OECD-NEA conduct public survey of women in the nuclear sector
The Nuclear Energy Agency (OECD-NEA) is reminding the nuclear community of its survey for women in the nuclear sector. The anonymous survey is open to all women who have work experience within the nuclear sector or a related field.
JULY 20, 2021 – The Nuclear Energy Agency (OECD-NEA) public survey of women in the nuclear sector is available in eight languages and is open until Jul. 31. The details and a link to the survey are below.
Despite substantial progress in recent years, women are significantly under-represented in technical and leadership positions in the nuclear sector. This lack of gender diversity affects the ability of the nuclear science and technology sector to communicate effectively with the broader society and reduces the talent pool needed for future innovation. As a result, this issue may have substantial impacts on the future use of nuclear technologies for energy, medical, industrial and other vital applications. Therefore, attracting and retaining more women into careers in nuclear science and engineering is an important goal pursued by many NEA member countries.
The NEA is working to develop policies for substantive action in order to support its members to achieve this important goal. To this end, the Agency established a task group, which found that data on the role women play in nuclear organisations of all types across member states is lacking. In particular, qualitative data about women in the nuclear sector is needed in order to target specific problems and develop policy solutions.
In this context, the NEA and its member countries have developed a qualitative survey about women’s experiences in the nuclear energy sector. This survey will provide the first international snapshot of women’s perceptions of gender balance in the nuclear workplace, their aspirations and professional development, barriers and challenges that need to be addressed, and opinions about possible solutions. Women across the world—in NEA member countries and beyond—are invited to participate and share their views. Anonymity will be carefully protected to allow participants to provide the freest possible input.
The results of this survey will enable the Agency to develop practical policy advice to member countries, and will provide crucial data for the international community to formulate actions to improve the gender balance in the nuclear sector.
The survey is available between now and Jul. 31 in English, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Romanian, Russian and Spanish. All survey responses will be held in strict confidence with only aggregated results to be published.
Click here to complete the anonymous survey.