Open Scholarship encompasses open access to scientific information, open data, open educational resources and all other forms of openness in the modern scholarly and research environment and has fundamentally changed the way knowledge is created and shared today. The Dag Hammarskjold Library hosted a webinar on Gender Equality in Open Scholarship. The event was held within the context of the March Goal of the month: (SDG) 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
Panelists included early career researchers and leaders in Open Scholarship from various academic institutions, who engaged participants with a thought-provoking dialogue on gender equality and access to research for all. They discussed their experiences and challenges as young women in their endeavours to stay on course as advocators of Open Scholarship.
The discussion highlighted one of the key themes that were discussed at the DHL-DESA 2nd Global Open Science Conference, which underlined the importance of ensuring that scientific research was accessible to all, more so, during a time when the world is faced with a global pandemic. In her presentation, Ms. Denisse Albornoz, a digital rights specialist remarked that as much as Gender equality is a discussion, it cannot be held in insolation:
“In order to comprehensively address gender inequality in science, it is essential that we address additional forms of oppression and marginalization in the academy (e. racism, homophobia, ableism, classism, weight stigma).”
The event was attended by over 100 participants from various institutions across the globe including members of the diplomatic missions, UN depository librarians, academia, and UN staff. Ms. Tracey Peterson, the Gender Focal Person in the Outreach Division moderated the event and the engaging 20 minutes Q&A session.
More information including the recording of the webinar is available here: https://research.un.org/conferences/webinar2
