International Day of Women and Girls in Science: encouraging gender
equality to empower women and girls
International Day of Women and Girls in Science (IDWGIS)
[https://www.un.org/en/observances/women-and-girls-in-science-day] is
celebrated annually on 11 February to encourage gender equality and
empower women in all levels of Science, Technology, Engineering and
Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. This year, the focus is on the role of
women and girls in the purview of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
[https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/].

A major challenge for women and girls in STEM is the gender gap.
According to the latest research by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), UK
[https://www.pwc.co.uk/who-we-are/women-in-technology/time-to-close-the-gender-gap.html],
only 16% of female respondents have had a career in technology
recommended to them, compared to 33% of males. Similarly, Boston
Consulting Group (BCG)
[https://www.bcg.com/publications/2020/what-keeps-women-out-data-science]’s
latest publication found that nearly 50% of female STEM
students think data science is ‘too theoretical and low impact’
and only about 15% - 22% of all professionals in data science-related
roles are held by women. It is predicted
[https://www.openaccessgovernment.org/girls-in-data-inspiring-the-future-of-female-data-science/142235/]
that data science will see more growth than almost any other field by
2029. Therefore, it is important to attract new people to join this
rewarding and rapidly evolving field of data science and AI. 

The day aims to connect women and girls in science with the UN Fora
and strengthen the ties between science, policy, and society for
future-oriented strategies. It will showcase best practices,
strategies and applied solutions by conducting workshops, dialogues
and discussions
[https://www.un.org/en/observances/women-and-girls-in-science-day] to
address the challenges and opportunities faced by women and girls in
science. In this light, for the first time, a science workshop
specifically for blind girls and a session on “Science in Braille:
Making Science Accessible
[https://www.perkins.org/getting-started-teaching-science-visual-impairments/]”
will be held, among many others.

data.europa.eu [https://data.europa.eu/en] shows how important data is
with over 1.5 million datasets
[https://data.europa.eu/data/datasets?locale=en&minScoring=0&query=science&page=1]
and contributes to the world of data which is free, open and
accessible to everyone.

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Publication Date/Time
2023-02-10T10:00:00+00:00
International day to address the gender gap and encourage equality to
empower women and girls in STEM