According to UNESCO Institute for Statistics data, less than 30% of the world’s researchers are women. In particular, a significant gender gap persists at all levels of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines all over the world.

Even though women have made tremendous progress towards increasing their participation in higher education, they are still under-represented in cutting-edge fields such as artificial intelligence. In this area, only one in five professionals (22%) are women.

Gender equality has always been a core issue for the UN and UNESCO, which organize the International Day of Women and Girls in Science (IDWGIS) each year. The aim is to connect the International Community to Women and Girls in Science, strengthening the ties between science, policy, and society for strategies oriented towards the future.

Gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls can make a crucial contribution not only to the economic development of the world but also to progress across all the goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Read more at International Day of Women and Girls in Science | United Nations

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