Committee: UN commission of the status of women (UNCSW)

Issue: Improving gender equality in scientific research and development.

Chair: Isabel Mangan

Introduction

        Gender equality is one of the major issues our society faces today. In September 2000, improving gender equality and empowering women become one of the UN millennium development goals. This issue involves everyone, every country, every sector. Women from different parts of the globe face different daily challenges regarding gender inequality, whether it’s unequal pay in MEDC’s or the lack of basic human rights in LEDC’s, it involves everybody. Over the past years there has been progress, such a rise in number of girls attending school, but there is still so much more to do. According to UNESCO, women represent only 30% of the world’s researchers, and show even lower percentages at higher decision-making levels.

Furthermore, in many different countries it has been apparent that girls who choose and prefer to study STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) at school, then drop them in further education out of fear of being the minority or to potentially experience any discrimination whether it would be in their future educational environment or workplace. In today’s world, science must no longer deprive itself from the scientific potential of women.

Defining key terms

        Gender equality: The idea that men and women are politically, economically and socially equal. Gender equality is achieved when both sexes have access to the same opportunities across all sectors of society, enjoy the same rights, and their aspirations and needs are equally valued and favoured.

        Scientific research: Performing a study or experiment in order to answer a question or prove a theory or hypothesis. Research must be very methodical and follow a series of steps.

        Scientific development: This is the progress of science over a period of time with use of scientific and technical knowledge mainly to achieve specific objectives and requirements.

Overview

        Science and technology plays a vital role in the development of our society. We have seen much progress over the past years, and this has resulted in an improved quality of life, incredible scientific breakthroughs and the creation of many previously unimaginable innovations that have now become necessities in our daily lives.

        Secondly, gender equality has also been subject to improvement recently, we cannot yet say that we live in a fully gender equal world, far from it, but we are definitely moving in the right direction. Women now have more access to education, have the possibility of choosing a career, they have more rights, more freedom and in some countries, a lot more power. Since the beginning of the 20th century women are constantly gaining power, firstly through the right of vote, or the rising amount of influential women that take on high decision making positions, amongst other incredible achievements (first female US president perhaps?)  This of course is not the case everywhere, so organisations all around the world are still fighting to promote gender equality and women empowerment.

        But, somehow along the way these two important dimensions of progress have found it difficult to merge, with women being considerably less represented in STEM education and careers. The figures are extremely low considering that in 2014 the world ratio of men to women was estimated to be 1.014:1. In our contemporary world, women in MEDCs have all the means of achieving the same things as men, so why are there such disparities in STEM fields?  It has been alerted that many women from all over the world are being subject to discrimination when they are in a scientific working environment. Even in our day and age they are undermined by men, who in a lot of countries, notably in the Middle East, sub saharan Africa and Asia  still do not consider women as equals, and do certainly not believe that women are as intellectually able as them. This can obviously be caused by different things such as religious beliefs or laws on human rights in each county. In many LEDCs, more and more girls are being given the opportunity to go to school and to study STEM subjects, and anti sexism is being promoted to every age group to solve this gender disparity issue. This of course is not always the case, for instance in some sub-saharan Africa and Middle-Eastern countries, change is yet to be implemented.

        The theory of the “leak in the pipe” is a growing global issue : whilst the number of primary aged girls attending school is increasing yearly, by the age of career choosing or higher education there a significantly less amount of female attendance. So what is happening? Girls have globally expressed just as much interest  in STEM subjects as boys have, but it has been noticeable that the more girls grow up and reach higher stages of education, they are no longer as keen to carry these subjects on. Young women are afraid of the potential discrimination and various obstacles they could face in scientific environments. This belief is nothing but a theory, that so far has only been subject to limited amount of data and obviously it is a ‘country to country’ matter, which means that the data being shared from each country would be relevant to what they think the importance of this matter is. For instance, in countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States, research is being made to fix this problem as gender equality is a priority in MEDCs but, in other countries such as India, this issue is not a priority therefore the correct research is not being carried out. This particular theory requires a case by case study.

        This problem is extremely important and worrying, as the world is missing out on the great potential in scientific development women today have to offer. There is an extreme loss of opportunity, as female scientists could improve society as a whole, their influence matters. Gender equality must in the coming years be seen as a crucial factor in order to achieve scientific excellence.

