Welcome to the Glass Age

187 • Higher rates of temporary employment in women in comparison with to men. • Among research staff the scissor graph (glass ceiling), remains or has even worsened in the last 10 years. • In technical staff, women are concentrated in the lower levels and are not promoted (sticky floor). • Although salaries are fixed, wage discrimination (wage gap) occurs through the productivity system (extended working hours, supplements for higher responsibility, etc.) derived from a deficient personal/family and work balance. Other forms of discrimination feature widely in congresses and conferences, where the numbers of invited talks and keynote lectures are always much lower for women compared to men. Indeed, a curious demonstration was organized at the PNCS conference in 2018 in Saint-Malo, when women attendees, close to half the total, represented less than 15% of invited talks. Figure12.3 shows their protest at the dinner. Something is moving in the glass world. To improve the visibility of women it is worth citing the special issue on Women in Glass published by the International Journal of Applied Glass Science (IJAGS). The issue highlights a group of outstanding women researchers who are developing their careers in academia, government laboratories and industry in 12 different countries and across a wide range of topics related to glass (Figure 12.4). Another interesting issue is that the job of glassblower, an eminent and nearly exclusively masculine profession, is becoming feminized and many women blowers are learning the trade (Figure 12.5). This impacted on a Spanish initiative to nominate glass- blowing as a Spanish cultural heritage, intending to preserve a centennial skill worthy of support and protection. Contacts are in progress with other nations to propose that UNESCO should nominate glass-blowing as a World Heritage of Humanity. Figure 12.4. Cover of IJAGS special issue Women in Glass. Figure 12.5. The glass blower Olga García finishes a piece in the Real Fábrica de la Granja, Spain. Source: FCNV, La Granja, Segovia, Spain.