One of the most important days to observe is the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, celebrated every year on February 11. But more than a commemorative date, it is a moment to observe and recognize those who are building knowledge—and those who still encounter barriers in doing so. Although science continues to advance, equality moves more slowly. With this in mind, in classrooms, laboratories, and communities around the world, girls and young women are claiming their place in STEM disciplines. And that change begins long before university.
What Is STEM and Why It Matters
When addressing a topic as decisive as this one, it is essential to understand precisely what we are talking about. STEM is the English-language acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. In Spanish, it is known as CTIM (Ciencia, Tecnología, Ingeniería y Matemáticas), and in German as MINT (Mathematik, Informatik, Naturwissenschaft und Technik). Although the acronyms change depending on the language, the core remains the same: a set of disciplines that explain, transform, and sustain the contemporary world.
STEM encompasses fields like chemistry, biology, computer science, civil engineering, robotics, physics, applied mathematics, and life sciences. In recent years, it has also begun to merge with areas such as economics, education, public health, and social data analysis, expanding its impact beyond the laboratory.
However, it is essential to emphasize that what matters most is not the disciplines themselves, but how they connect. This makes it clear that STEM does not function in silos. It intersects and feeds into itself. In other words, an advance in mathematics drives artificial intelligence. A breakthrough in biotechnology transforms medicine. A new algorithm reshapes how we access information.
That is why discussing STEM means discussing how cities are designed, how climate crises are addressed, how vaccines are developed, how children are protected in digital environments, and how more just and innovative societies are built. In other words, STEM is not merely an educational option; it is a tool for understanding and improving reality.
Understanding what STEM is critical. However, understanding its global impact compels us to look beyond the classroom. Because when scientific knowledge becomes an economic and political engine, access ceases to be neutral. And not all countries—and not all people—participate on equal terms. At that point, STEM moves from being an academic field to becoming a strategic global factor.
Understanding the Gender STEM Gap and Why It Persists
Since 2011, international organizations such as the U.S. National Research Council and the National Science Foundation have identified STEM disciplines as essential for the development of technologically advanced societies. This is not a passing trend. It is a structural transformation. The most competitive economies are those that invest consistently in science, innovation, and technical education.
The data confirms this. According to the World Economic Forum, in 2016 China graduated approximately 4.7 million STEM professionals. India reached 2.6 million. The United States ranked third with 568,000 graduates, followed closely by Russia. These figures reflect a global race for scientific talent, where knowledge translates into economic power, technological influence, and innovation capacity.
This leadership has direct consequences. Countries with the highest number of STEM professionals concentrate the development of emerging technologies, dominate sectors such as artificial intelligence, renewable energy, biotechnology, and the digital industry, and define a significant portion of global market rules.
However, this growth is not equitable. While some regions accelerate, others fall behind. Inequalities between countries widen—and within countries as well. Access to STEM education continues to be shaped by gender, socioeconomic background, and geography.
It is within this landscape that an uncomfortable reality becomes visible: scientific development does not advance at the same pace as equality. And it is precisely here that the STEM gap emerges with force.
STEM with an Equality Focus
The European Union takes a very clear approach to STEM education. At its core, this approach includes a defining element: it is not only about economic competitiveness, but also about social cohesion and equity. For more than a decade, the EU has understood that innovation without inclusion reproduces inequalities.
In practice, Europe’s STEM strategy is articulated through framework programs such as Horizon Europe, Erasmus+, and the European Skills Agenda, which integrate science, education, and the labor market. Not only do these programs fund research; they also support early education, academic mobility, and educational projects with a gender perspective.
One of the central pillars, therefore, is equal opportunity. The EU recognizes that the STEM gap begins in childhood. That is why, it promotes initiatives that encourage interest in science from primary education, with special attention to girls and young people from vulnerable backgrounds. For example, campaigns such as Women and Girls in STEM or Scientix seek to make female role models visible and support teachers in the classroom.
In addition, many European countries have advanced work–life balance policies. Shared parental leave, flexible working hours, and public care systems allow more women to remain in scientific careers without sacrificing their personal lives. Although the gap has not disappeared, this structural approach nevertheless makes a clear difference.
Looking more closely, one of the factors explaining why more women remain in STEM careers in Europe is precisely these reconciliation policies. Indeed, in several European countries, progress toward equality in science has gone hand in hand with structural reforms that recognize that personal life is not an obstacle, but part of the professional journey.
