Despite representing only around a third of scientists worldwide, women and girls hold the key to unlocking new levels of creativity, innovation and economic growth. Experts at a G20 side event, co-hosted by the HSRC and UNESCO, underscored the urgent need for inclusive science, technology, engineering and mathematics policies, supportive family and community structures, and dedicated funding to foster equal participation and to ensure that women everywhere can help shape the future of science.

A shared commitment to equity in science. Delegates and participants at the G20 side working group, Women and Girls in Science: Shaping a Better Future for All of Us, held on 25 February 2025. Photo by Thabo Tema (HSRC)

This year marks the first time South Africa is presiding over the G20 summit – an international forum of developing and developed countries seeking solutions to global economic and financial issues. On 25 February 2025, the HSRC, alongside the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), hosted one of the first G20 Research and Innovation Working Group side events of the year. The theme was “Shaping a Brighter Future for Women and Girls in Science”.

A focal point of the event was the continued underrepresentation of women and girls in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) fields worldwide. “Despite some progress, women still represent around only a third of the global scientific community, and this figure doesn’t seem to be budging,” said Dr Ezra Clark, UNESCO’s Chief of Section for Science, Technology and Innovation Policy in the Natural Science Sector.

Clark was one of several experts at the event who presented practical solutions to issues that hinder the full participation of girls and women in STEM careers.

Infographic by Ilze Visagie, HSRC

The value of inclusivity

Why is including women and girls in science important? Attendee Rovani Sigamoney, an education programme specialist from UNESCO, believes that gender diversity in STEM leads to increased creativity and, therefore, products and solutions that address a broader range of global problems. Sigamoney maintained that involving women in STEM fields is also economically rewarding: by doubling the share of women in the tech workforce by 2027, Europe could boost its GDP by 600 billion EUR.

According to a study that surveyed 700 female scientists around the world, including women in STEM fields would bring about higher ethical standards, more humanistic science, improved working conditions, greater creativity and innovation, and inclusive research.

Productive policies

Only 50% of global nations had implemented STEM policies, said Sigamoney, and of those countries, only half had policies that supported women and girls. She proposed thorough reviews of existing STEM policies to ensure they held a gender component.

Silvia Bojinova, a senior policy officer and director-general for Research and Innovation at the European Commission, weighed in on how the European Union was using policy to encourage women’s participation in STEM. One policy compelled organisations applying for STEM funding to satisfy certain measures, such as work-life balance and gender equality in recruitment and career development.

It starts at home

Beyond policy, community and family interventions also play a vital role in shaping girls’ trajectories in STEM. According to Hilja Eelu, a PhD student and recipient of a L’Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science grant, that is where discussions around career pursuits happen.

One family-based intervention was introduced by Cobus van Breda, programme director of the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Science-for-the-Future project. “Parental involvement is one of the things that research shows plays a significant role in learners’ achievement,” he said. However, in rural South Africa, many caregivers are unable to be involved as they often don’t have a sufficient academic background. Therefore, the UFS has implemented a parental component into their Family Maths Programme, where they provide caregivers with resources and workshops to support them in their caregiver-child engagements.

Family support

Eelu said that some of the aspects she valued most about the L’Oréal-UNESCO grant were the provisions for maternity leave and child-rearing services. She said that these provisions aided women facing difficult choices, such as needing to choose between a career in STEM and opting to be a mother.

Naadiya Moosajee, co-founder of Women in Engineering (WomEng), a non-profit organisation that aims to develop engineering talent among women and girls in multiple African countries, is taking steps to solve this problem. She created WomHubs – incubators and co-working spaces for women founders of small enterprises in STEM. Alongside advanced technology to support women in developing STEM solutions, these hubs include special lactation and menopause rooms that provide reclining couches for rest, direct air-conditioning to ease hot flushes, a fridge for iced water and breast-milk storage, and calming aromatherapy diffusers.

