Women in STEM Disciplines

The proportion of tertiary graduated women in STEM globally has jumped from 1.7 million in 2003 to 3.3 million in 2013. Looking at doctorate level, the total number of graduated women has grown from about 70,000 in 2000, to 125,000 in 2014. In hard sciences (engineering, manufacturing, construction and science), the total number of tertiary graduates grows from 0.84 to 1.5 million. This global trend results from very different regional evolutions. Some areas, such as the Middle East and North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa and South-West Asia are catching up thanks to impressive growth of the total number of graduated women in STEM. East Asia and Central and Eastern Europe maintain a similar level of graduates over the years; in both regions 50 % of graduated women in science have chosen to specialize in hard science in 2003 and 2013. The regions where a decline is observed are North America and Western Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean as well as Caucasus and Central Asia. A close analysis of PISA 2006 and 2012 results (science and math tests on skills, levels, teenagers’ perception of their abilities) enables to grasp some of the reasons explaining orientation choices. For instance, countries where girls express a stronger level of confidence, such as Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East and North Africa are also countries where they are more numerous to choose hard science at university.

Middle East and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa and South West Asia are regions where the proportion of women that have chosen hard science among all scientific specializations at tertiary (i.e: bachelor, and master) level is above 50 %. In Middle East and North Africa, results from PISA show that girls outperform boys in science and express a level of confidence in themselves which is higher than the OECD average, that added to strong parental support could explain the increasing choice to study hard science after college. For instance women represent 52 % of graduates in physical science, 53 % in maths and statistics and 47 % in computing. Those are among the highest levels of feminization observed globally in these fields. In South and West Asian countries also, despite unfavourable economic and social conditions, more women are choosing hard science. The specializations in which parity is strongly progressing are manufacturing and processing: 42 %; physical science: 62 %; maths and statistics: 70 % and computing where women represent 54 % of tertiary graduates. In Sub-Saharan Africa the proportion of women studying engineering or science jumps from 42 % to 55 %. Impressive growth of graduated women is observed in engineering and science over the past 10 years (multiplied by 19 in engineering/manufacturing/construction and 27 in science); however despite these progresses the level of feminization within each specialization remains well below 50 %. The fact that in each of these regions women suffer from the most difficult social, cultural and economical conditions according to the SIGI index from the OECD demonstrates women determination and resilience.

East Asia and Central and Eastern Europe are regions where the proportion of women that have chosen hard science among all scientific specializations maintains itself at about 50 % over the past 10 years. In East Asia despite their excellent levels both in science and math and small difference level with boys, a substantial confidence gap is observed for girls. This may provide elements of explanation for the fact that girls’ choices in science tend to remain stereotyped, in fact their proportion in most EMC sub-specializations (engineering, manufacturing, construction) has decreased over the past 10 years. To the contrary, it has improved in other specializations such as physical sciences 60 % and math and computing 65 % where the proportion of women among graduates reaches 48 %. In Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, girls’ and boys’ results in PISA test are also among the best in the world. However, strong improvements in students’ level have contributed to reduce the gender gap previously observed between boys’ and girls’ levels. CEE is the region in the world where girls’ confidence gap almost doesn’t exist. It is also one of the few regions in the world where feminization moves up in manufacturing where women represent 55 % of tertiary graduates, as well as in fields such as physical sciences 56 % and math 61 %.

In Central Asia, as well as in Latin America and North America and Western Europe, the proportion of women who chose hard science among all scientific specializations is declining. In each of these three regions, the rationale which explains this decline is substantially different. As in Eastern and Central Europe, Central Europe still benefitted in 2003 from the historical legacy of the Soviet rule, whereby women and men had equal access to studies. Ten years ago, Central Asia even stood as one of the regions of the world where the proportion of women in STEM was among the highest. However, recent political and economical evolutions have strongly deteriorated the situation of women in this country; this is clearly reflected by the impressive decline of feminization in all scientific specializations which drops from 44 to 34 %. The proportion of women is cut down to 25 % in engineering and 29 % in manufacturing. However, in physics as well as in math and statistics, parity is maintained with respectively 53 % and 51 % of women among tertiary graduates. It is interesting to observe that according to results from PISA, girls’ results both in science and math are equivalent to those of boys and that they do not feel a confidence gap.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, the analysis of the headcount evolution over the past 10 years reveals a decline of feminization both in EMC (engineering, manufacturing and construction) and in science, which results from higher growth rate of total number of graduates than that of female graduates. As a result the proportion of women decreases in manufacturing and construction (−2 % and 4 %, respectively). In science feminization drops from 44 to 39 %, with specializations such as math and computing experiencing sharp decline: −15 % in math and 13 % in computing. The analysis of PISA results provides, however, encouraging signals; boys’ and girls’ results which were among the lowest in the world are strongly improving between 2006 and 2012. In countries such as Brazil, Argentina and Chile, these improvements are contributing to reduce the gender gap. In addition girls from these countries express a higher level of confidence in themselves. These elements provide for a context where active public policies promoting STEM to girls could generate results quicker than in other regions.

