Women make up only 35% of STEM graduates globally

Despite ongoing efforts to promote gender equality in education, women continue to be under-represented in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields, according to a new report by UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring (GEM) team. The report reveals that women account for just 35% of STEM graduates worldwide, with little improvement seen over the last decade.

The GEM team, which monitors global education trends, attributes this stagnation to persistent gender stereotypes and a lack of confidence in mathematics among girls, even when their performance is strong. The report highlights that the digital transformation currently underway across the globe is predominantly male-led, with women comprising only 26% of the workforce in data science and artificial intelligence.

In the European Union, only one in four women with a degree in Information Technology pursues a career in digital occupations, compared to over one in two men. Globally, women make up just 15% of the engineering workforce and only 12% in cloud computing roles.

Although 68% of countries have implemented policies to support STEM education, only half specifically address the inclusion of girls and women. To address this imbalance, UNESCO has released an advocacy brief recommending gender-responsive school counseling, career orientation, professional training for teachers in gender-sensitive guidance, and increased parental awareness to challenge outdated notions of gender-specific careers.

UNESCO recommends early interventions in primary education, such as the use of gender-neutral language in STEM teaching, activities designed to engage girls in STEM, and invitations to female STEM professionals to speak to students. Enhancing girls’ digital literacy, training teachers to overcome gender bias, and reviewing learning materials for stereotypes are among the key strategies proposed to help close the gender gap in STEM and digital fields.

The report calls for the development of a digital competence framework that sets out the essential skills all learners should acquire, regardless of gender, to ensure a more inclusive and balanced future in the evolving global workforce.