Proceedings of the conference, Brussels, April 3 to 4 2000. The conference, organised by the European Commission, covered several areas including the issue of universality and specificity where women in science are concerned, the question of a masculine bias in scientific education and careers, measuring inequality to reach equity, the positive discrimination versus mainstreaming debate and making change happen. Speakers at the event included academics, government representatives and MEPs, all of whose presentations are included in the publication.