CTA has dressed its corporate logo in purple and is launching a campaign on social networks during the week of March 7th to 13rd to join the commemoration of International Women’s Day on March 8th.
CTA works for gender equality and more than 66% of its workforce is made up of women. The foundation maintains a firm commitment, among others, to Goal 5 of the SDGs set by the UN: “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”.
Although much progress has been made in recent years, there is still much to be achieved in many aspects, and also in the field of innovation, in which we work at CTA.
The She Figures 2021 report, a European Commission publication on gender statistics and indicators in research and innovation, points out that the gender gap in education is decreasing, but women continue to be underrepresented in research and innovation, based on their lower participation in careers related to this area, known as STEM (Science, Technology, Economics and Maths). Women make up only about a third of researchers (33%) and, at the highest academic level, women remain underrepresented, holding around a quarter of chairs (26%). In addition, they are less likely to find employment as female scientists and engineers (41%) and are underrepresented among self-employed professionals in the fields of science, engineering and ICT (25%).
Why is purple color used for Women’s Day?
The purple color has become a symbol of 8M, of feminism and the defense of women’s rights. There is no single theory as to why. The most basic argument is that purple is the result of mixing pink and blue, which traditionally identified the male and female sexes, but there are several historical events linked to the representativeness of this color:
- On the one hand, it is attributed to the purple color of the smoke from the fire that occurred in 1911 at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory in New York. The workers in this factory complained about the terrible working conditions and 146 people died in the fire, of which 123 were women. It is said that the smoke coming out of the factory chimneys during the fire was purple due to the color of the fabrics of the shirts they were working with.
- On the other hand, the English suffragists already used the color purple in 1908, along with green and white to represent the feminist struggle.
In any case, purple is the color of the defense of women’s rights and the fight for equality.
