Women, girls need to play bigger role in science

With the continuing turmoil in Sri Lanka with the country being bankrupt and the cost of living soaring higher than ever before, the gender issue does not get much prominence these days though it is widely accepted that women and girls could play a key role in science, technology and other important areas. Women and girls form a majority in our country and a law was passed to give them a 25% representation in Parliament and other local councils, but it had not happened. 

On Saturday February 11, the United Nations marks the International Day of Women and Girls in Science with the theme being “bringing everyone forward for sustainable and equitable development. In a statement the UN says the day will focus on the on the role that Women and Girls could and should play in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which will be reviewed at the forthcoming High-Level Political Forum (HLPF). The targets include SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation), SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy), SDG 9 (industry, innovation, and infrastructure), SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities) and SDG17 (means of implementation), while following up on discussions on water held during from the “Water Unites Us” 7th IDWGIS, the 2nd High-Level International Conference on the International Decade for Action on Water for Sustainable Development 2018-2028, held at Dushanbe in Tajikistan, and the 2nd UN Ocean Conference and its High-Level Symposium on Water held at Lisbon in Portugal, as a contribution for the 2023 UN Water Conference, and other UN Fora.

In doing so this international day aims 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. This international day will therefore showcase best practices, strategies, applied solutions in addressing SDGs challenges and opportunities. It will also include for the first time a science workshop for visually impaired Girls and a session from the visually impaired fellow scientists on “Science in Braille: Making Science Accessible”.

This international day’s main events will be held tomorrow at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. A significant gender gap has 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 towards increasing their participation in higher education, they are still under-represented in these fields.

Gender equality has always been a core issue for the UN. Gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls will make a crucial contribution not only to economic development of the world, but to progress across all the goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as well.

On March 14, 2011, the Commission on the Status of Women adopted a report at its fifty-fifth session, with agreed conclusions on access and participation of women and girls in education, training and science and technology, and for the promotion of women’s equal access to full employment and decent work. On December 20, 2013, the General Assembly adopted a resolution on science, technology and innovation for development.  It recognized that full and equal access to and participation in science, technology and innovation for women and girls of all ages is imperative for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.

Women and girls represent half of the world’s population and, therefore, also half of its potential. Gender equality, besides being a fundamental human right, is essential to achieve peaceful societies, with full human potential and sustainable development. Women accounted for one in three (33%) researchers in 2018. They have achieved parity (in numbers) in life sciences in many countries and even dominate this field, in some cases. However, women remain a minority in digital information technology, computing, physics, mathematics and engineering. These are the fields that are driving the digital revolution and so, many of the jobs of tomorrow.Over the past few decades, the world’s understanding of climate change has improved exponentially thanks to science, technology and the dedication of some of the world’s top climate scientists. The UN has paid tribute to the women who champion the science behind climate change. 

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.