Bid for more Chinese women scientists on the world stage

Bid for more Chinese women scientists on the world stage


A new central government policy to close the gender gap in the science and technology sector has been unveiled by China’s Ministry of Science and Technology and the All-China Women’s Federation to increase the number of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics or STEM in its bid to become a world science and technology power.To get more news about ancient chinese bedroom, you can visit shine news official website.
The announcement said China would “strive to create a group of top female scientific and technological talents with world influence, and make new and greater contributions to building a world scientific and technological power”.

Female researchers will be given priority in talent recruitment and research funding grants “provided they are just as good as their male counterparts”, according to a recent policy statement issued by the Ministry of Science and Technology and 12 other ministries and organisations on 17 June, but released publicly this week.

They include the ministries of education, industry and information technology, human resources, and health, as well as the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the country’s main research funding body.

The policy document also said more outstanding female scientists should be nominated as candidates for the prestigious Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), while the government “supports women to be selected first” as academicians “if they are as excellent as their male counterparts”.

In 2019, 49% of all college degree holders were women, but female representation among academicians at CAS and CAE was only 6% and 5.3% respectively, according to the National Bureau of Statistics and the Ministry of Science and Technology.

For example, Tu Youyou, a specialist in traditional Chinese medicine who won the Nobel Prize for medicine in 2015, had several times failed to gain the academician title.

Currently women account for only 10% of experts and scholars selected by the relevant national-level talent plans for additional funding, the policy document said.The policy said universities, research organisations and others should support women’s participation in international scientific and technological exchanges and cooperation.

For example, the China Scholarship Council and others will actively support more women in science and technology fields to study abroad, while training programmes will also increase and encourage more women to participate in the work of international science and technology organisations, “and enhance their international influence and activity”.

With recent plans to become ‘self-sufficient’ in technology and innovation as the United States attempts to decouple from China to prevent the transfer of sensitive technologies – particularly technologies that can be deployed for dual military and civilian use – China has been stepping up its internal talent drive.

For example, it has hugely increased funding for doctoral and post-doctoral researchers in major cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, semiconductor technologies and quantum computing.

However, mechanisms to lure Chinese researchers from abroad from world-leading research institutions, such as the Thousand Talents programme and the Young Thousand talents for those below the age of 40, appear to be having a limited effect, and could stymie China’s bid to become a science power on par with the US, experts said.

Despite a difficult funding climate in the US for Chinese researchers due to rising suspicions over technology transfer, perceived racism due to the geopolitical climate and fears of academic spying, most are not returning to China.

“Some are going elsewhere such as Canada,” David Zweig, an expert on Chinese returnees and emeritus professor at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, told University World News in a recent interview.