I hope that with our own might, women researchers in BRIN would help push for a research environment that could create inventions and innovations as well as contribute to the nation's progress and bring benefits for the peopleJakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia's women researchers must partake in encouraging the national research environment to contribute to the nation's progress and benefit the people, National Research and Innovation Agency's (BRIN's) Health Research Organization Head NLP Indi Dharmayanti stated.
"I hope that with our own might, women researchers in BRIN would help push for a research environment that could create inventions and innovations as well as contribute to the nation's progress and bring benefits for the people," Dharmayanti noted.
Speaking during BRIN's virtual discussion to commemorate Kartini Day as observed here on Thursday, she cited UNESCO's data while the gender discrepancy in science remains wide, as male scientists still account for 70 percent of the researchers while women only occupy 30 percent.
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The organization head remarked that out of the 4,102 BRIN researchers, some 56 percent of the researchers were men, while the remaining 44 percent were women.
Meanwhile, BRIN's Agriculture and Food Research Organization Head, Puji Lestari, noted that according to the agency's data, some 50 percent of the researchers in her organization were women.
The research organization’s human resources record demonstrated that women researchers played an equal role and provided equal contributions to the national food resilience research, she remarked.
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The research organization head also expressed optimism that women researchers would remain persistent in their fight and not easily give up their mission as Kartini had exemplified in the past.
"This is important for researchers because our researches often fail, particularly for molecular and genomic (researches) that frequently fail. As there are a lot of pests (that cause) diseases, we must never give up and we must try more (even after we failed)," Lestari emphasized.
Kartini Day is celebrated in Indonesia on April 21 every year to commemorate women's emancipation activist RA Kartini.
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Translator: Prisca Triferna V, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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