About FIPWiSE
FIPWiSE (Women in Science and Education) is an initiative that was launched on 11 February 2020 on the United Nations’ International Day of Women and Girls in Science.
FIPWiSE aspires to champion and enable women in pharmaceutical sciences and pharmacy education to achieve their fullest potential, and to attract female students and young professionals into these fields. It is currently chaired by Claire Thompson (UK) and its activities are delivered by an international group of volunteer women in science and education.
Prioritizing women in science and education
Although progress is being made to increase women’s involvement across different fields, women are still underrepresented across the wider science, technology and education sector. Also, significant gender differences have been described throughout academic careers across science and technology in almost all countries. Women make up the majority of the global health workforce as well as most of the pharmaceutical workforce. However, women are still underrepresented in leadership roles and decision-making positions in academic and scientific fields. The FIP Women in Science and Education programme (FIPWiSE) aspires to champion and enable women in pharmaceutical sciences and pharmacy education to achieve their fullest potential, and to attract female students and young professionals into these fields. FIPWiSE gathers experts pharmaceutical scientists and academics from around the world to identify needs and inequities of women in science and education and to provide timely, achievable and sustainable solutions. This programme is delivered as part of FIP’s wider portfolio on equity and equality in pharmacy: EquityRx which supports the global implementation of FIP Development Goal 10 – Equity and Equality. FIPWiSE also aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 Gender Equity, with a focus on women in pharmaceutical science and education.
Objectives:
FIPWiSE priority work streams 2020 and beyond
During 2020, we began building our FIPWiSE community and raising awareness. Achieving gender equity and empowering women while leaving no one behind is not a solo sport. We therefore recognise and take this opportunity to thank all FIPWiSE team members, supporters and partners.
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Toolkit: FIPWiSE toolkit for positive practice environments for women in science and educationThe FIPWiSE Enabling Workplaces Working Group and contributors from all around the world have compiled this toolkit to highlight the need for, and raise the awareness of, PPEs for women in science and education. This toolkit creates a repository of areas for progression and possible solutions which can be implemented by professionals, employers and policy makers to generate and maintain supportive working environments. The toolkit focuses on education and science workplaces, but has the opportunity to expand learnings across the entire pharmaceutical workforce |
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Enabling positive practice environments for women in science and education with FIPWiSE toolkitPositive practice environments (PPEs) support the recruitment and retention of employees, enable the delivery of high-quality work outcomes, and benefit society as a whole. It is necessary to provide equal rights, obligations, equal treatment, and opportunities for all genders according to their needs to achieve gender equity and PPEs in workplaces. FIP developed the FIPWiSE (the FIP women in science and education initiative) toolkit for positive practice environments for women in science and education to support and enable them by building on the World Health Professional Alliances (WHPA) PPE campaign. FIP is a founding member of the WHPA and used the toolkit as a basis to describe and identify factors that enable PPEs from a pharmaceutical science and pharmacy education perspective. The toolkit provides a set of possible solutions related to women in science and education for individuals, employers, institutions, and policymakers, as well as real-life exam
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FIPWiSE 2020 activity reportCelebrating FIPWiSE achievements and highlights from FIPWiSE’s story over 2020
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Supporting young professionals and students against COVID-19 related disruptions to education and researchFIPWiSE released a special edition newsletter featuring stories of young female professionals and pharmacy students and how they adapted to learning under the COVID-19 pandemic. There was a common undertone of hope and persistence in all the stories |
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EquityRx women in pharmacy blogsFIPWiSE contributes to the EquityRx women in pharmacy blogs to offer a platform to women in the pharmacy profession to talk about their career development and share views on gender equity in pharmacy. |
Reflecting on successes and looking to the future: Showcase of the FIP Women in Science and Education ProgrammeTo celebrate 3rd anniversary of FIPWiSE programme, a special event titled Reflecting on successes and looking to the future: Showcase of the FIP Women in Science and Education Programme was conducted on 14 February 2023. |
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FIPWiSE Women’s leadership labWomen are powerful agents of change, and the benefits and effectiveness of equitable representation in leadership and decision-making are evident. To discuss the under-representation of women in decision-making processes, FIPWiSE organised an influential virtual leadership lab alongside the FIP Virtual 2020 Congress. We featured the following inspirational speakers:
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FIPWiSE Web Panel: “COVID-19: Women front and centre”The FIPWiSE Web Panel, part of FIP’s “Responding to the pandemic together” series, took place in June 2020.The session was moderated by Claire Thompson, FIPWiSE chair (UK) and facilitated by Nilhan Uzman, lead for education policy and implementation, FIPWiSE programme lead (The Netherlands). Featured in the web panel were a diverse group of panellists:
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We released the FIPWiSE Words video series alongside the launch of FIPWiSE on February 11 2020, which allows women and their male allies in science and education to share their stories.
Watch the “FIPWiSE Words” launch video and learn about FIPWiSE’s vision, mission and priority advocacy areas here.
Watch the “FIPWiSE Words” first anniversary video and learn about FIPWiSE’s exciting plans for 2021 and beyond here.
Watch the other episodes of “FIPWiSE Words” by clicking below:
For all FIPWiSE Words video series, please visit here.
Hosted by FIPWiSE chair Claire Thompson, the “FIPWiSE & Fearless” podcasts features interviews with women in pharmaceutical science and education. Listeners will learn how speakers have carved their career paths, and the challenges they have faced along the way. We will also hear about when they have been fearless, and what happened as a result.
For all FIPWiSE & Fearless episodes, please visit here.
FIPWiSE is collaborating with FIP YPG on a mentorship programme to support young women professionals by recognising the gender-specific challenges they face in areas of pharmaceutical sciences and pharmacy education.
FIPWiSE provided mentors from the FIPWiSE community who are linked up with mentees. The mentors are linked with their mentees for a period of nine months, with the intention of setting goals, providing general advice, tips and strategies to navigate gender-specific challenges, and helping both young female and male pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists to keep on track of their career development.
To learn more about this programme, visit here.
To celebrate the 2nd anniversary of FIPWiSE, on International Day of Women and Girls in Science, FIP launched a new initiative: the FIPWiSE Rising Stars list.
A list of “FIPWiSE Rising Stars” will recognise exceptional women in pharmaceutical sciences and pharmacy education, selected by a FIPWiSE panel, based on achievements, innovations, and significant impacts made. The list aims to foster equity, equality, diversity and inclusion among individuals, organisations and policy makers.
You can watch the video to find more about FIPWiSE Rising Stars initiative:
2022 FIPWiSE Rising Stars
You may get to know 2022 FIPWiSE rising stars and tune in to the video chats from here.
The FIPWiSE Rising Stars list aims to encourage and inspire women in pharmaceutical sciences and pharmacy education, sitting alongside existing mentorship programmes. Please see below the suggestion criteria:
*Post BPharm/MPharm/PharmD, if the applicant’s current career is in pharmacy and is therefore as a result of these degrees; OR post BSc/MSc/PhD, if the applicant’s current career is in pharmaceutical sciences or in academia, research or industry, where the degree is required to be able to hold their position.
We collect inspiring and empowering resources to support women in pharmaceutical sciences and pharmacy education. They include articles, books, videos and assessments. We will continue to update this list of resources as we explore them.
List of external resources: