Unesco Day of Women and Girls in Science: STEM disciplines need more inclusion
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The Swedish Academy’s decision to award the 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Carolyn Bertozzi, together with Meldal and Sharpless, is an important victory for all women who study, research and work in science. First of all because the award recognizes the importance of Bertozzi’s contribution to contemporary chemistry: it was she who developed the concept of “bioorthogonal chemistry”, an approach for the study of biomolecules within living organisms that revolutionized medicinal chemistry over the course of the last twenty years. Not only that: Bertozzi is also an activist for the inclusion of women in the STEM field (acronym that stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), a successful serial entrepreneur in the biotech sector and above all a mentor for a long line of women who had the ardor – it should be said – to choose the study of chemistry, one of the sectors together with physics in which the female presence is still marginal.
“At a time when we are flying beyond Pluto and putting President Jimmy Carter’s metastatic melanoma into remission”, wrote Bertozzi in his heartfelt 2016 editorial in which he denounced the status quo of chemistry faculties in the USA, “how is it possible that do we find a way to hire and promote new female teachers?”
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The Nobel euphoria for an extraordinary “role model” like Bertozzi quickly fades, however: just take a look at the list of prizes over the last one hundred and twenty years to discover that only 8 awards for chemistry have been awarded to women , compared to 191 men awarded (4.1%). In physics things are even worse: 4 Nobel prizes awarded to a woman, compared to 221 men (1.8%). If we want to be optimistic, we can say that times are changing for the better: in both cases, half of the prizes to female scientists have been awarded from 2018 to today.
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However, the Unesco data on women’s inclusion in the STEM field reminds us that there is still a lot of work to do. Globally, only one in three researchers is female, while men still represent 65% of students enrolled in scientific faculties. In our country the difference in vocation between men and women is even more marked. In 2021, more than half of the graduates in our country were women, but only one in five completed a STEM course, compared to 40% of male graduates.
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The stereotypes we see reflected in universities and academia are also perpetrated in the world of work. From the ValoreD4Stem survey that we conducted in 2021, it emerged that most women who hold technical-scientific roles in the company do not feel adequately valued. A trend that is also reflected in leadership paths and above all in the higher rate of abandonment of technical-scientific career aspirations by women.
At a time when we’re flying past Pluto, how is it possible that we can’t find ways to hire and promote new female teachers?
Bridging the gender gap in STEM, in research and academia as well as in companies, is not only a goal of principle, but also a common sense choice for the progress and well-being of society. According to estimates by EIGE, the European Institute for Gender Equality, reducing the gender gap in STEM sectors would have positive effects on the entire economy, calculable in a growth of 2.2-3% of European GDP per capita over the next 30 years.
STEM disciplines and professions are the engine of tomorrow: for this reason we must act today on several fronts so that women do not miss their appointment with the future of study and work. First of all, a profound cultural change is needed, particularly in Italy, which allows girls and boys to approach scientific subjects with conviction, providing them with role models to inspire. Above all, it is necessary to dismantle the prejudice – often unconsciously internalized even by many women – that it takes less inclination towards scientific studies and technical professions. From a research that ValoreD conducted on 61 Italian companies, it emerges that 62% of women active in STEM sectors have developed a predilection for scientific subjects since they were children. Among the respondents, 20% confirmed that they have met, in their career, at least one key figure (usually a teacher) who has fueled their passion for science and favored the choice of a scientific study path.
Secondly, it is essential to encourage and grow the professionals who have already conquered a space in the STEM field in companies. We need to pay attention to the quality of their career path, guarantee fair growth, promote technological training courses to make them protagonists of change. The “reskilling” and “upskilling” programs would also allow companies to draw from the (unfortunately) large pool of STEM professionals who for various reasons have abandoned the world of work. During 2022 ValoreD worked with 33 companies in its network to draw up a list of “best practices” aimed at overcoming the gender gap in the corporate sphere. To date we have collected and analyzed over 125 “best practices”, available for consultation in a document that we publish on the occasion of 11 February, the UNESCO day of women and girls in science.
Most of the companies with which we have collaborated to compile this collection already have initiatives for the orientation of the younger generations, especially girls and boys, towards STEM paths.
Alongside initiatives aimed at training the workers and leaders of tomorrow, we have encountered others aimed at reskilling, upskilling and internally promoting STEM women. These are commendable practices which we hope will become even more widespread: not only because they enhance female figures in a sector that still sees them too under-represented, but also because they actively combat job abandonment and the renunciation of career aspirations by of women.
Today an unprecedented reconfiguration is underway: the need for digitization, the advent of industry 4.0, automation processes and the growth of cloud and AI-based solutions offer a unique opportunity to rethink the dynamics and balances of professions and to imagine a world of work in which the human contribution is increasingly increased and not replaced by new technologies. In this scenario, fostering a corporate culture based on inclusion and the enhancement of diversity is not only a matter of responsibility, but also a competitive advantage in economic terms for companies that know how to recognize the value of equality and inclusion as powerful levers for generating long-term value.
* Cristiana Scelza, country manager of Prysmian Group, has a degree in Chemistry and a Masters in Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management. Since 2022 you have been the President of Valore D, an association of 330 Italian companies which since 2009 has been promoting gender balance in the professional field and the dissemination of the culture of inclusion in support of innovation, progress and growth in our organizations Village.
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