Number of countries reporting on the share of women among researchers in their science systems.

 

 Assessments demand data.

Between 2012 and 2022, 131 countries reported the share of women researchers in national science, technology and innovation systems. Fewer than 90 countries report on the share of women among researchers each year—less than half of all countries (Figure 12). Although reporting had increased to 78 countries on average reporting annually between 2007 and 2018, fewer than 66 countries have reported each year since 2019.

Since 1996, 49 countries have never reported internationally comparable data on women’s representation in their scientific workforce. A total of 163 countries have reported on their overall scientific workforce at least once since 1996, yet only 131 countries have reported on the representation of women in science since 2012 and 103 countries since 2018. More than half of countries in the Asia-Pacific region (see Figure 10) and over one-third of countries in the Americas and Caribbean (see Figure 8) have not reported data regarding women among researchers since 2012. Simply counting the number of people who conduct research at least a part of their professional time does not convey the full situation for women scientists. Numerical parity is used as a proxy indicator for the larger socio-cultural context in which women researchers operate.