On Thursday 10 June, MEPs backed by a very large majority (546 votes in favour, 35 against and 100 abstentions) the report by Susana Solís Pérez (Renew Europe, Spain) on promoting gender equality in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
The report points out that only two out of five scientists and engineers in the EU are women. The latter account for about 15% of senior academic positions in most scientific fields. And less than 3% of teenage girls in the Member States express an interest in employment in the field of information and communication technologies.
An engineer herself, the MEP responsible for this report was concerned that the representation of women in STEM fields had not changed much since her years of study.
In order to move towards greater equality in the sector, the text adopted therefore places particular emphasis on the progress needed in the training and employment of women scientists.
More inclusive education
First, with regard to training, the report stresses the fundamental need to remove the “socio-cultural, psychological and pedagogical barriers that limit the interests, preferences and choices of women and girls”.
Parliament calls for more emphasis to be placed on the examples of women who have successful careers in STEM. It also calls for better and more equal career guidance and for female students to be more encouraged to consider a career in the sector.
At school level, MEPs call on schools to ensure gender balance in science teaching staff and believe that STEM curricula and teaching materials should also be more inclusive.
They also pay particular attention to funding needs, especially for schools in rural areas - areas “that are increasingly being deprived of the funding for advanced technologies that many urban school areas take for granted”, the report says.
Supporting careers
On this point, MEPs first recall that women - also under-represented in management positions - also face difficulties related to the persistent lack of work-life balance: difficulties that men often face less.
The report refers in particular to the burden of unpaid family tasks, which women still carry out for the most part (see EUROPE 12470/16, 12584/11), and stresses, among other things, the importance of better maternity leave and significantly more and longer paternity leave.
More broadly, MEPs call on the Commission and Member States to assess the causes and factors behind the high drop-out rate of women in STEM-related careers and “to make recommendations for action to prevent this phenomenon”. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)