International Day of Women and Girls in Science

  Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) - related technical and vocational education and training (TVET) has a potentially significant role to play in providing the skills and competencies required to support innovation, productivity and international competitiveness as well as areas of social development including health and education. It is thus an important driver for achieving a range of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and contributing to inclusive and sustainable societies. STEM skills and knowledge can be required for both ‘traditional’ and ‘emerging’ occupations; STEM-related careers are often referred to as the ‘ jobs of the future ’, driving innovation, inclusive growth and sustainable development. The World Economic Forum in 2018 explains that the Fourth Industrial Revolution is changing the world of work, largely driven by technological advancements. The report shows extensive evidence of accelerating demand for a variety of wholly new...

The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) collects data relating to overall education trends and specifically on progress towards realizing Sustainable Development Goal 4 3 . Data are collected from official sources from Member States and are therefore a good indication of the availability of comparable data on a national level. Data relevant for understanding the participation and performance of girls and women in STEM-related TVET are limited. Due to varying TVET systems, it is a challenge to collect comparable data. For example, although UIS is able to collect data relating to female participation in education and training, the data are not disaggregated in a way that would allow for an understanding of participation in the TVET sector specifically. No data are available at a global level concerning the relative performance or completion rates of females and males in STEM-related TVET. While the availability of comparable data is limited, specific countries do sometimes collect...

Early learning activities matter for girls’ and boys’ mathematics and science achievement , Compass, Brief in education, IEA, UNESCO, 2023

  In the Cracking the Code report, focus was placed on the participation and performance of girls and women in STEM education in general. The analytical framework used provided a good point of departure; however, in the current report, we specifically focus on STEM -related TVET, which requires an adaptation of the analytical framework. The nature of TVET , with its attention to practical skills, ensures that TVET generally works relatively close to the labour market. Throughout the world, we see a strong focus on practical learning in TVET programmes, for example through internship programmes. The transfer to the labour market, which was not taken into account in the Cracking the Code report, is therefore an important focus in the light of this report. Building further on the analytical framework of the Cracking the Code report, new literature and the country case studies for this report, a new and useful analytical framework can be drawn. Figure 9 provides an overview of this a...

The ten case studies show that in all countries, government policies have been developed that (partially) address the promotion of STEM -related TVET . This promotion often focuses on the quality of STEM-related TVET and an increase in the number of students that participate in these subjects. Only some of these policies place a focus on the topic of gender, gender equality, or participation of girls and women . There seems to be a gap there. To illustrate this gap, Table 3 provides an overview of the policies in some case countries that focus on promoting TVET but with limited attention to gender.  The Jamaican government has taken the decision to identify and designate a number of schools as STEM Academies in which special emphasis will be given to STEM/ TVET education. Nine schools have been designated this status in the first phase of the programme. Even though there is no explicit mention of the need to address gender disparities in these STEM Academies, the country case stu...

 Some of the policy frameworks identified have also translated into specific interventions. These are captured in Box 18 and Box 19 in relation to specific countries. Between them, they encompass initiatives aimed at increasing female participationin STEM education including targeted government scholarship Many of the initiatives mentioned in the boxes have not been evaluated and it is important to know more about their impact. As indicated in the introduction, many of these initiatives are linked to a wider government strategy. In many of the countries, strategies aim at a systemic response through simultaneously targeting different parts of the system. This seems entirely appropriate considering the systemic nature of the issues involved in addressing gender disparities in STEM-related TVET . It is therefore important to better understand how interventions work in isolation but also together as part of a holistic response. This underlines the importance of collecting data and ev...