The situation observed in North America and Western Europe is similar; as a result this region which had the highest proportion of women among tertiary STEM graduates in 2003 now ranks among the last ones. This comes from a low proportion of women in EMC which gains 2 % but still remains below 25 % and a sharp decline of women in science particularly in computing. A look at PISA results doesn’t provide much positive elements. There is an increasing gender gap in 17 out of 21 countries between girls and boys in math; in addition girls’ math level tends to diminish. In science with the exception of Northern Europe countries, boys outperform girls, and girls’ level with the exception of five countries doesn’t improve. In both math and science, the confidence gap is higher than the OECD average. Despite public policies the decline of the proportion of women among STEM graduates hasn’t stopped. However, at a time when multidisciplinarity and transversal skills are viewed as critical skills to adjust/adapt to new jobs and new challenges, the fact that in 13 out of 24 countries the percentage of girls among top performers in math, science and reading is equal and/or higher than boys provides an encouraging sign.

After exploring the issue of women in STEM studies, the second part of the survey focuses on women in STEM jobs. The goal is to draw a first set of observations from the corpus of data that are available worldwide. First is by looking at women’s level of employment and remuneration in STEM based on the exploitation from public and global databases at regional level. The results of the research show that the proportion of women working in STEM sectors remains well below 50 % in the world. Then we rely on private research to identify some elements of explanation for women high turnover rate in STEM jobs.

To begin with the analysis is focused on the three groups of countries that have been identified in the surveys’ first part: those where the feminization of STEM is catching up (the Middle East and North Africa, South-West Asia), those where it remains high (East Asia as well as Central and Eastern Europe) or declining (North America and Western Europe, Central Asia and Latin America). Regarding access to the labour market, the Middle East and North Africa and South-West Asia are regions where women labour force participation rate is the lowest in the world. Conversely sub-Saharan Africa is the region where it’s one of the highest, but this is due to integration of own-account jobs in statistics. Overall these regions are those where the lowest proportion of women is observed in STEM jobs, with the exception of South Africa in sub-Saharan Africa, where women represent more than 40 % of employees working in energy, construction, transportation and information and communication. In the so-called “sustaining” group (East Asia as well as Central and Eastern Europe), women represent more than 50 % of all people in professional, scientific and technical activities, with the exception of Turkey and Ukraine. However while in Central and Eastern European countries the remuneration difference is below the national average in most countries, it tends to be higher in most East Asian nations. In the last group (North America and Western Europe), graduated women have the best level of employability; however, the proportion of women in STEM jobs is beginning to decrease as a result of the decline of the proportion of women among STEM graduates.

The high turnover rate of women in STEM jobs is a matter of great concern. Thus the 2015 and 2016 online surveys focus on identifying elements of explanation for that situation. Research has demonstrated that this high attrition rate is a result from organization of work (strong presenteeism culture), lack of career management and work/life balance, as well as a feeling of exclusion/isolation. Data from the online survey compares perceptions of STEM versus non-STEM workers. These surveys benchmark women/men’s perception of work organization, career and work/life balance (WLB) and fulfillment (Source: “Women in science and technology – the business perspective”, European Commission, 2006). Thus they rely on indicators that measure and compare perception of working conditions (with a focus on “flexitime”, teleworking and part-time work), career management (looking at remuneration, grade promotion, personal development training and network development) and WLB (based on analysis of family care support, local or on-site service implementation). They demonstrate that men and women share an equal level of motivation and interest in their job and show that women working in STEM benefit from the greater application of flexible working processes; however the benefits for women are limited by the fact that it is frequently a practice that is cumulated with long hours at work. Regarding career management, the results demonstrate that women working in STEM face a situation that is similar to that experienced by women working in other sectors. The issue of work/life balance which has been found to be most critical for women with children, since after the birth of a child women have more often than men the responsibility of taking care of the family organization, is the one on which the level of implementation of policies is lower than in other sectors.

Choosing to study STEM does not bring women from the Middle East and North Africa countries the type of jobs their studies are preparing them for. In fact, there is an increasing gap between the number of women who are competent and access to qualified jobs. This gap has been widened by the general lack of employment opportunities from the private sector. However the high proportion of women who are graduated in computing (MENA countries rank second, after East Asia in terms of proportion of graduated women in ICT which reached 47.4 % in 2013) does open new possibilities to practise remote working. Although it is not visible yet in statistics, it may generate results in the future. The key issue in these countries is the development of school-to-work programmes, such as the one developed in Jordan which enables graduated women to access employment.

In South-West Asia, results are somewhat mixed. In Bangladesh an increasing proportion of women work in sectors such as manufacturing and construction. In manufacturing it moves from 25 to 28 %, in construction from 7 to 9 %. This is consistent with the growth of educated women in STEM. Conversely the proportion of women working in manufacturing in Iran decreases from 29 % to 23 % and remains about similar in construction.

For women from sub-Saharan Africa, the proportion of women working in technical occupations is well below 50 % in most countries, reflecting the low proportion of graduated women in STEM with the exception of two countries: Lesotho and South Africa. South Africa stands out as one of the countries where the proportion of women in sectors such as energy, construction and information and communication is among the highest. Again this is consistent with the recent evolution of the proportion of graduated women in STEM.