For instance, in countries such as Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Iceland, parental leave is designed to be obligatorily shared. A portion of the leave belongs exclusively to each parent. If it is not used, it is lost. As a result, this model has had a direct impact on women’s participation in demanding careers, including scientific ones.
By distributing caregiving time, the so-called invisible cost of motherhood—historically a brake on women’s professional progression in STEM—is reduced. Consequently, caregiving ceases to be seen as a “female interruption” and becomes a shared responsibility.
Similarly, in Germany, the reform of Elterngeld encouraged more fathers to take parental leave. In turn, this has had positive effects in highly qualified sectors, where women previously abandoned or slowed their careers after motherhood.
Of course, these policies do not eliminate the gap on their own. However, they do create fairer conditions so that women do not have to choose between science and life.
Another key advance, moreover, is the flexibilization of working time. In countries such as the Netherlands, Denmark, and Austria, part-time work does not necessarily entail a professional penalty. As a result, in academic and scientific fields, this has enabled less linear but more sustainable career paths.
While Europe prioritizes regulatory frameworks, labor rights, and cross-cutting public policies, other regions of the world, by contrast, approach STEM through a different logic—more competitive, more accelerated, and in some cases, more unequal.
Across much of Asia, STEM education is a national priority. Countries such as China, India, South Korea, Japan, and Singapore have built their development strategies on a solid foundation of scientific and technological training. Here, STEM is not just an educational policy; rather, it is a tool of geopolitical power.
China, for example, invests massively in science, artificial intelligence, and advanced technology. From an early age, the state promotes intensive training in mathematics and science, with high levels of academic pressure. The result, therefore, is an enormous volume of STEM professionals—but also highly competitive and often inflexible educational systems.
India, meanwhile, combines academic excellence with deep internal inequalities. While some technological centers lead globally, large segments of the population—especially rural girls—remain excluded. As a consequence, the gender gap persists, although initiatives promoting women’s participation in engineering and technology have emerged.
Likewise, in countries such as South Korea and Japan, STEM education is socially valued and highly structured. However, long study and work hours, combined with traditional social norms, make long-term retention of women in scientific careers difficult. Once again, work–life balance remains one of the greatest challenges.
Singapore, by contrast, represents a particular case. It has managed to integrate academic excellence with educational innovation, betting on practical methodologies and critical thinking. Even so, the system remains demanding and selective.
Taken together, Europe and Asia illustrate different paths. One prioritizes regulation and equity. The other, speed and competitiveness. Yet, both face the same challenge: how to ensure that STEM development leaves no one behind—especially women.
Institutional Barriers and Educational Inequality
Recognizing the importance of STEM careers, however, does not mean access is guaranteed. For millions of girls and young women, the path toward science remains marked by deep institutional barriers and unequal education systems that reproduce historical exclusions.
In particular, the STEM gap widens in under-resourced institutions. In schools where average mathematics performance is low, female participation in scientific careers drops dramatically. This is not due to a lack of talent. Rather, it is the result of insufficient infrastructure, overburdened teachers, outdated curricula, and gender-differentiated expectations—all of which disproportionately affect girls.
In Latin America, educational inequality has a strong territorial dimension. In Chile, for example, significant differences persist between urban and rural areas. While some schools have laboratories and innovation programs, others barely have access to basic digital resources. As a result, this gap limits early exposure to science, particularly for girls in rural areas.
In Colombia, the landscape is even more fragmented. Access to STEM education varies sharply by region. On the one hand, in major cities such as Bogotá or Medellín, robust scientific training initiatives exist. On the other hand, in regions like the Amazon, the Pacific coast, or rural areas affected by armed conflict, STEM education remains marginal. Added to this are the lack of specialized teachers, poor connectivity, and the need for many girls to leave school to take on caregiving responsibilities. Ultimately, the result is a silent exclusion that begins in childhood and deepens over time.
Meanwhile, in Venezuela, the economic and social crisis has severely weakened the education system. Teacher migration, lack of supplies, and institutional precarity have drastically reduced opportunities for scientific training.
In Peru, rural and Indigenous girls face additional barriers, such as schooling in a language that is not their mother tongue and limited access to technology.
In Argentina, although access to university education is broad, many women abandon STEM degrees due to lack of institutional support and non-inclusive academic environments.
