IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - December 2022 - 138

WOMEN IN ENGINEERING
Women in Blue: Toward a Better
Understanding of the Gender
Gap in Marine Robotics
By Ruxandra Lupu , Massimo Caccia, Enrica Zereik, and Rosangela Barcaro
T
he gender gap is a global
challenge bearing significant
societal consequences, as
highlighted by Caroline
Criado Perez in her book Invisible
Women [1]. Here the author points to
a male-dominated approach to all
aspects of life as a way of thinking
that has been around for millennia,
exposing data bias in a world
designed for men. Criado's reasoning
process unveils not only a bias in data
representation but also in knowledge
production. Therefore, we speak not
only about a world designed for men
but also about men. Traditionally
male-dominated fields such as
science, technology, mathematics,
and engineering (STEM) have seen
slow progress in closing the gender
gap. A recent study by the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization [2] shows that
women still account for only a third
of STEM researchers worldwide and
approximately 22% of workers in
artificial intelligence.
Moreover, it also uncovers that the
more technologically disruptive a sector
is, the fewer women can be found operating
in that area. Such is the case with
ocean science, a research area where
costly and sophisticated technology continues
to drive growth but also fuels the
request for a more skilled workforce. In
this context, the production of marine
robots furthering ocean science has led
to rapid sectoral development and a
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MRA.2022.3213467
Date of current version: 2 December 2022
Figure 1. The " Women in Blue " event at Breaking the Surface 2021, Biograd-na-moru,
Croatia, 28 September, 2021.
138 * IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE * DECEMBER 2022
renewed call for gender equality.
Although the number of associations
and initiatives supporting women in
robotics/engineering has increased over
the past few years, including the Women
in Robotics [3], Desert Wave [4], and
Women in Engineering Leadership
Association [5], there is currently a lack
of research on gender equality, especially
in marine robotics. Acknowledging the
need to do more about the low number
of women working in marine robotics,
the Marine Robotics department of the
National Research Council in Italy has
set up a dedicated initiative called
Women in Blue to address this issue.
The initial stage of the Women in
Blue initiative was implemented
between May 2021 and May 2022 and
rolled out using a mixed methodology.
The approach combined quantitative
surveys (data collected from 44 research
institutions worldwide) with semistructured
interviews led by female marine
robotics researchers (eight interviews)
and targeted events (one social event
implemented in the framework of the
Breaking the Surface conference in
2021). The findings confirmed the critical
importance of addressing the gender
gap for a more equal, diverse, and inclusive
field of marine robotics. The study
confirmed the low presence of women
in marine robotics: less than 15% of
researchers are women, and only 26% of
the surveyed teams' female members
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1885-0420
IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - December 2022

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