Blog by Marie Christine Gries, SI Representative to UNESCO in Paris. 

Sciences, Technologies, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics (STEAM)

In the new technologies, every country in the world is affected by the phenomenon of gender distortion, despite a few pockets of equality between men and women. These exceptions at least have the merit of confirming that individual potential is not gendered when it comes to learning and practicing STEAM techniques and professions.

What do the OECD’s education rankings show (PISA 2022 – most recently published)?

In the 81 countries covered by the OECD studies, in all regions of the world, and with a greater emphasis on apprenticeships in the most developed countries, the findings are unequivocal: by the age of 15, girls and boys at school already have different choices of studies and career ambitions depending on their sex. Despite school results that show no significant disparity between girls and boys in mathematical and scientific subjects, and even tend to favor girls, boys overwhelmingly opt for higher education and STEAM careers (around 70% compared with 30% of girls).

At the age of 15, the die is cast. In fact, when it comes to abolishing gender discrimination in STEAM, education starts too late!

Projects are built to help women and girls catch up with the jobs of the future that have gone by without them : highlighting the career paths of brilliant women researchers in these disciplines, building them up as role models, creating mentorships to coach young girls and draw up career profiles, helping them to assert a personality endowed with self-confidence, developing educational assistance and distributing grants are all good initiatives to give a helping hand to those who are part of the minority of girls choosing science studies and careers, and no doubt inspire new vocations.

These initiatives are being publicised by UNESCO, which is celebrating Women and Girls in Science (11 February) by hosting the L’Oréal awards for the outstanding women researchers selected each year by a jury.  On this occasion, the prize-winners talk about their careers and their successes, without glossing over the obstacles they have encountered as women in scientific research: persistent and sometimes morally violent sexism in companies, economic discrimination and prejudice, a glass ceiling that often prevents female members of research teams from working higher than as assistants, and a certain lack of recognition of the contribution made by women to the collective success of these teams.

Let’s not forget either that the creation of algorithms is in the hands of a majority of men who, while not malicious, do carry deep-rooted prejudices and infiltrate sexist concepts into the data they order.

If we want to bring about more radical change to integrate women into the knowledge and professions of the future, and force a reversal of the current trend, we need to intervene as soon as possible in the recommendations and observations on the new paths and practices of Education.

Working on attitudes at a very early stage

Attitudes are shaped from the very first years of school, and are even initiated by family behavior, before the threshold of primary school is crossed for the first time. We need to help raise families’ awareness of the early stages of this discrimination, which is not confined to traditional rural societies and the least developed countries.

Teachers are increasingly aware of their need for training to get rid of the sexist prejudices that tilt support and encouragement towards different courses of study, depending on the gender of their learners.

UNESCO, scientific professionals and NGOs are currently working on a complementary project to the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, concerning the construction of guidelines on the Right to Early Childhood Education and Care (ECCE) to be adopted by States. These guidelines concern children from birth to entry into primary schools, and would require States to make a major financial effort to cover their territories with pre-school care centers. The aim is to set up educational programmes for toddlers and early-learning activities to prepare them for school, to improve health monitoring for very young children and stimulate their learning skills.

In this environment, vigilance will be required to ensure that children experience an initial socialisation free of early gendered differentiation