        In a day and age where scientific research and development is so vital to find solutions to our social, environmental and economical challenges, in order to achieve sustainable development throughout the world, it is despicable that science is depriving itself of the potential of almost half the planet’s population. Women need to, from now on, be regarded as powerful agents of change and we, the human race, need to ensure a more integrated approach the scientific research and development for the benefit of our society and our world’s future.

Countries and organisations involved

        UNESCO

 United Nations organisation that works to ensure progress and development in the fields of education, science and culture. UNESCO are a key figure on this issue as they have a number of programmes and initiatives that promote gender equality in scientific research and development.

        The European Commission

 As part of Horizon 2020 many projects have been created mainly since the beginning of 2016 to enhance gender equality in STEM subjects and also promote scientific subjects, as an important aspect that could have a positive impact in future world development. (ex: ERA-NET is an initiative that supports and funds organisations for the integration of gender equality in stem)

        The EU

The European Union issued a law in the mid 2000 stating that all decisions making boards must be composed of at least 40% of each sex and this has led to an increasing number female participation in scientific research. It has been proven by the Gender Equality Index, that smaller countries in the EU such as Croatia, Czech Republic and Italy have proven to be unable to offer equal employment opportunities, especially in science research and development. Although there should be enough organisations now to tackle this issue, in Europe there are more than 130  (WISE UK, Genera, Equality Now…) of them fighting for gender equality in scientific research and development.

        The United Kingdom

 The UK is struggling with gender equality in science. Today, women represent no more than 38% of researchers, with more than half of bachelor students being female : this shows a case of a “leak in the pipe”. This means that from early years of education all the way up to further education or careers, women are choosing not to pursue scientific studies of careers, so over the years the number of women interested in the subjects is decreasing.

        United States of America

 In America itself, much help is needed, while women represent 47% of the US workforce they only stand for 26% of people who work in STEM. And as women that do work in scientific research and development earn 33% more than women in more basic jobs, an increase in the number of female workers in STEM will therefore decrease the gender pay gap in the USA. But, to try and help the situation, there are numerous projects and associations that are trying to improve this gap, such as the American Association of University Women, the Million Women Mentors, Scientista and many more. An initiative of the US department called TechWomen is helping develop the idea of gender equality in scientific research all over the world. Through mentorship and exchange they help young girls reach their full potential in STEM subjects.  These associations have the full support of the White House, that has been working on new ways to encourage STEM subjects to young girls and also in recent years has been trying to diminish the gender gap wishing technical and scientific fields.

        Australia

 Although Australia has had a 100% literacy rate for many decades, and 25% of the population now hold a degree, there is a large gender gap when it comes to employment, particularly in science. Australia have been experiencing problems in attracting young women to scientific careers. Universities have tried to help the situation in recent years by offering scholarships to women for STEM subject studies but this initiative has not yet resolved the issue (once again because of the fear of being subject to discrimination in such field of study).  

        Asian countries

 Most Asian countries have been subject to significant change in recent years, governments in India, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia and many others have been working to promote gender equality in scientific research and development. For instance, the Indian education system has been promoting STEM subjects to girls from primary school ages as they believe a rising number of women working in this domaine would significantly help to boost the country’s economy. Thus, all other asian countries have been following this ideology and have all undertaken measures to help increase the number of women in STEM and change is already noticeable. Women represent 30% of researchers in Pakistan, 53% in the Philippines and  39% in Sri Lanka, to name just a few.

        South Africa

 South Africa has a programme named Techno girls, in which the aim is guide and mentor disadvantaged teenage girls  for them to reach their full potential through skill development programmes. These girls are therefore guided to make career choices in STEM fields.

        Russia

 Russia are also subjects to a “leak in the pipeline” as Women in Science data shows that 54% of bachelor students in STEM subjects are women but then later on on 41% of researchers are women. But Russia, so far have not shown a clear initiative to promote these subjects to young girls.

        The International Organisation of Employers

The IOE work in collaboration with various other organisations in order to promote the importance of women empowerment and gender equality with a working environment.

