Celebrating the diverse careers of women in nuclear safeguards while exploring ways to advance gender balance was among the topics discussed at the Symposium on International Safeguards in Vienna last week.
At two panel discussions on the topic of improving gender balance in nuclear safeguards, leading women from a range of professions provided insights into their work and shared their personal stories. The panels, which included lawyers, diplomats, engineers, scientists, policy specialists and regulators, also discussed strategies for success and made recommendations for young women looking at careers in safeguards.
“There is an opportunity to break down preconceptions around gender and background by attracting a range of different people into our organization,” said Mina Golshan, Director of the Office for Nuclear Regulation in the United Kingdom. “When upskilling safeguards workers in my organization, I noticed that a lack of preconception around gender and background worked to our advantage.”
Speakers highlighted the broad range of career options in nuclear safeguards, with one panel focusing on policy, law and regulatory careers in safeguards, and the other on science, technology, engineering and math.
Sonia Fernández-Moreno, a Planning and Evaluation Officer with the Brazilian-Argentine Agency for Accounting and Control, spent more than 15 years as a member of the IAEA’s Standing Advisory Group on Safeguards Implementation. “It is rewarding for me to share my knowledge of nuclear safeguards, non-proliferation and nuclear energy for peaceful uses. I hope my positive experience as a woman in safeguards, and as a manager for many years, may inspire the young generations to pursue rewarding careers in this relevant field.”
