UN Women Executive Director Visits ESO in Chile and Reinforces STEM Collaboration

On Monday, April 29th, a delegation from UN Women, an organisation dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women, visited the European Southern Observatory (ESO) offices in Santiago, Chile, to further advance the inclusion of women in astronomical observatories and Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines.

The delegation, headed by Sima Sami Bahous, UN Women’s Executive Director, and María Noel Vaeza, UN Women’s Regional Director for the Americas and the Caribbean, was received by Bárbara Nuñez, ESO Regional Relations Officer and Luis Chavarría, ESO Representative in Chile. Bahous also met virtually with Xavier Barcons, ESO Director General, and part of the team of the Chilean Non-Governmental Organisation Ingeniosas, which promotes and supports the inclusion of young girls into STEM fields.

During the meeting, the delegations discussed the outcomes of the Memorandum of Understanding between ESO and UN Women, signed in 2020 and renewed earlier this year. This collaboration aims to promote science and engineering among girls and adolescents, empower marginalised women in Chile through training and education, and advocate for adopting and implementing the Women Empowerment Principles.

In 2021, ESO and UN Women launched a training program focused on telescope optical maintenance for professional astronomical observatories, targeting women in the Antofagasta Region. This initiative enhanced women’s technical skills and increased job opportunities in traditionally male-dominated fields. Following a selection process, three participants were hired by ESO through the LINKES contractor and are now employed in operations at ESO’s Paranal Observatory.

​​Over the next three years, ESO and UN Women will replicate this successful program with young girls and women from Antofagasta technical schools, focusing on underprivileged communities. Additionally, they will collaborate with educational institutions and students to encourage women to pursue educational and employment opportunities in STEM while also working to eliminate gender stereotypes.

Courtesy of European Southern Observatory