Today, February 11, the International Women and Girls Day in Science is marked, which aims to promote the integral and equal access of women to these areas of knowledge.

Women's equal participation in science is one of the objectives of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of the UN, and this date has been celebrated since 2016, after approval by the United Nations Assembly.Data on women's participation in Science reveals that, worldwide, 28% of researchers are women, reducing this number to 11% for senior researchers. In scientific areas, as in others, women continue to be under-represented in management or decision-making positions, which also gives them less visibility and prominence within research teams, for example being only 3% of the number of women who have so far received Nobel Prizes in the "STEM" areas. The figures show that, despite the growing number of women licensed in "Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics", the set of scientific areas designated in English by STEM, there is still much work to be done in promoting access and participation women's full and egalitarian in science. In this context, Portugal stands out for the positive, with the OECD country in which more women attend degrees in the STEM areas: 57%, well above the OECD average of 39%, following the national trend of more than 50% of graduates and doctorates being today Women. Among the reasons pointed out for the high rates of frequency of degrees in the STEM areas in Portugal are the programs of scientific dissemination at the national level, such as the Ciência Viva program, which in the last 20 years has aroused curiosity, the willingness to know, and has opened up horizons of possibility for many, regardless of their gender. However, after we have reached such positive rates in the frequency of STEM degrees by women, the question remains: if the majority of STEM graduates in Portugal are women, which is happening during their journey so that there is still a under-representation of women in management positions, both in science and in companies?  And what measures can be proposed to overcome this limitation? What remains to be done now so that these women, when they finish their degree or PhD, have equal opportunities for access to leadership positions and career development? These are issues that concern FREE, which despite seeing as very positive the evolution seen in recent decades in our country, it is committed to contributing to the discussion on the promotion of public policies that reduce gender inequality that facilitate the reconciliation between professional career and family life for men and women. At the same time, the party argues that everyone should study and develop areas where they have the greatest vocation, fighting against stereotypes associated with gender roles.