Commissioner Pilar Lucio has participated in the Group of Friends of Women in Nuclear (GoF WiN) meeting on gender equality in Vienna (Austria). Lucio was invited by the Permanent Mission of Spain to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The commissioner presented the progress made by the Spanish Nuclear Safety Council (CSN by its acronym in Spanish) to the attendees in the path for total equality between women and men and highlighted the recently approved CSN Equality Plan. Lucio underlined the importance of talking about equal opportunities in order to promote parity in a sector in which men make up the majority.

The commissioner recalled that CSN is a privileged organization since equal access and salaries for men and women are guaranteed, as a public institution,. As a matter of fact, more than half of its staff is made up of women. She also addressed the different milestones that have taken place in recent years until the achievement of CSN's first equality plan, approved on February 10th. Lucio highlighted the creation of the governance group, the establishment of the joint commission, the diagnostic study and the results of the questionnaire on equality addressed to CSN staff, among others.

Pilar Lucio also shared with the attendees the latest activities implemented at CSN in the field of gender equality, referring mainly to the publication of CSN Style Manual, which one of the main aims is “to facilitate the inclusive language incorporation in the regulatory body”; and to promote the active participation of the Council in the preparation of content for social media related to equal opportunities and the presence of women in the scientific and nuclear field. Regarding this, an article about equality was included in the latest issue of the Alfa magazine and a special campaign on social media in the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. She also highlighted CSN's participation in other international groups involving regulatory bodies related to this issue, such as the NEA's gender equality group and the alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

GoF WiN

The Group of Friends for Women in Nuclear was established on 15 June 2017 at a meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors. The Group was created to promote the collective effort to increase, through practical initiatives, the representation of women in the IAEA Secretariat. A total of 37 countries, such as Australia, France, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom, are part of this initiative, which started in 2017, and are mainly involved in disseminating, exchanging experiences and defending the principles to further the achievement of equality.

The founding members of the initiative are Australia, Costa Rica, France, Ireland, Lithuania, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Slovenia, South Africa, Sweden, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. Membership in the Group is open to all IAEA member states upon application. Those who are interested in joining the group should contact one of the group's co-chairs.