Gender Diversity in STEM Disciplines

Dear Colleagues,

The digital gender gap is defined as the difference between the percentage of men and the percentage of women in the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) indicators. Ensuring equal access to ICTs is an urgent need on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the digital gender gap quantifies and encompasses practical ICT skills necessary for work and daily life. ICTs facilitate people’s access to health, banking services, and education, or in other words, they are enablers for the participation of people as citizens in the upcoming future Digital Society.

To achieve a more egalitarian society, it must be borne in mind that equal access to ICT also facilitates the participation of women in increasingly digital societies and in the global community. Women's access to ICTs is not only a matter of gender equality but an urgent need on the 2030 Agenda. That no one is left behind is a basic promise of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Reducing the digital gender gap also has positive effects on the potential development and economic growth of countries. When women and girls have access to ICTs, they have the opportunity to start new businesses, sell products to new markets, find better paying jobs and access education, as well as financial and health services; thus, they help to increase GDP.

This different access to and interest in ICT is closely related to the lack of gender diversity in STEM disciplines. When it comes to the world of STEM, women are in the minority. STEM gender equality is vital to the world reaching SDGs. However, less than 30% of the world’s researchers are women and this under-representation occurs in every region in the world. Moreover, despite the need for talent that the market demands, there is a shortage of vocations in STEM fields and global female enrollment is particularly low in certain fields. This gender imbalance is present all around the world, even though women are enrolled in STEM courses more in some regions than others.

In order to solve this structural problem, it is crucial to identify the causes and to define the actions that governments and institutions can establish as political motors of changing.

This Special Issue aims to consolidate the emerging and recent research field in gender diversity in STEM disciplines. Initiatives and projects oriented to reduce the STEM diversity gap and studies about the causes and solutions to this problem are especially welcome.

Assoc. Prof. Carmen Botella
Assoc. Prof. Anabel Forte Deltell
Asst. Prof. Emilia López-Iñesta
Assoc. Prof. Silvia Rueda Pascual
Guest Editors

References

1. Cracking the code: girls' and women's education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). UNESCO 2017 http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0025/002534/253479e.pdf
2. Bian Lin, Leslie Sarah-Jane, Cimpian Andrei . Gender stereotypes about intellectual ability emerge early and influence children’s interests. Science 2017, 355, Issue 6323, 389-391 https://science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6323/389
3. She Figures 2018. Gender equality in Research and Innovation in the European Union: doctoral graduates. She Figures. European Commission; Directorate-General for Research and Innovation 2018 https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/9540ffa1-4478-11e9-a8ed-01aa75ed71a1
4. Botella Carmen, Rueda Silvia, López-Iñesta Emilia, Marzal Paula. Gender Diversity in STEM Disciplines: A Multiple Factor Problem. Entropy 2019, 21, 30. https://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/21/1/30

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