The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has called for the empowerment of women and the encouragement of girls to learn and research into science.
UNESCO said this will enable the world realise the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and make the world a better place to live by 2030.
The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, in her message on the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, commemorated on February 11, called on all nations to take a stand for girls and women in science.
Bokova said: “Almost 21 years after the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action from the Fourth World Conference on Women, women remain underrepresented in the natural sciences.
“According to the most recent UNESCO Science Report, women account for only 28 per cent of researchers across the world, with the gap deepening at the higher echelons of decision- making”.
She said that women have less access to funding, to networks, to senior positions, which puts them at a further disadvantage in high-impact science publishing.
The UNESCO chief said that girls continued to face stereotypes and social and cultural restrictions, limiting access to education and funding for research, preventing them from scientific careers and reaching their full potential.
“Women remain a minority in science research and decision-making.
“This throws a shadow over all efforts to reach the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change – both of which highlight the key roles of gender equality and science”.
Bokova also said that girls and women shoulder the heaviest burdens of poverty and inequality as they stand on the frontlines of climate change.
(NAN)
