The latest UNESCO The Global Education Monitoring (Gem) report showed striking statistics: Women only make up 35 percent of graduates worldwide in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
Despite our persistent efforts to promote the gender equality and digital admission, this number has remained unchanged and very consistent Almost a decade. This underlines the persistent and deeply rooted barriers, which women are still exposed to in the stem. It encourages us not only to think about who enters these areas, but also about who really feels welcome, supports and is involved in them.
Beyond the numbers: What does 35% actually mean?
When we look at the statistics at first glance that women only make up 35 percent of the MINT graduates worldwide, may not be very surprising at all. But the fact that this number has not moved in years does say a lot. It is not just about access to education, but also about the more subtle and everyday options, how girls and women are linked from science and technology. This news begins very early on the toys that we grew up with the confident type of toy. They build up quietly, but powerfully over time and make some paths appear “more natural” than others.
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The latest UNESCO data show that only 26 percent of experts in data and AI are women. This number falls to 15 percent in engineering and only 12 percent in cloud computing. These are some of the most powerful and rapidly growing fields, but women still seem to be pushed out. Sometimes it is more visible, but mostly it appears quietly how to be overlooked, being exhausted or simply feeling that they don’t really belong.
When women do a tribe and occur, they often tend to the biosciences that the Society for Women consider more acceptable. In the meantime, areas such as physics, engineering or computer science are still dominated by men. This shows us again which type of field society is suitable for different genders.
The leaky pipeline and the myth of meritocracy
A Common metaphor For women in MINT, we are “leaking pipeline”, which describes how women tend to the field in certain places during education, in the early career or in front of important leadership roles. However, if you refer to it as “leak”, the frame of these departures consists as random and not systematic.
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But in truth these barriers that Women see each other in STEm are more persistent and more structurally than we can see. Many women have problems such as no mentors, unfair attitude and promotion, unequal payment and even harassment at work or in academic rooms. These are not only rare events; They are ongoing problems that influence the decisions that make women, the opportunities they get and in the direction in which their career takes up.
The Ideal worker stereotype Is someone who can work long, unpredictable hours without needing breaks. But this kind of idea leaves people with care responsibility, especially women, in countries like India. In addition, many people still believe that success only comes from earnings. But they forget that things like access to network, self -confidence and social capital are very important. And all of these are often shaped by gender, which ultimately plays a major role in how to develop someone career path.
A 2021 report by Microsoft and Kantar It found that the girls’ trust in the age of 15 to 16 years dropped noticeably. This usually happens due to a lack of encouragement and not enough role models to visit them. It is a small but crucial turning point in the pipeline that we have talked about – and it shows how much socialization shapes the kind of career that feels that you can imagine for yourself.
What happens in India? Contextualization of global statistics
India has one of the highest stocks of women that are completed worldwide, which is around 43 percent. But this number also drops strongly in the workforce, where women only make up 14 percent of scientists, engineers and technologists. There are several studies that indicate structural and professional obstacles that begin early and consistently determine a woman’s career.
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For example a Report from iWwage explains that women sometimes leave their work because they do not get enough guidance, strict work rules are exposed to and have fewer chances of becoming managers. Another study by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) Says that it is not just about women falling slowly, but also shows a deeper problem of exclusion, which is caused by patriarchal thinking and unfair treatment at work. If you enter in Stem fields, you often have to face expectations regarding care and emotional work, which makes it uncompatible with this reality of uncompatible working hours.
Another study published by Wise journals Explains women in roles who are seen as municipal, while some fields are considered competitive and male. This means that a very subtle, but also very powerful mismatch between identity and work. These findings together show that it is not sufficient that women occur in the event. What we need is a long -term change in the way we design work areas, support careers and redefine success.
Stem, power and its knowledge counts
Stem is not just about technical skills, but also about who can shape the future and their experiences are ultimately important. The lack of variety that we see in MINT not only affects our workplace culture, but also has actual and real consequences.
For example, studies have shown that facial recognition systems are often less precise when identifying women and people with color. This is not only a technical error, but also the lack of different voices in the teams that design these technologies, which we ultimately use in our real life.
Another example of this would be how medical research has mainly focused on male bodies female anatomy. As a result, many conditions to which women are exposed to, historically, misdiagnosed or overlooked what caused health problems for many women. A feminist approach to the MINT would mean that power, representation and inclusion would respect.
Stemagining stem: from survival to joy
If we had an integrative approach for MINT for MINT, it would be not just about bringing more women in laboratories or technology companies. It would be about changing how these rooms look for women and feel. For too long, culture has expected that society adapt women and survive in the systems that ultimately rule out it and their experiences. But what if the goal was joy and not just after endurance?
This not only means supporting guidelines, flexible jobs and mentoring, but also spaces in which women can be fully. A space in which curiosity is cultivated, the failure is not punished and different voices are actually important and the work that is done.
Like Angela Saini in InferiorIt is not the case that women are not interested in science, but it is that science was not always interested in women. It is time that we have changed that.
Building of real changes: Findings of UNESCO and Catalyst
The 2025 UNESCO The report shows what really has to change in order to make StEM inclusive. It is not just enough to increase the numbers, and we have to take real measures to make stem more integrative for women. For example, jobs have to offer more flexible hours in order to meet different lives, which is often of essential importance for women who have to reconcile several roles. It is also talked about integrative teaching practices so that young girls do not feel excluded from the start. We also have to include long -term mentoring for sustainable careers.
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Meanwhile the 2024 catalyst The report shows that the creation of an integrative and supportive environment is the key to keep women in stem. We have to concentrate on a fair attitude, meaningful mentors and rooms in which women feel safe and respected. The stories that women tell in this area only show how strongly supported and integrative leadership can be.
This helps to build trust and skills that are often missing. These are not only small corrections, but the basis of an integrative Stem culture that not only supports a few, but all
The 35 percent is not just about women who are missing in Stem, but also about what Stem misses when women and different voices are not available. Including teams, not only do better questions ask, develop better technologies and contribute to innovations that serve a more comprehensive society, but also contribute to how excellence, progress and leadership can look.
Juhi Sanduja is an editorial intern at Feminism in India (FII). It is passionate about intersectional feminism, with a great interest in documenting resistance, feminist stories and identity questions. Previously, she was as a research intern in Delhi in the Center for Political Research and Governance (CPRG), Delhi. She is currently studying English literature and French and is particularly interested in how feminist thinking can influence public order and drive advantage of social change.
