Measures to promote the participation of women in science were presented by Dr Nancy J Lane of the department of zoology at Cambridge to the Women and Science seminar in Brussels. These are her ideas:

Schools:

Better careers advice on potential careers in science, engineering and technology

Science teachers well trained in both science and in equal opportunities

Work experience in labs during holidays for both students and careers advisors

Employers:

Good childcare and holiday play schemes

Equal opportunities in recruitment and family-friendly policies for staff

Mentoring programmes

Keeping in touch, returner and retraining schemes for women in science, engineering and technology after a career break.

Higher education institutions:

Replace chronological age with `academic age'

Flexible fellowships

Better links with industry

Confidence-building or personal development programmes for women

Strategies to raise awareness to possible gender bias in assessment and lecturing methodologies

Collection of data on recruitment and promotion of women employed in science, engineering and technology

New indicators and procedures to monitor progress of women in science, engineering and technology on an annual basis.

To heighten awareness of women in science:

New databases on women working in science, engineering and technology

Women being appointed to national committees and councils to serve as role models

The media could make more effort to raise the profile of women in science, engineering and technology both to negate conventional stereotyping and to illustrate that a successful career is entirely possible for women.

Many such recommendations were made in the British report, The Rising Tide. Lane chaired the working party which produced this report. Perhaps the most important recommendation was the establishment of a development unit in central government, according to Lane. "Without this unit, progress would be much slower and fewer improvements implemented," she says.