A push for full and equal access and participation for women and girls in science

FEBRUARY 11 is the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, with this year’s theme emphasising full and equal access an d participation for women and girls in science.

Science and gender equality are both vital for the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the United Nations says. And over the past decades, the global community has made a lot of effort in inspiring and engaging women and girls in science. Yet women and girls continue to be excluded from participating fully.

The UN says the day was established in 2015 in order to achieve full and equal access to and participation in science for women and girls, and further achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.

“Recognising the role of women and girls in science, not only as beneficiaries, but also as agents of change… [this year’s recognition] will focus on ‘Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion…’,” the UN said. 

Did you know?

• Women are typically given smaller research grants than their male colleagues and, while they represent 33.3 per cent of all researchers, only 12 per cent of members of national science academies are women.

• In cutting-edge fields such as artificial intelligence, only one in five professionals (22 per cent) is a woman.

• Despite a shortage of skills in most of the technological fields driving the Fourth Industrial Revolution, women still account for only 28 per cent of engineering graduates and 40 per cent of graduates in computer science and informatics.

• Female researchers tend to have shorter, less well-paid careers. Their work is under-represented in high-profile journals and they are often passed over for promotion.