UNESCO SCIENCE REPORT Gender equality will encourage new solutions and expand the scope of research; it should be considered a priority by all if the global community is serious about reaching the next set of development goals. Sophia Huyer Professor Deborah Jin from the University of Colorado (USA) was the first to succeed in cooling down molecules to such an extent that chemical reactions could be observed in slow motion. Dr Jin was the L’Oréal–UNESCO laureate for North America in 2013. Photo: © Julian Dufort for the L’Oréal Foundation 84 3 . Is the gender gap narrowing in science and engineering? Sophia Huyer INTRODUCTION energy and transportation, environment and health services. They are also comparatively well-represented in related Women underrepresented in decision-making on scientific disciplines. Many of them serve on the National climate change Climate Change Committee. However, when it comes to As the global community prepares to make the transition designing and implementing plans, interpreting decisions from the Millennium Development Goals to the Sustainable and monitoring results, women are a rare commodity Development Goals in 2015, it is turning its attention from (Huyer, 2014). a focus on poverty reduction to a broader perspective combining socio-economic and environmental priorities. Chapter 3 Over the next 15 years, scientific research will play a key role TRENDS IN RESEARCH in monitoring relevant trends in such areas as food security, health, water and sanitation, energy, the management of Gender parity remains elusive among researchers ocean and terrestrial ecosystems and climate change. Women When it comes to women’s participation in research will play an essential role in implementing the Sustainable overall, globally, we are seeing a leaky pipeline. Women are Development Goals, by helping to identify global problems actively pursuing bachelor’s and master’s degrees and even and find solutions. outnumber men at these levels, since they represent 53% of graduates, but their numbers drop off abruptly at PhD level. Since men tend to enjoy a higher socio-economic status, Suddenly, male graduates (57%) overtake women (Figure 3.1). women are disproportionately affected by droughts, floods The discrepancy widens at the researcher level, with men now and other extreme weather events and marginalized when representing 72% of the global pool. The high proportion it comes to making decisions on recovery and adaptation of women in tertiary education is, thus, not necessarily (EIGE, 2012). Some economic sectors will be strongly affected translating into a greater presence in research. by climate change but women and men will not necessarily be affected in the same way. In the tourism sector, for Although women account for just 28%1 of global researchers, instance, women in developing countries tend to earn according to available data, this figure masks wide variations less than their male counterparts and occupy fewer at both the national and regional levels (Figure 3.2). Women managerial positions. They are also overrepresented in the are highly represented in Southeast Europe (49%), for non-agricultural informal sector: 84% in sub-Saharan Africa, instance, and in the Caribbean, Central Asia and Latin America 86% in Asia and 58% in Latin America (WTO and UN Women, (44%). One in three researchers is a woman in the Arab 2011). There are, thus, clear gender differences in the ability to States (37%), the European Union (33%) and the European cope with climate-change-induced shocks. Free Trade Association (34%), which are closely followed by sub-Saharan Africa (30%). Despite these gender differences, women are not represented equally in the key climate-change related sectors of science For many regions, gender parity (45–55% of researchers) is as skilled workers, professionals or decision-makers. Although a legacy of the former Soviet bloc, which stretched across they are fairly well represented in some related science Central Asia, the Baltic States and Eastern Europe to Southeast disciplines – including health, agriculture and environmental Europe. One-third of the member states of the European management – they are very much a minority in other Union (EU) today were once part of the Soviet bloc. Over fields that will be vital for the transition to sustainable the past decade, several Southeast European countries have development, such as energy, engineering, transportation, managed to recover the gender parity in research that they information technology (IT) and computing – the latter being had lost in the 1990s following the break-up of the former important for warning systems, information-sharing and Yugoslavia: Croatia, FYR Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia environmental monitoring. (see Table 10.4). Even in those scientific fields where women are present, they 1. This estimate by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics for 137 countries excludes are underrepresented in policy-making and programming. North America, owing to the international incomparability of these data. The global The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is a case in point. share of female researchers would not rise more than a few percentage points, In this country, women are well-represented in governmental however, even if the share of female researchers in the USA could be included in the calculation. Hypothetically, a 40% share of female researchers in the USA would decision-making structures related to climate change, such as push the global share up from 28.4% to 30.7%. 