ENGAGEMENT AND ADVANCEMENT OF WOMEN IN CHEMICAL SAFETY AND SECURITY
Conclusion Incorporating gender into chemical safety and security is a challenging endeavour requiring a multidimensional effort to advocate for the required behavioural and regulatory changes at all levels. Families, educational institutions, mandated government agencies, public and private chemical safety and security entities should all be involved to accomplish this strategic goal. The main driver for effectively planning, designing and implementing these interventions is a genuine belief in the value of women’s inclusion in this sector. The best practices and recommendations presented in this Compendium were voiced and chosen by women working in chemistry to support the creation and implementation of gender-inclusive policies that empower women and promote gender equality in chemical safety and security. While the listed practices here presented are not exhaustive of all best practices, whose applicability can vary across country contexts, they aim to provide direction on how governmental, private and social actors can advance gender parity in this sector. In addition, it is crucial to note that the lack of gender-specific data on women in chemical safety and security has posed a significant research limitation to develop more inclusive and comprehensive gender analysis of the issue. In the future, the newly established “Women In Chemistry” network could promote data collection initiatives in order to tackle this limitation.
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