Women’s participation in STEM studies and careers
Women are underrepresented in digital studies and careers, as in other areas of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).
Women account for just 1 in 3 STEM graduates (Eurostat, 2022), and 1 in 5 ICT specialists (Digital Decade Progress Report, 2024). Women also account for just 24% of self-employed professionals in technical professions, such as science, engineering and ICT ("She Figures” study ,2021).
At a young age, girls generally outperform boys in computer and information literacy (ICILS, 2023), but as they get older and reach higher levels of education, girls tend to steer away from ICT and STEM subjects.
The pace of change is not promising. The share of women in ICT jobs in the European Union (EU) increased by just 0.5 percentage points between 2012 and 2016 (European Institute for Gender Equality: Women and men in ICT).
However, the proportion of female scientists and engineers in the EU has increased slightly – from 39% in 2011 to 41% in 2020.
What is the European Commission doing?
The European Commission is running key activities to help young female students develop their digital and entrepreneurship skills.
The goal is to increase the number of women studying, working and doing business in digital and STEM fields and improve female inclusion in the digital economy.
Key activities
The Commission is supporting new opportunities for girls and women through:
- training in digital and entrepreneurship skills for girls in secondary education, via the dedicated online learning platform, Girls Go Circular
- ESTEAM festivals in different EU countries, to help women improve their digital and entrepreneurial skills and be more confident in using them to take opportunities, innovate and create value for society (ESTEAM stands for entrepreneurship, science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics)
- new higher education programmes for engineering and ICT, based on the STEAM approach. This includes helping to set up national STEM platforms (building on the EU STEM Coalition) and disseminating the results of Erasmus+ funded projects and good practice generated by the European Universities alliances
Results and expected deliverables
- by 2024 - 47 000 young female students have received training in the circular economy and digital skills across 30 countries, with the help of 18 learning modules in 24 languages
- 2025 - Final edition of ESTEAM Fest, publication of the ESTEAM guide
- 2024-2027 - start of ambassador programme, expansion to the Western Balkans, development of training courses for educators
Funding
This action is funded by 3 EU programmes: