender and technology, promoted by the UOC’s Faculty of Computer Science, Multimedia and Telecommunications. During the event, Cecilia Castaño, Honorary Professor of Applied Economics at the Complutense University of Madrid and founder of the Gender and ICT research programme at IN3 in 2006, gave a speech entitled “Gender, Science and Technology: Pending Gaps”, in which she contextualised the current situation regarding gender inequalities in the digital society. Cecilia Castaño highlighted the decline in the number of female professionals in the ICT sector in the European Union and in Spain between 2010 and 2021. She also emphasized the potential biases and gender imbalances in the design, production and control of technologies, as well as their separation from the field of care (both paid and unpaid), which is essential to sustain life and which is undervalued, precarious and traditionally developed by women.

 

Cecilia Castaño gave a speech on the persistent gender gaps in science and technology.

 

Cecilia Castaño identified organisational barriers (such as a male-dominated organisational culture and stereotypes about women’s inferior talent), leadership barriers (the lack of women in top positions in companies) and life barriers (related to women’s greater responsibility for caring tasks in the private and family sphere) as reasons for the lack of women in technological STEM fields. “For the technological and digital revolution of artificial intelligence to serve humanity and not the other way round, it is necessary that those who manage life also manage power, and that those who manage power also take care of the daily care of life,” she said. Among the conclusions, she stressed the need to integrate digital technology into predominantly female fields of study (such as social sciences, humanities, and life sciences) and to humanise computing, digitalisation and artificial intelligence by putting people and well-being at the centre of their development.

 

The ceremony also included a presentation by Marta Aymerich, Director of the UOC’s eHealth Centre, who analysed the causes of the under-representation of women in science and how to combat gender inequalities in academic careers. The institutional welcome was given by Manel Jiménez-Morales, UOC’s Vice President for Alliances, Community and Culture.

 

Watch the video summary of the Awards ceremony:

 

Related links:

 

2024, February 15. UOC News. “Students appreciate training in gender equality, but they don’t think they need it”. Interview with Cristina Miralles, researcher awarded the 2023 Cecilia Castaño Award for best doctoral thesis on gender inequalities in science and technology.

2024, March 6. UOC’s Faculty of Economics and Business Blog. “Arran del meu TFM estic més compromesa que mai a canviar estereotips i rols de gènere”. Interview with Cristina Delgado, awarded with the 2023 Cecilia Castaño Award for best master’s degree final project on gender inequalities in science and technology.

See the winners of the Cecilia Castaño Awards 2023, the Final Degree Projects with a Gender Perspective Awards, and Equit@T Awards in this thread.