Moosajee has also set up junior engineer hubs. Here, children can accompany their mothers to work and play with STEM-focused toys such as 3D doodling pens, building blocks, Legos, climbing walls and PlayStation 5 with virtual-reality glasses.

Stereotypes and gender-based violence

Dr Keamogetse Morwe, a senior lecturer at the University of Venda’s Department of Gender and Youth Studies, argued that ending gender-based violence and discrimination in universities and STEM spaces starts from the home, but that institutions still have a large role to play. “Who of us have been sexually harassed? I am one of those people, and if we raise our hands, we’ll find that the majority of women have been sexually harassed. And this happens within all our spaces,” she said.

Morwe also noted that stereotypes that depict women as not belonging in STEM fuel behaviours such as intellectual sabotage and exclusion from networks. “The ideal scientist to date is still a man, not a woman,” she said. Morwe explained that women who experience harassment, sabotage or exclusion are forced to either fight or confront bad actors, accept their treatment, or leave those spaces, anchoring these stereotypes in a damaging cycle.

Morwe urged universities to ensure elements of anonymity and confidentiality. She said universities should take a macro approach by looking at data to see how they can change systems that perpetuate this behaviour. “It is unfair to expect victims to know how to solve these problems,” she said.

Empowerment

Eelu said that many young people view science degrees as purely academic, not as paths to careers or business, which puts girls off studying science. To combat this, Sigamoney said that it is important to empower women with knowledge and information about engineering and science so that they can make informed decisions.

According to Moosajee, when working with young girls in her organisation’s technology camps for girls, rather than asking them “What do you want to be when you grow up?”, they ask, “What problem do you want to solve in your community?”

“Just by changing the framing, every young girl wants to be a problem solver. Through these tech camps, they are building water-filtration systems, they are helping to build better roads and infrastructure for people with disabilities, and they are thinking about supply chains to get healthier food into their communities,” she said.

Education

At the event, a young entrepreneur from the audience identified problems facing women looking to start businesses in STEM fields. She mentioned that she was inspired to start a business but noted that a lack of formal education in entrepreneurship and marketing held her back. “STEM programmes at university do not sufficiently cover these skills,” she said.

UFS Deputy Vice-Chancellor Prof. Anthea Rhoda believes that an important part universities need to play is in mentoring and coaching young girls in STEM programmes. “It is through peer mentoring and coaching engagements that we learn from each other – especially for emerging scholars,” she said.

Funding

According to Moosajee, none of the practical solutions she implements and proposes matter unless capital can be moved into the hands of female entrepreneurs. “Over the past few years, the average amount of capital going into the African continent, specifically funding female founders, is 2% of venture capital dollars,” she said. Sigamoney also said that an important aspect of promoting women and girls in STEM is exclusive research funding for women in those fields.

What can you do?

Sigamoney says academics, scientists and the public can join the UNESCO call to action on closing the gender gap in science and participate in the social media campaign by sharing their thoughts on what would be different if more women joined STEM. In the closing remarks of the event, Mmampei Chaba, Chief Director: Multilateral and Africa Cooperation at the South African Department of Science and Innovation, said, “Expose your girl children to your workplaces, so they can be inspired and motivated.”

Research contact and acknowledgements:

This article was written by HSRC science writer Jessie-Lee Smith, and Drs Lorenza Fluks and Sara Naicker, senior research specialists in the HSRC’s Research, Development, Science and Innovation (RDSI) Division. It is based on a G20 side event, co-hosted by the HSRC and UNESCO at the University of the Free State. For more information, please contact Fluks at lfluks@hsrc.ac.za.

With thanks and acknowledgement to all the speakers: Dr Glenda Kruss (session chair), Imraan Patel, Prof. Sarah Mosoetsa, Dr Ezra Clark, Rovani Sigamoney, Naadiya Moosajee, Dr Dorothy Ngila, Silvia Bojinova, Dr Maphuti Madiga, Dr Cobus van Breda, Prof. Quarraisha Abdool Karim, Dr Keamogetse Morwe, Prof. Anthea Rhoda and Hilja Eelu.