Many of the world’s biggest problems may be going unsolved because too many women and girls are being discouraged from the sciences.

The role of science education in a changing world cannot be undervalued: it isestimatedthat fully 90 per cent of future jobs will require some form of ICT (information and communication technology) skills, and the fastest growing job categories are related to STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), with recent studies indicating 58 million net new jobs, in areas such as data analysis, software development and data visualization.

But women and girls continue to be extremely under-represented in the sciences.DatafromUNESCO(the UN’s agency for education, science and culture) shows that less than a third of all female students choose STEM-related subjects in higher education, whilst just three per cent of women choose ICT subjects.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming an increasingly important field, where the diversity of those working on AI solutions has been identified as a crucial element in ensuring that they are free from bias. However, the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report shows that only 22 per cent of artificial intelligence professionals globally are female.

There are several reasons for the gender gap in the sciences, from the prioritization of boys’ education, to gender biases and stereotypes, and the global digital divide, which disproportionately affects women and girls.

The extent to which the world is missing out on potential female scientific talent becomes all the more apparent if we look at some of the extraordinary contribution that women have made to advancing science, contributions that were often overlooked during their working lives, such as Marie Curie, computer pioneerAdaLovelace, NASA scientist Katherine Johnson, and countless others more whose work continues to be overlooked.

This tradition of female scientific excellence continues today. For example, in South Africa,KiaraNirghinhas developed a unique super-absorbent polymer that holds hundreds of times its weight in water when stored in soil. Her discovery came about in response to server droughts in the country, the worst in over 45 years. The cheap, biodegradable polymer is made entirely from waste, and increases the chance for plants to sustain growth by 84% during a drought and can increase food security by 73% in disaster-struck areas. In recognition of her work,Kiarahas been awarded the Google Science Fair Grand Prize, and was one of UN Environment’s regional Young Champions of the Earth finalists in 2018: she is still only 18 years old.

Source:https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/02/1032221