By Mario Osava
RIO DE JANEIRO, Mar 7 2000 (IPS)

Although women remain a minority in the labour market and earn lower wages than men in Brazil, they will soon be in the majority in the field of scientific research – good news for women on the eve of International Women’s Day, to be celebrated Wednesday.

Women account for 42 percent of the 33,675 scientific and technological researchers at Brazil’s universities and other centres of education.

But the tables will soon be turned. While 72 percent of researchers 60 years or older are men, that proportion shinks to 56 percent among 35 to 44-year-olds, and to 47 percent among those under the age of 30, according to the National Council of Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), the chief source of government scholarships.

The CNPq, which carries out a census of research groups in Brazil every two years, reports that from 1995 to 1997 – the period from which the latest statistics are available – female participation in the area rose from 39 to 42 percent overall.

The increase was especially high in agricultural sciences, traditionally dominated by men. While women make up just one-tenth of the over-60 age category, they represent 56 percent of researchers under 25.

A major contribution to that change was made by Johanna Dobereiner, whose research has saved Brazil billions of dollars in fertilisers and gave a major boost to crop yield and productivity in soy beans and sugar.

Dobereiner developed technology using bacteria that trap nitrogen from the air and fix it in the soil, thus making the use of chemical products unnecessary. Besides cutting costs, the procedure helps keep the environment clean.

Since women face greater difficulties finding a job after graduating from the university, many found themselves forced to continue their studies and obtain graduate degrees and dedicate themselves to research, said Dobereiner, explaining the growth in women’s presence in the field.

Discrimination has thus been turned into a weapon strengthening the position of women, especially if predictions of a future society in which knowledge will command the greatest value pan out.

Dobereiner’s success has drawn greater numbers of women to the National Centre for Research in Agrobiology, near Rio de Janeiro, where the prominent scientist teaches upcoming generations of agronomists.

Brazilian girls and women, in line with a global trend, already far outnumber boys and men in the educational system as a whole. The latest statistics available, from 1998, indicate that women already comprise more than 60 percent of Brazil’s university graduates.

Seven young female researchers played a key role in this country’s most recent scientific discovery. Brazil is the only developing country that has deciphered the genetic sequence of a living organism, the Xylella fastidiosa bacteria, which causes serious damage to citrus crops.

The Genome Project got underway in late 1997 at a cost of 15 million dollars. Some 200 experts from 35 research centres in the state of Sao Paulo took part in the ambitious project. The final phase of the research, the most difficult, was carried out by seven female scientists. Thanks to their work, the project was completed before the expected deadline.

“We are more patient” than men, maintained Anamarcia Camargo, 28, a biologist with a doctorate in genetics and a member of the research team.

Besides making it possible to effectively combat the bacteria, which causes major losses for the state of Sao Paulo – the world’s top exporter of orange juice – the project paved the way for new genetic research, including efforts to find a cure for cancer.

Female participation in scientific research, however, continues to run into barriers. Women account for just 35 percent of scientists who have received a doctorate, and are thus subordinate to men in most research groups.

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