The Nuclear Education,Skills and Technology(NEST) Framework
Strategyfor Gender BalanceNE AIntroduction
The OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) Nuclear Education, Skills andTechnology (NEST) Management Board wishes to increase participation ofwomen in NEST Projects and to integrate gender equality further into theprogrammatic efforts of NEST.
The purpose of this NEST strategy is to improve gender balance throughtargeted organisational actions. These include steps to increase genderawareness, enhance monitoring and accountability, and improve the work
environment through appropriate human resource policies. NEST will utilise
the three pillars of the current NEA gender balance approach (i.e. datacollection, policy recommendation, mentoring) to guide gender equalityundertakings.
This document provides general recommendations to encourage genderbalance within the activities and at all levels of the NEST Framework: theNEST Management Board, NEST Projects, NEST Mentors and NEST Fellows.
Additional measures to ensure gender balance such as training programmes
for women, and numerical targets could be added to this NEST strategy infuture phases.

Hands-on Training on Remote Spectroscopic Analysis at Collaborative Laboratories for Advanced
Decommissioning Science (CLADS), JAEA.

2NEST STRATEGY FOR GENDER BALANCE, © OECD 2021

Challenges to gender balance• There is a low proportion of women studying science, technology,engineering and mathematics (STEM).

On average across OECD countries, women account for only 20% of
all entrants into tertiary-level science programmes and 18% of entrants
into engineering, manufacturing and construction programmes(OECD, 2019). Fewer girls studying STEM results in fewer women inthe workforce. This is a loss in qualitative and quantitative terms wheninnovation and productivity is fueled through unlocking the diverse
talent of society.
Share of STEM graduates by gender in OECD member countries, 2018

PolandUnited Kingdom
GreeceEstonia
Italy
Portugal
TurkeySwedenCanadaNew Zealand
Iceland
Slovenia
Spain
Colombia
United States
Czech Republic
FranceLatviaIsraelSlovak Republic
Denmark
Australia
NorwayRussiaIreland
Austria
MexicoLithuania
Hungary
Netherlands
Korea
Germany
Finland
Belgium
Luxembourg
Switzerland
ChileJapan

100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%

Women

Men

Note: Sum of graduates from the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) level 6 to 8.
Source: OECD (2021).

• Women are under-represented in leadership positions across allsectors (OECD, 2017). Results from a survey on Women in Nuclear(Women in Nuclear Canada, 2020) shows STEM women are about 24%of those employed at the non-supervisory level but under 16% of those
employed in senior management.

NEST STRATEGY FOR GENDER BALANCE, © OECD 2021

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• Women in the nuclear industry face barriers in navigating theircareers. Women view getting rewarded for their work as a challenge.
This is particularly the case for those that aspire to be promoted (WiNCanada, 2020).

• There is a lack of female representation in the nuclear disciplines forboth academic enrolment and graduates in the workforce (NEA, 2019).
These challenges have a direct effect on the ability of countries to maintain ahighly qualified STEM labour pool, which could have serious implications forthe future of the nuclear sector.
With this Strategy, the NEST Framework aims to address those challenges
and propose some recommendations which will contribute to achieve better
gender balance, which is key to maintaining a sustainable, vibrant, skilledworkforce in every STEM sector, in particular nuclear.

General recommendations
Some general recommendations to achieve gender balance have been laidout, including (OECD, 2013):• Promote equal access to resources, personal and professional
development opportunities and utilisation of services.

• Women and men should be equally involved in decision-making andleadership positions.

• Equal treatment should be integrated into all processes.
• Use gender-sensitive language in communications referring to oraddressing both women and men must make both genders equallyvisible.

• Ensure the collection, production and development of timely gendersensitive data and indicators.

• Mainstream the gender equality perspective in the development andevaluation of policies as well as comparing best practices.
These recommendations should also be applied to the NEST Framework instriving to achieve gender balance.

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NEST STRATEGY FOR GENDER BALANCE, © OECD 2021

Hands-on Training on Remote Spectroscopic Analysis at Collaborative Laboratories for Advanced
Decommissioning Science (CLADS), JAEA.

NEST strategic objectives
With this strategy, the NEST Management Board states its commitment to thefollowing objectives:• Raise awareness and promote knowledge within the NEST Frameworkon the importance of gender balance and its issues.