Similarly, in Mexico, gender stereotypes continue to influence study choices, while in Panama, specialized STEM teacher training remains limited.
When viewed globally, these barriers are not exclusive to Latin America. On the contrary, they recur—under different forms—across regions. And ultimately, when observed at a global scale, they reveal that the STEM gap is not only educational, but also structural and political.
The STEM Gap in Africa: Talent Without Opportunities
In Africa, scientific potential is enormous. However, the conditions to develop it remain deeply unequal. In many countries on the continent, access to secondary education is already limited. Access to STEM education is even more so.
The lack of school infrastructure, scarcity of laboratories, limited digital connectivity, and absence of programs specifically targeting girls directly affect female participation in STEM. In rural areas, many girls leave school early due to domestic labor, early marriage, or insecurity.
In addition, educational models are often disconnected from local realities. Science is presented as something distant, imported, and alien. Without nearby role models or visible practical applications, interest fades. This is compounded by the limited visibility of African women in scientific spaces, reinforcing the idea that science is not a place for them.
However, even when girls manage to access training, another obstacle emerges: reconciling personal life with a scientific career.
Reconciling Science and Personal Life
STEM careers are often associated with long hours, high pressure, constant competition, and permanent availability. In many contexts, these conditions clash directly with social expectations placed on women.
In most countries, caregiving responsibilities continue to fall disproportionately on them. Motherhood, elder care, or household management become factors that limit professional continuity.
The absence of reconciliation policies—such as flexible schedules, equitable parental leave, or accessible care services—pushes many women toward part-time work or out of the scientific field altogether.
This departure is not an isolated individual choice. It is a direct consequence of labor structures designed around traditional male career paths. And its impact is profound: fewer women in science means less diversity, less innovation, and fewer inclusive solutions.
Understanding these barriers is essential—but not sufficient. The key question is how to transform them. And, above all, who is already doing so.
How to Close the STEM Gap
Closing the STEM gap requires sustained and coordinated action. First, it is essential to intervene from early childhood. Interest in science is built early. Robotics programs, science clubs, coding camps, and mentoring initiatives help break stereotypes before they become entrenched.
In addition, educational and workplace environments must be transformed. Acknowledging bias, reviewing hiring practices, guaranteeing pay equity, and promoting female leadership is not symbolic—it is structurally necessary.
Finally, investment must be directed toward the most vulnerable contexts. Institutions facing the greatest challenges require targeted resources, ongoing support, and strategies adapted to local realities.
Although the road is long, change is not just a promise. In many places, it is already happening.
Projects That Are Changing the Narrative
Despite the challenges, initiatives promoting the participation of girls and women in STEM are multiplying.
In Latin America, UNESCO-supported programs benefit more than 20,000 girls each year, combining scientific education with community empowerment.
Colombia has several local projects working in rural and peripheral territories, integrating science, technology, and community problem-solving. In Chile, the organization Ingeniosas accompanies girls from early childhood, connecting them with female role models in science and technology.
In Africa, initiatives such as Girls for STEM and Leadership integrate scientific training with social leadership, offering alternative models of success.
Likewise, Europe hosts educational festivals and mentoring programs that connect girls with active women scientists. In Spain, the CSIC opens its laboratories every February 11, transforming traditionally closed spaces into places of encounter and inspiration.
Different projects. Different contexts. But a shared purpose: to expand horizons, create role models, and demonstrate that science can also be a space of care, diversity, and shared futures.
The Future Is Also Written in the Feminine
The STEM gap is not a number. It is not a chart. It is a story that begins early—in an under-resourced classroom, in a girl who doubts herself, in a question that goes unasked because no one taught her she had the right to ask it. It is an absence that accumulates. And one we have normalized for far too long.
But the future is not written. It is built. And science, technology, engineering, and mathematics cannot continue to advance while leaving voices behind. Every girl who gains access to quality STEM education expands collective possibilities. Every barrier that falls transforms not only an individual trajectory but the way we understand progress.
Investing in girls and women in STEM is not a symbolic gesture. It is an ethical decision. It is a commitment to more just, more diverse societies—better equipped to face global challenges. Because the world’s problems cannot be solved from a single perspective.
This February 11, the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, celebrating is not enough.
It is time to act. To open doors—and keep them open. To look at girls and tell them, through actions and not just words, that science belongs to them too. Because when a girl imagines, questions, and creates, the whole world moves with her.
