Gender Gap in Science A Global Approach to the Gender Gap in Mathematical, Computing, and Natural Sciences: How to Measure it, How to Reduce It? by Mei-Hung Chiu and Mark Cesa
T
here continues to be a persistent gap between women’s and men’s participation, access, rights, pay, and benefits in the natural sciences, mathematics, and computing. The UNESCO Institute of Statistics reports that fewer than 30% of the world’s researchers are women. Many scientists, mathematicians, computing experts, and policy makers are working to reduce this gender gap by way of a wide
16
Chemistry International
July-September 2020
range of initiatives. The International Science Council (ISC) funded a unique three-year project in 2017-2019 called, “A Global Approach to the Gender Gap in Mathematical, Computing and Natural Sciences: How to measure it, how to reduce it?” that has provided a wide-ranging view of the issues women face in the sciences and how these issues may be overcome. This project involves eleven partner organizations. Seven of these are union members of the ISC. The two lead organizations for the project are The International Mathematical Union (IMU), through its Committee for Women in Mathematics; and IUPAC (see IUPAC project 2017-007-1-020). Other participating unions include the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP); the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS); the International Council for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (ICIAM); and the International Union of History and Philosophy of Science and Technology (IUHPST). The other four organizations are the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
