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On International Women’s Day, UNESCO is releasing its latest on gender equality in education. Despite progress, gender disparities remain in access, skills and the quality of education. In many counties, the poorest girls are twice as likely to be out of school, compared to the national average. The findings also reveal that major gaps persist in innovation and technology, which can be instrumental in empowering girls and women. The factsheet provides recommendations on how to boost girls’ and women’s participation in innovation and technology through gender-transformative education.

Women remain underrepresented in careers in the area of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), although the jobs of the future will primarily be in these industries. Globally, women make up 31% of research and development positions in science, with the lowest proportions in Southwest Asia (24%) and East Asia and the Pacific (27%). Women are also under-represented at all levels in the technology sector. This is particularly so in leadership positions, where they represent only 24% of professionals.

In the field of artificial intelligence (AI), only 22% of professionals are women. Just 18% of authors at leading AI conferences are women. The underrepresentation of women in this sector contributes to the reinforcement of gender stereotypes through AI systems, as it was revealed in UNESCO’s 2019 publication .

Gender disparities emerge in school, negatively impacting girls’ and women’s participation in the development of innovation and technology. Girls are significantly less likely than boys to pursue technology-related studies, even though girls are doing at least as well as boys in mathematics and science in the majority of countries. Globally in 2018, only 28% of engineering and 40% of computer science graduates were women. In 2019, in 30 out of 121 countries, fewer than 20% of graduates in engineering were women. In 61 out of 115 countries, fewer than 30% of computer science graduates were women.

Confidence is key for entering STEM fields. For both girls and boys, high confidence in mathematics or science skills is associated with a higher likelihood of wanting to enter a job in those fields. Girls’ confidence in mathematics and science can be negatively affected by peers, parents, teachers and school counsellors who hold or even propagate gender stereotypes in STEM.

Low levels of confidence can persist into adulthood. Female teachers may be underestimating their capacities in transmitting science and mathematics knowledge. As female teachers are important role models for girls, the lower self-efficacy of female science and mathematics teachers may affect girls’ own self-efficacy in these subjects.

Many girls and women do not have the same ICT skills as boys and men, and the gender gap in these skills is apparent at every level. Among 10 low- and middle-income countries with detailed data, women are less likely to have used a basic arithmetic formula in a spreadsheet in the 7 poorest countries, while parity in this area was found only in the 3 richest countries.

Over the past 20 years, gender gaps in enrolment and attendance have been in decline. Still, according to new estimates available in UNESCO’s tool , 118.5 million girls of primary and secondary school age are out of school. These data do not reflect the potential impact of COVID-19 on education systems.

Girls still face significant barriers to their right to education in some countries. In Afghanistan, girls have been banned again from secondary schools and tertiary education. In many parts of the world, poverty is one of the most important barriers to girls’ education. In over 20 countries, less than 10% of poor, rural, young women have completed upper secondary school. According to UNESCO’s HerAtlas, which monitors the right to education for girls and women around the world, 2% of all countries restrict the right to education of married, pregnant and parenting girls and women in their legal framework.

In 2020, women still accounted for almost two-thirds of all adults unable to read – 478.5 million of them lack basic reading skills, with very little improvement seen over the past two decades. In rural areas, women are even further behind: In at least 15 countries, women aged 25 to 64 from rural areas are twice as likely to be illiterate as those from urban areas.

Evidence from five low- and lower-middle income countries shows that girls are more likely than boys to miss school due to physical violence perpetrated by classmates and teachers or due to unwanted sexual experiences.

On the sidelines of the 67th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York, UNESCO is organizing an event on digital education and skills for girls’ and women’s empowerment. On International Women’s Day, UNESCO is also hosting the Women@Dior Global Conference in Paris.

• Read the latest
• 91Â鶹¹ú²ú¾«Æ·×ÔÅÄ’s interactive tool
• More on UNESCO’s work in gender equality and education