The International Year of the Periodic Table has also provided an opportunity to discuss one of the rarely mentioned aspects of the Periodic Table: the women behind it. Shedding light on the role of women in science and in the discovery of elements is vital to better understand the lingering gender disparity, and how history has generally turned a blind eye to their plight. On 12 February, a Global Women’s Breakfast, spearheaded by IUPAC took place, with women scientists across the world coming together to celebrate women in science. EuChemS President Pilar Goya participated in the Global Breakfast in Murcia during the two-day international symposium on ‘’Setting their Table: Women and the Periodic Table of Elements’’.

Speakers at the event included Brigitte Van Tiggelen, Chair of the EuChemS Working Party on the History of Chemistry who is currently preparing a book on women and the periodic table, an EuChemS initiative for the IYPT2019. Marta Kucza from the EuChemS Secretariat presented a unique perspective on women in science through anthropological lenses.