1. An International Perspective on Advancing Women in Science

Many countries have implemented policies to increase the number and quality of scientific researchers as a means to foster innovation and spur economic development. In many cases, policy interventions have sought to increase participation by those who have traditionally been underrepresented in science, with particular reference to women. Today, even in countries with persistently strong patriarchal regimes, the extension of educational opportunities to women has been framed as a means of making better use of the potential pool of science and engineering innovators (Bielli et al. 2004; UNESCO 2007, 2010; CNRS 2004; NRC 2011). Women and also, in many countries, members of ethnic minority groups traditionally have been limited in access to high-quality education, with concomitant occupational outcomes. Positing the importance of education to development and progress, universal primary education is one of the United Nation’s eight Millennium Development Goals. However, participation in the scientific workforce necessitates education far beyond the primary level—an expensive enterprise, and one in which girls and women have been persistently disadvantaged.