International Day of Women and Girls in Science

  Around the world, governments, universities, and international organizations have been designing and implementing policies to overcome the barriers mentioned in Section 2 and to promote women’s participation in scientific and technological fields . While many of these policies are targeted to solve problems related to a particular career stage, several of those actions affect more than one stage at a time. In Europe, most of the countries have undertaken efforts to incorporate gender equality in STEM. In fact, the majority of EU member countries have implemented policies related to women and science , committing to gender mainstreaming, creating National Committees on Women and Science, publishing sex-disaggregated statistics, and promoting gender studies and research. However, the implementation of more specific policies varies widely across the region (see Table 2) A first group of programs centers on increasing women’s participation in tertiary science education , including...

 A full understanding of the factors constraining women’s career paths in STEM has often been hampered by the persistence of several myths and clichés. Table 1 presents some of these commonly held beliefs and contrasts them with existing evidence. The various factors that have been identified in the economic literature at different stages of the career pipeline are then presented (Figure 1). These include: (i) higher education; (ii) stage of career development; and (iii) scientific productivity. Although some factors specifically affect a particular career stage, several of them are present throughout the career path. Although the first interaction with science and mathematics occurs in elementary education and secondary education , tertiary education is the critical step in which students decide their future careers. The transition from high school to higher education has been identified as the point at which both the largest proportion of students leave the science and...

 In particular, shortages in the supply of trained professionals in disciplines related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) may weaken the innovation potential of a society. Empirical studies show that countries with a higher proportion of engineering graduates tend to grow faster than countries with a higher proportion of graduates in other disciplines. In addition, future technical change is likely to be linked to abilities and tasks related to STEM disciplines . A wide gender gap has persisted over the years at all levels of STEM disciplines throughout the world. Although women have made important advances in their participation in higher education, they are still underrepresented in these fields. This problem is more acute at the senior-most levels of academic and professional hierarchies. Latin America is no exception. Although 60 percent of tertiary graduates and 45 percent of researchers in Latin America are women - surpassing all other regions, inc...

Unite for STEM! Cross-sectoral partnerships are key to building a sustainable STEM ecosystem.

Skill gaps are a key constraint to innovation , hindering productivity growth and economic development. In particular, shortages in the supply of trained professionals in disciplines related to Science, Technology, Engineering, andMathematics (STEM) may weaken the innovation potential of a society. A wide gender gap has persisted over the years at all levels of STEM disciplines  throughout the world. Although the participation of women in higher education has increased, they are still underrepresented. Latin America is no exception. The untapped potential of fully trained and credentialed women represents an important lost opportunity not only for women themselves but also for society as a whole. Although there is growing recognition of the importance of the issue in developing countries, Latin America faces a lack of information that prevents researchers from deepening the understanding of this phenomenon and policymakers from designing effective interventions. This note ...