Caroline Herschel was an assistant to her brother William, an astronomer and telescope builder in England. While she was working with him, she discovered new nebulae and star clusters. Ada Lovelace was a British mathematician and writer considered the first computer programmer in history and the person who started the computer system we know today. Marie Curie was a Polish physicist and chemist who pioneered the study of radiation, laying the foundations for modern nuclear science. Lise Meitner was a Swedish physicist who calculated the energy released in nuclear fission.
The list could go on, since science is surrounded by stories of women who have contributed important research, which in one way or another helps to improve the lives of human beings.
And yet, despite this, currently, 30% of researchers are women, according to the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture. Stereotypes hide an important part of the scientific story and perpetuate gender inequality in access to these fields of study and careers.
In present-day Mexico, Dr. María Esperanza Martínez Romero, researcher and head of the Genomic Ecology Program at the Center for Genomic Sciences from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), studies the relationship between beneficial bacteria and plant health.
At the Center, there is a relatively small group of researchers, organized into seven Programs or Laboratories, focused on the areas of microbial and plant genomics, ecological research and, recently, also on aspects of human genomics.
To get to the point where she is currently, Dr. Martínez Romero studied, with the support of his family, for a degree in Biomedical Research.
This, he says, was not easy, because when he started his studies he realized that science requires a lot of time and sacrifice. However, with the help of his father, a teacher and psychological therapy, he was able to move on and finish his studies.
“In college, there was so much pressure and stress, that there was a moment when I said goodbye. I told my dad and a teacher the news, but they didn’t let me, they motivated me. My teacher sent me to therapy in the Department of Psychology at UNAM. I had about four sessions, but they told me that my mental structure was very healthy and that it was not necessary for me to drop out of the university. I made the decision to leave the laboratory that was stressing me out and entered another and that helped me, ”he explains to UN News.
Martínez Romero is specialized in nitrogen fixation to develop sustainable agriculture.
Why the plants?
Esperanza says that she always had the romantic idea of doing neuroscience, however, when she discovered that to study the brain it is necessary to experiment with animals, she deserted. She didn’t like the idea of having to open an animal, so she decided to focus on plant biology.
“I wanted to understand our brain. I toured many laboratories in neurosciences. Everywhere to work the brain, you have to work with some animal, but I could never do that. So I said: If I can’t do animal biology, I’ll do plant biology..”
After several years of study, the effort paid off. In 1991, Esperanza Martínez discovered that the ‘rizobium tropici’ strain (a group of bacteria) could provide high levels of nitrogen to legumes, even in stressful situations caused by soil acidity, metal content or high temperatures.
She is currently focused on her work related to nitrogen fixation* which, in his opinion, is the ideal way to achieve sustainability. The doctor indicates that nitrogen fixation is key to the development of sustainable agriculture, benefiting farmers in Mexico and around the world.
“Recently I have been investigating nitrogen fixation in animals. For example, termites fix nitrogen with bacteria that live in their intestines and thus compensate, since their diet is very poor. We thought that if we explore this, maybe it can’t be so far away that we could do without so much animal protein and we could fix nitrogen. That is our hope in the long term, we are going to try to understand nitrogen fixation in humans.”
In addition to directing this research, the Mexican scientist published a manual on biofertilization for farmers, has given conferences and workshops for the sector, and has undertaken reforestation programs using nitrogen-fixing legumes.
women and science
In 2020, Dr. Martínez Romero was recognized with the International Prize L’Oréal-UNESCO “Women and Science”, for all his research related to the use of bacteria. As a result of his research, there is an increase in agricultural productivity that contributes to food security and reduces the use of synthetic fertilizers.
“It was a great pleasure that they gave it to me. They separate us by region, we are in Latin America, there is the region of the United States, Asia, Africa. I believe that this division is good because the abilities that we have by region to do research are different, since the resources are not compared. In Latin America there are many countries that send many candidates and the choice is difficult. Once it was my turn to participate in the jury and I realized that there are many candidates, there are many who have a resume very solid. So you are competing with an important group of scientists and the chances that they will give it to you are very low. I was very happy.”
Each year, the International Women in Science Award honors five eminent women scientists with outstanding careers from five regions of the world.
In a purposeful message to the role of women in science, the General secretary of the UN, recently highlighted an equation: ‘Science will be better when more women and girls participate in it.’ He added that they bring diversity to research, expand the pool of professionals in the field, and bring new perspectives to science and technology, something that benefits everyone.
Dr. Esperanza reflects on the scarcity of women scientists in science and realizes that in the Research Center to which she belongs, of the total number of researchers there are, only six are women.
“I was reflecting on what happened to us at our Research Center because we are six women out of 27 researchers, we are not even a third. I can’t find the explanation of how we got to that imbalance. And the same is seen at UNAM, UNAM has many more men in management positions. Where do we lose the race? ”, She questions, worried.
Scientific research in the laboratories of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. Photo: IAEA/Dean Calma
Inequality
For the scientist, the reason for this is not due to abilities, but to gender, since that a woman, in addition to giving everything to achieve professional growth, at the same time becomes a mother. For Esperanza it is a biological issue, because when a woman becomes a mother, by nature she gives her body and soul to the care of her children and they become a priority.
“At a table called Women in Science, a Brazilian colleague was asked what is the most difficult part of being a scientist, she replied: ‘It has not been difficult for me to be a scientist, it has been difficult for me to be a mother’ . So, it is evident that the biological burden that we have as women is a burden that men do not have. Yes, I have seen my students begin to have children who drop out of their doctorate or delay it. And it is that, when they hire in the laboratories, they realize that they have fewer activities or fewer published articles and they do not hire them.”
To highlight the role of women in science, Martínez Romero encourages those who are interested or who are already on the path, not to desert and to find the appropriate way to complete their studies and their research.
“It is easy to get discouraged but you have to find the moments to get ahead. We must be stubborn. If I like this, you have to look for where else I can achieve it. Always.”
* Biological nitrogen fixation is a concept that refers to the use of plants and bacteria to maintain optimal levels in the soil, as it is one of the three key nutrients, along with potassium and phosphorus, for crop development, responsible for the photosynthesis process and the chlorophyll content.
This report was produced by Primavera Díaz for UN News.