85 UNESCO SCIENCE REPORT Figure 3.1: The leaky pipeline: share of women in higher education and research, 2013 (%) Female bachelor’s Female master’s Female PhD Female ggraduates graduates graduates researchers 53 53 43 28 Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics estimates based on data from its database, July 2015 Countries in other regions have made great strides. In Asia, of scientific research and decision-making, there are very Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand have all achieved few women left. In 2015, the EU Commissioner for Research, gender parity (see Figure 27.6) and, in Africa, Namibia and Science and Innovation Carlos Moedas called attention to this South Africa are on the verge of joining this select club (see phenomenon, adding that the majority of entrepreneurs in Figure 19.3). The countries with the highest proportion of science and engineering tended to be men. In Germany, the female researchers are Bolivia (63%) and Venezuela (56%). coalition agreement signed in 2013 introduces a 30% quota Lesotho has slipped out of this category after experiencing a for women on company boards of directors (see Chapter 9). precipitous drop from 76% to 31% between 2002 and 2011. Although data for most countries are limited, we know Some high-income countries have a surprisingly low proportion that women made up 14% of university chancellors and of female researchers. Just one in four researchers is a woman in vice-chancellors at Brazilian public universities in 2010 France, Germany and the Netherlands, for instance. Even lower (Abreu, 2011) and 17% of those in South Africa in 2011 proportions are to be found in the Republic of Korea (18%) and (Figure 3.3). In Argentina, women make up 16% of directors Japan (15%). Despite the government’s efforts to improve this and vice-directors of national research centres (Bonder, 2015) ratio (see Chapter 24), Japan still has the lowest proportion and, in Mexico, 10% of directors of scientific research institutes of female researchers of any member of the Organisation for at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. In the USA, Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). numbers are slightly higher at 23% (Huyer and Hafkin, 2012). In the EU, less than 16% of tertiary institutions were headed by The lowest participation rate of all comes from Saudi Arabia: a woman in 2010 and just 10% of universities (EU, 2013). At the 1.4% (see Figure 17.7), down from 18.1% in 2000. However, main tertiary institution for the English-speaking Caribbean, the this figure only covers the King Abdulaziz City for Science and University of the West Indies, women represented 51% of Technology. Participation is also very low in Togo (10%) and lecturers but only 32% of senior lecturers and 26% of full Ethiopia (13%) and has almost halved in Nepal since 2002 professors in 2011 (Figure 6.7). Two reviews of national from 15% to 8% (see Figure 21.7). academies of science produce similarly low numbers, with women accounting for more than 25% of members in only a The glass ceiling still intact handful of countries, including Cuba, Panama and South Africa. Each step up the ladder of the scientific research system sees Indonesia deserves an honorary mention at 17% (Henry, 2015; a drop in female participation until, at the highest echelons Zubieta, 2015; Huyer and Hafkin, 2012). 86 Is the gender gap narrowing in science and engineering? Table 3.1: Female researchers by field of science, 2013 or closest year (%) Natural Engineering and Medical Agricultural Social sciences Year sciences technology sciences sciences and humanities Albania 2008 43.0 30.3 60.3 37.9 48.1 Angola 2011 35.0 9.1 51.1 22.4 26.8 Armenia 2013 46.4 33.5 61.7 66.7 56.3 Azerbaijan 2013 53.9 46.5 58.3 38.5 57.4 Bahrain 2013 40.5 32.1 45.9 – 43.0 Belarus 2013 50.6 31.5 64.6 60.1 59.5 Bosnia & Herzegovina 2013 43.7 29.6 58.1 42.7 47.0 Botswana 2012 27.8 7.9 43.6 18.1 37.5 Bulgaria 2012 51.0 32.4 58.8 55.6 55.8 Burkina Faso 2010 10.1 11.6 27.7 17.4 35.9 Cabo Verde 2011 35.0 19.6 60.0 100.0 54.5 Chile 2008 26.5 19.0 34.4 27.8 32.7 Colombia 2012 31.8 21.6 52.5 33.6 39.9 Costa Rica 2011 36.7 30.9 60.8 31.5 53.6 Croatia 2012 49.7 34.9 56.1 45.8 55.5 Cyprus 2012 38.7 25.4 46.3 22.8 43.6 Czech Rep.