In order to achieve full and equal access to and participation in science for women and girls, and further achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, the United Nations General Assembly declared 11 February as the International Day of Women and Girls in Science in 2015.
Did You Know?
- Despite a shortage of skills in most of the technological fields driving the Fourth Industrial Revolution, women still account for only 28% of engineering graduates and 40% of graduates in computer science and informatics.
- In cutting edge fields such as artificial intelligence, only one in five professionals (22%) is a woman.
- Women are typically given smaller research grants than their male colleagues and, while they represent 33.3% of all researchers, only 12% of members of national science academies are women.
In 2020 The National Council of Canadian Research (NRC) hosted a symposium in Ottawa for the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, to celebrate women that are working in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Speaking at the symposium, the Chief Science Advisor of Canada, Dr. Mona Nemer, said that there needs to be an effort to encourage and advance women in STEM fields, as they still face a lot of challenges.