The event was organized by ICMAT, in the framwork of SOMMa, and counted with the following programme: 

3 PM: Greeting and introduction.

• María Blasco, director of the Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO) and president of the Alliance of Severo Ochoa and María de Maeztu Centers (SOMMa)
• José María Martell, director of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences (ICMAT)
• Ana Bravo, president of the ICMAT Equality Commission.

3:20 PM: Round Table: "Equality Policies in Science".

Participants: María Blasco; Zulema Altamirano, director of the Women and Science Unit of the Ministry of Science and Innovation; and Rosina López-Alonso Fandiño, vice-president of Organization and Institutional Relations of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). Moderator: Patricia Fernández de Lis, editor-in-chief of Science and Technology of El País.

4:30 PM: Conference “Women and STEM: Are Differences in Education and Career due to Stereotypes, Interest or Family?”.

By Donna Ginther, Distinguished Professor and Director of the Institute of Policy and Social Research at the University of Kansas, USA

Abstract: Researchers from economics, sociology, psychology, and other disciplines have studied the persistent under-representation of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This chapter summarizes this research. We argue that women’s under-representation is concentrated in the math-intensive science fields of geosciences, engineering, economics, math/computer science and physical science. Our analysis concentrates on the environmental factors that influence ability, preferences, and the rewards for those choices.  We examine how gendered stereotypes, culture, role models, competition, risk aversion, and interests contribute to gender STEM gap, starting at childhood, solidifying by middle school, and affecting women and men as they progress through school, higher education, and into the labor market. Our results are consistent with preferences and psychological explanations for the under-representation of women in math-intensive STEM fields.

5:30 PM: Closing. Noelia Vera, Secretary of State for Equality and Against Gender Violence.