Gender balance is one of the goals for Sustainable Development of the United Nations (UN). It is a topic of outmost importance for the society today and with a relevant impact for the IST community, which still suffers from a strongly biased gender distribution among its student population. This biased distribution, while resulting from several factors, is to a great extent the result of a traditional cultural vision of technological subjects, but does not correspond to the reality and significance of the impact and social context of Engineering today.

IST recognizes that diversity is a source of power and critical factor of success in Science and Technology. Quality and excellence require today an all-inclusive policy, where quality selection must be independent of sex, ethnicity or religion.

For these reasons, IST has a firm commitment towards equality and diversity, with the assurance that such commitment reinforces its mission, enhances its identity and contributes to excellence of its activities.

With these goals in mind, IST develops today a set of programmes and initiatives in order to promote inclusion in general, taking specially into account the promotion of gender balance.

These programmes have two main dimensions:

• Externally, on the development of actions that contribute to promote an improved gender balance among the candidates to the University on the fields of Engineering;
• Internally, supporting policies that further facilitate the career advancement of women, both on the teaching, research and administrative careers.

Best practice 2019
“Maria de Lurdes Pintasilgo Award”

Best practice 2020
“Gender Balance@Técnico”