Resources for Chemistry: Information and Services Supporting the Chemical Sciences

2011 marked the 100^th anniversary of the Chemistry Nobel Prize awarded to Marie Curie. This remarkable woman, who discovered the elements radium and polonium and shed fundamental light on the nature of radioactivity, had already shared the 1903 Nobel Prize for Physics. Marie Curie's 1903 dissertation became the first doctorate in science awarded to a woman in Europe.

While the 20^th century saw more women becoming highly successful scientists, globally there remains a huge imbalance in the proportion of females in science. As UNESCO, has observed, "All over the world, scientific and technological training is too often just not available to women, including informal training. Less women than men have scientific careers and when they do, professional progress is slower. Women rarely hold high-level scientific decisional posts."

IOCD recognizes the rights of all people – women and men – to participate in careers in the sciences and, through the chemical sciences, to contribute to improving the health, wealth and wellbeing of humankind. IOCD encourages equal opportunity for girls and women everywhere to participate in education, training, research and employment in the chemical sciences.

Commitment by the development assistance community to make aid more efficient and effective and to harmonize their aid programmes and align them with the priorities of recipient countries:

• Development Cooperation Directorate (OECD-DAC). The Paris Declaration and Accra Agenda for Action. OECD, Paris 2010:here and here.