The high proportion of women who are graduated in STEM in Eastern European countries is reflected by the high proportion of women in technical jobs where they represent more than 50 % of total headcount. The countries in which the proportion of women is the highest are Ukraine and Hungary. The progression of women among manufacturing and processing graduates (which has grown from 29 % in 2003 to 55 % in 2013) is also reflected by their share of jobs since women also represent about 40 % of the total workforce in the manufacturing sector in 2013. The seemingly positive correlation between STEM studies and employment for women is further confirmed by the fact that women whose proportion in physical sciences, math and life science studies has grown to more than 50 % in the last decade also represent more than 50 % of all workers in professional and scientific activities in Eastern European countries (except in Turkey and Ukraine). However the benefits from choosing STEM from a remuneration standpoint are not so clear and differ importantly from one sector and/or country to the other. Taking the example of Hungary, the gender paygap in ICT reaches 40 %, in manufacturing 34 %, while the average national difference is of 28 %. A similar situation is observed in Poland where the remuneration difference in ICT reaches 35 % or 29 % in manufacturing, while the gender gap at national level is of 18 %. However the situation is slightly better for professional, scientific and technical activities where in three of the six observed countries (Hungary, Romania Ukraine), the gender paygap is lower than the national average.

Similarly the high proportion of graduated women in STEM in East Asia is reflected by their share of technical jobs, where they represent more than 50 % in four of the seven countries observed: Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and Vietnam. The fact that little and/or less women have chosen to study engineering, manufacturing and construction (EMC) is also reflected by the low proportion of women in industrial and technical sectors in most countries. The proportion of women in sectors such as mining, energy, water supply, construction or transportation is in most cases well below 30 %.

However the “pull” effect doesn’t always work, as is illustrated by the example of women who are graduated in manufacturing in the Republic of Korea, where they represent 68 % of all graduates but only 30 % of employees of that sector. As in Central and Eastern Europe, paygap differs importantly from one sector and/or country to the other. There are two sectors in which the gap in remuneration between men and women is clearly higher than the national average in all of the countries observed. These are electricity/gas/steam and water supply/sewerage/waste management.

The decline of the proportion of graduated women in STEM in Central Asia is reflected by the diminution of women in technical occupations which is observed in three out of four countries. In Georgia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, it has dropped by 5 % over the past 10 years. The proportion of women in industrial or technical sector has decreased over the past 5 years. For instance, the percentage of women working in construction has dropped in three of the four countries. This diminution reaches 5 % both in Kazakhstan and Mongolia. Overall the gender gap in remuneration between men and women has increased. It reaches 44 % in Kazakhstan, and 37 % in Kyrgyzstan, but is limited to 18 % in Mongolia. This doesn’t apply to women working in industrial, scientific or technical activities who benefit from a lower gender gap observed across all sectors at the national level.

The lower proportion of women having chosen STEM studies over the past 10 years in Latin America is reflected by the lower proportion of women among technicians and associate professionals. In the two largest countries, Brazil and Mexico, it is below 50 %, respectively, 45 % and 29.6 %. Among the countries for which the analysis is conducted this year, only Venezuela stands out with a majority of women in these activities: 66 %. Interestingly, Venezuela is also the country in Latin America with the highest proportion of graduated women in engineering/manufacturing/construction (39 % in 2013) and more than 50 % of graduated women in science. In the two countries where data is available over the past 5 years, a decrease in the feminization of jobs related to research and application of scientific and operational methods can be observed (for instance, in Brazil, the proportion of women in these jobs has dropped from 47.4 % in 2005 to 45 % in 2013). The gender gap in remuneration is higher than the national average in mining, reaching up to 109 % for manufacturing in Brazil. Conversely, construction seems to be one of the few sectors where gender gap between men and women is lower than the gender gap observed on average at the national level.

The proportion of women who graduated in STEM in European countries is partially reflected by the proportion of women among scientists and engineers; the average proportion of women in these jobs is of 40 % at EU level, which is less than what has been observed in Eastern European countries: 46 %. Some decreases confirm the impact of reduction of women studying in these fields. For instance, the 7 % reduction of proportion of women among manufacturing graduates is reflected by the 2 % diminution of share of women working in the manufacturing sector, similarly the 26 % drop of women studying computing is consistent with the 7 % decrease of women employed in ICT. Overall there tends to be less difference of remuneration between men and women in most technical and scientific sectors than what has been observed in other regions, with the exception of professional scientific and technical activities where the gender gap tends to be higher in most countries in proportion which are often superior to 50 %. The countries where the difference is the highest are Austria where it reaches 97 % and the Netherlands with an 82 % difference.

How can we enable more women to step up and shape tomorrow’s world? First, by sharing a value summed up in a declaration adopted by 58 states 60 years ago that is important to all of us: “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”. This is so integral for building a world shaped equally by men and women where innovations contribute to improvements in growth and life irrespective of gender.