Recent developments

• In 2012 the Elsevier Foundation created the “Award for Early-Career Women Scientists in the Developing World” in order to recognise the achievements of female scientists.
• In recent years UNESCO created the SAGA programme in order to reduce the gender gap in STEM subjects in all countries and at all levels of education though the measurement and assessment of sex-disaggregated data. As well as supporting the design and implementation of policy instruments that affect gender equality in STEM. 
• An international campaign; GenderinSITE was launched to raise awareness on the role of women in science, innovation, technology and engineering (SITE) and also to promote gender equality in such subjects as a positive way for progress in the context of development.
• UNESCO’s Natural Science Sector is working today to promote women as key figures in higher-level decision making for STI policies and raising awareness to the fact that women play an important role in advancing sustainable development through their scientific knowledge and expertise.  
• GO-SPIN (Global Observatory of Science Policy Information) have been recently conducting surveys all over the world. GO-SPIN was created by UNESCO in 2012, their goal is to use the collected data from all different countries in order to provide for the growing demand of information on SITE policies and further develop national and regional strategies on issues such as gender equality and women’s empowerment, amongst others.
• The ‘Science with and for Society’ work programme, as part of the European Commission Horizon 2020, financial supports initiatives of the gender equality strategy. It strives to achieve the full integration of gender in research content and remove all barriers that create sexism in scientific careers and decision-making.

Possible solutions

• Create worldwide campaigns that promote the key role of women in Scientific research and development, through different forms of advertisement to reach all ages,such televison, bilboards perhaps even cinematography. Take new innovative  action to really reach the masses, make the campaign accessible to everyone to create awareness.
• Create a strategy to promote higher education in STEM subjects to women, encourage young girls to choose such subjects and then stick to them until the end of their studies; such goals can be achieved through open days, pre-university lectures and taster sessions. More information on STEM subjects should be provided to girls from a young age to create a desire to study them.
• In MEDCs, create gender equal STEM representations, through cinema and television to promote the importance of female intelligence in a scientific environment.
• Promote gender balance in decision making through data that provides proof that women are just as intelligently able as men. Every country should have a law stating that companies must have near enough equal numbers of male and female employees.
• Create educational programmes for men to better understand the importance of gender equality (for example: set up talks and conferences all over the world that welcome men from every social background) , and remove the general fear that women will be subject to discrimination if they were to pursue studies of professional careers in scientific research and development.

Bibliography

Internet sites I used that will be very useful for your research:

Women in Science. Produced by UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Website link:

http://www.uis.unesco.org/_LAYOUTS/UNESCO/women-in-science/index.html#overview!lang=en&view=map&region=40530

This Is What Women In STEM Look Like Around the World, article by Julie Zeilinger. website link:

https://mic.com/articles/118822/this-is-what-women-in-stem-look-like-around-the-world#.bBjh0nf87

Saga by UNESCO. website link:

http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/SC/pdf/SAGA_leaflet.pdf

Enhancing excellence, gender equality and efficiency in research and innovation, produced by the European Commission. Website link:

https://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/document_library/pdf_06/structural-changes-final-report_en.pdf

Promoting Gender Equality in Research and Innovation, article written for Horizon 2020 (European commission) website link:

https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en/h2020-section/promoting-gender-equality-research-and-innovation

Girls and Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics in Asia. Written by the Korean’ women development institute, in partnership with UNESCO. (useful for those representing asian delegations) website link:

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002315/231519e.pdf

Women in Technology and Science in Asia. Written by  the Association of Academies and Societies of Sciences in Asia (AASSA). (also useful for those representing asian delegations). Website link:

http://www.interacademies.net/File.aspx?id=28016

For research on different projects around the world (extra):

15 Innovative Initiatives Bringing Women Into STEM, article written by Kenya McCullum for WorldWideLearn. Website link:

http://www.worldwidelearn.com/education-articles/15-innovative-initiatives-bringing-women-into-stem.html

10 Great Initiatives that Bring Girls into STEM, article written by Daria Sergeeva for Interesting Engineering. Website link:

        http://interestingengineering.com/10-great-initiatives-bring-women-stem-around-world/

7 Organizations Working to Promote Women in STEM, article written by Olivia Pittman for CollegeRaptor. Website link:

        https://www.collegeraptor.com/blog/higher-education/7-organizations-working-to-promote-women-in-stem/