The United Nations identified a significant gender gap that persisted throughout the years at all levels of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines all over the world. Even though women have made tremendous progress toward increasing their participation in higher education, they are still under-represented in these fields.

So did you know?

• Women are typically given smaller research grants than their male colleagues and, while they represent 33.3% of all researchers, only 12% of members of national science academies are women;
• In cutting-edge fields such as artificial intelligence, only one in five professionals (22%) 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% of engineering graduates and 40% of graduates in computer science and informatics;
• Female researchers tend to have shorter, less well-paid careers. Their work is underrepresented in high-profile journals and they are often passed over for promotion.

This Day – International Day of Women and Girls in Science – celebrated on the 11th of February is a reminder that women and girls play a critical role in science and technology communities and that their participation should be strengthened.

Although Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields are widely regarded as critical to national economies, so far most countries, no matter their level of development, have not achieved gender equality in STEM, LASIGE tries its best to support and stimulate women and girls in science.