EDITORIAL
A significant gender gap has persisted throughout the years at all levels of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines worldwide. Even though women have made tremendous progress towards increasing their participation in higher education, they still need to be more represented in these fields.
Gender equality has always been a core issue for the United Nations. Gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls will make a crucial contribution not only to the world’s economic development but also to progress across all the goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
On 14 March 2011, the Commission on the Status of Women adopted a report at its fifty-fifth session, with agreed conclusions on access and participation of women and girls in education, training and science and technology, and for the promotion of women’s equal access to full employment and decent work. On 20 December 2013, the General Assembly adopted a resolution on science, technology and innovation for development, in which it recognized that full and equal access to and participation in science, technology and innovation for women and girls of all ages is imperative for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.
Despite growing awareness about women’s participation in national life, there is a dire need to provide more and more opportunities for women in science and technology. Presently, women lag in the field of science of technology across the world.
- 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 cutting-edge fields such as artificial intelligence, only one in five professionals (22%) is a woman.
- 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.
- Female researchers tend to have shorter, less well-paid careers. Their work is underrepresented in high-profile journals, and they are often passed over for promotion.
- Women are less represented in public and private sectors; Also, they need to catch up in private entrenuership regarding science and technology.
Women have incredible potential to contribute to the fields of science and technology. According to various international reports, a bias still exists against women in science and technology. Women have also started contributing in Pakistan. The women in Pakistan are talented and moving forward despite socio-cultural challenges. Even they are moving forward in the fields of science and technology. However, there is still a need to empower women. The cultural inspectors in Pakistan must realize that Pakistan can not grow without the active participation of women in all fields, especially science and technology.https://republicpolicy.com/significance-of-gender-equality-and-development-in-pakistan/