•••••

Include a gender focus in all working areas, activities and NEST Projects.
Improve gender balance in project participation for NEST Mentors.
Guarantee equal access to the selection process for NEST Fellows.
Include the perspective of gender sensitivity in NEST communications.
Encourage and promote within the NEST Alumni Network female rolemodels.

• Ensure consistency of NEST objectives with the OECD recommendations
on promoting gender equality across all sectors of society.

• Collaborate with other NEA initiatives on gender balance to ensure aholistic, full Agency approach.

NEST STRATEGY FOR GENDER BALANCE, © OECD 2021

5

Key actions to monitor and reach the NEST strategic
objectives
In order to achieve the above objectives and report on the achievements andimpacts of these recommendations on the overall NEST Framework, both aqualitative and quantitative assessment are necessary.
The NEST Management Board has established a Monitoring and Evaluation
Process, which includes data collection across projects to monitor theinvolvement of women participating in them, both as fellows and as mentors.
Interviews and questionnaires could be serving as tools to gather qualitative
information to monitor the progresses achieved.
Female role models as NEST Mentors could play an important role inpromoting and sharing awareness about gender equality.
The Management Board will evaluate existing efforts and design appropriate
initiatives to help progressing towards the objectives and highlight whereimprovements are still needed.
This NEST strategy will contribute to improve the process and will develop
best practices and share awareness on the topic of gender balance.
The NEST Management Board will decide on more specific actions andstrategies to be carried out in future.

Hands-on training on Robotics and Remote System at the Naraha Center for Remote
Control Technology Development (NARREC), JAEA.

6NEST STRATEGY FOR GENDER BALANCE, © OECD 2021

Outlook and perspectives
Developing the involvement of women and achieving gender balance in thenuclear sector (and more broadly in STEM) is essential to maintain capacityand expertise for the future. Therefore it should be at the core of NEST’sstrategic vision.
This strategy will aim to contribute to the general NEA efforts to encourage
gender balance in all activities and at all levels.
It is expected that the multi-national initiatives conducted under the NEST
Framework will strive to raise awareness and apply solutions to the issue ofgender inequality in nuclear energy. The NEST Framework could advocate toensure the nuclear energy sector is actively attracting, hiring and retaining
women, as well as sharing best practices and developing inclusive strategies.
Looking towards the future, the NEST strategy could be enlarged to include
the impact of the NEST Framework on the career development of womenparticipants.

References
NEA (2019), Mentoring a Future Generation of Female Leaders: Joshikai in
Fukushima for Future Scientists – International Mentoring Workshop in
Science, Engineering and Decommissioning, OECD Publishing, Paris,
www.oecd-nea.org/jcms/pl_15074/mentoring-a-future-generation-offemale-leaders-in-science-and-engineering-2017.
OECD (2021), “Data warehouse”, OECD.Stat (database), https://doi.org/10.1787/
data-00900-en (accessed on 09 June 2021).
OECD (2019), Education at a Glance 2019: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing,Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/f8d7880d-en.
OECD (2017), The Pursuit of Gender Equality: An Uphill Battle, OECD
Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264281318-en.
OECD (2013), “Recommendation of the Council on Gender Equality in
Education, Employment and Entrepreneurship”, OECD, Paris, https://doi.
org/10.1787/9789264279391-en.
WiN Canada (2020), Women in Nuclear Canada Member Survey: Findings - Final
Report, Strategic Policy Economics, Toronto, https://strapolec.ca/wp-content/
uploads/2020/10/WiN-Canada-Member-Survey-Final-Report-June-2020.pdf.

NEST STRATEGY FOR GENDER BALANCE, © OECD 2021

7NEA member countries(as of 1 January 2021)

Argentina

Australia

Austria

Belgium

Bulgaria

CanadaCzech Republic

Denmark

FinlandFranceGermany

GreeceHungary

Iceland

Ireland

Italy

Japan

Korea

Luxembourg

MexicoNetherlands

NorwayPolandPortugal

Romania

RussiaSlovak Republic

Slovenia

Spain

SwedenSwitzerland

TurkeyUnited Kingdom

United States

OECD/NEA, September 2021
Cover photos: Science and technology concept (ShutterStock, metamorworks); Male and female
symbols on blue background (ShutterStock, thodonal88).