The studies and initiatives discussed in this chapter show remarkable similarities in their ultimate objectives:

• Change institutional cultures through management policies inclusive of women at all levels and at all stages of their careers so as to accommodate a more diverse workforce.
• Provide focused support to girls and women in order to fully integrate them into the S&T enterprise.

The Advisory Panel’s own recommendations, specified throughout this report, essentially incorporate the above two fundamental objectives into proposed action items for academies. In particular, the remaining four chapters focus on what academies can do to attract girls and women into science and technology, how they can support women in S&T education and careers, and how they can improve the gender balance in their own organizations and research laboratories. Central to these chapters, in effect, is good management practice.

Of course, the Advisory Panel’s aim is not just that academies adopt such practices but that they also serve as models for the numerous entities they influence. Audiences that need to be engaged include governments, nongovernmental organizations, professional bodies and learned societies, companies and other private entities, S&T students, scientists and engineers themselves, career counsellors, and educators at all levels.

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