Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine 26-1 - 27

Fig. 4. Women in Measurement 2012 at I2MTC in Graz (Austria) Panelists
and the Organizer Dr. Kristen Donnell with panelists Dr. Marlene Fritz, Ms.
Charna Parkey, Dr. Jenny Wirandi, and Dr. Sarah Seguin (Archive of the IEEE
Instrumentation and Measurement Society).
The same can be said for the Video Tutorial Program (e.g.,
Dr. Mihaela Albu, who is also a Distinguished Lecturer) and
the upcoming IMS Short Courses.
The technical activities are the core of the IMS. Besides authoring
journal and conference papers, the participation of
women in editorial activities has increased greatly. Dr. Wendy
Van Moer led the Instrumentation &Measurement Magazine as
Editor-in-Chief, and a number of women are now part of the
Editorial Board of the IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and
Measurement of the newly launched Open Journal of Instrumentation
and Measurement.
Visibility of the technical achievements of women in I&M
has been pursued by IMS in many ways. Initiatives ranged
from a full issue of Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine
dedicated to women's contributions [7] (Fig. 5) to sponsoring
speakers reaching beyond the IMS Membership, like Prof.
Alessandra Flammini at the IEEE WIE Extraordinary Women
Extraordinary Science Seminar Series.
A lot of work is left to do to reduce barriers, and effective
actions differ in different parts of the world (one more reason
to aim at geographic diversity!) and in different professional
environments. However, this also indicates that the push to increase
diversity in an all-round sense is a powerful lever, as it
can move a very large, intricate system of artificial boundaries,
that have previously prevented the explosion of the creative
and innovative potential of a large group of individuals, which
in turn is necessary to resolve the environmental and social
challenges ahead.
A Personal Experience of Diversity in
the IMS
Just few more lines to reference my personal experience with
women's advancement, with the purpose of exemplifying one
way to get involved. My first contact more than 20 years ago
February 2023
Fig. 5. IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine, vol. 19, no. 3, June
2016. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/tocresult.jsp?isnumber=7477933 (©2016
IEEE).
with WIE and the strong women and advocates in IMS put me
in contact with amazing women in science and technology and
shed a very different light onto the idea that often women in
tech do not need nor want " special treatment " because " we
are just like them, " a misconception that harms diversity. Oftentimes,
special treatment is in fact just a way to see fair
counterbalancing and fair opportunity, and to be like the others
means to adhere to some dominant, not necessarily better
diversified or inclusive, model.
The learning and training opportunities I found in IEEE
and IMS on gender, diversity, equity and inclusion go a long
way beyond the scope of the professional society to positively
affect my daily professional life.
I took home, to the office and to the classroom many good
lessons, like being vocal about gender, diversity, equity and
inclusion, advocating its value, using inclusive language, because
the words matter during transition periods and keep the
gender, diversity, equity and inclusion criteria firmly in mind
in decision-making.
The idea that there is a " normal " or " normalized "
group, our society, in which diverse individuals (and specifically
women) need to integrate, and the concept itself
IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine
27
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Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine 26-1

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