Study on the sociocultural profile of women working in a Brazilian nuclear area

Abstract

Female representation in nuclear technology is still a global issue in terms of gender equality and there are still a low number of women in this area. The objective of this work was to evaluate the female participation in a nuclear research institute (an institution linked to the Sao Paulo state and the Brazilian federal government), to verify how the women who work in this unit are distributed, what is their area and position at career levels. The survey was carried out through an online form, answered voluntarily, which had questions to outline the profile of these women, as well as to understand how the female presence was shown in the workplace. The results showed that the majority profile is white women, graduate students aged up to 41 years, natives of the Southeast, predominantly from São Paulo, who are/were mentored by men, who do not know the Women in Nuclear association and a considerable percentage are unaware of the pioneer researcher in their core area, showing the lack of information about female representation in this field. It is noticed that in Brazil, the construction of an equal representation in the nuclear area is in progress and still has a long way to go, showing that research such as the present survey and dissemination of events about women is something that needs to be done more frequently to emphasize the importance of female presence in the sciences.