---
title: International Women’s Day – Raising Awareness Against Bias
description: Blog | Some of the numbers around women in scientific industries, data science and the wider STEM fields:
---

[blog ](https://blog.covalentbonds.com)

# [International Women’s Day – Raising Awareness Against Bias](https://blog.covalentbonds.com/international-womens-day-raising-awareness-against-bias)

 Written by [Laura Browne](https://blog.covalentbonds.com/author/laura-browne) | Mar 6, 2020 5:00:00 AM

[“An equal world is an enabled world. Raise awareness against bias. Take action for equality.” ](https://www.internationalwomensday.com/)

As a company that never does anything without [data](https://covalentbonds.com/persona-development/), on this [International Women’s Day](https://www.internationalwomensday.com/), we wanted to take the opportunity to revisit some of the numbers around women in scientific industries, data science and the wider STEM fields:

### Women in Science and Data: The Numbers

- Only 26% of AI and data professionals globally are women (Source: [Reports of the Secretary-General United Nations](https://www.un.org/securitycouncil/content/reports-secretary-general))
- Less than 30% of scientific and technological researchers are women (Source: [UNESCO](http://uis.unesco.org/en/topic/women-science))
- By the age of 6, girls already consider boys more likely to show brilliance and be more suited to “really, really smart” activities than their own gender (Source: “[Gender stereotypes about intellectual ability emerge early and influence children’s interest”. Science, Bian, Lin, et al. 2017](https://science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6323/389)
- When there are new STEM opportunities, women gain only 1 while men gain 5 (Source: [World Economic Forum, The Future of Jobs, 2016](http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs.pdf))
- Female students and employees are under-represented in STEM-related fields. Less than a third of female students choose to study higher education courses in subjects like math and engineering. Just 3% of students joining information and communication technology (ICT) courses across the globe are women. That improves slightly to 5% for mathematics and statistics courses. And it increases to 8% for engineering, manufacturing and construction courses (Source: [World Economic Forum](https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/02/stem-gender-inequality-researchers-bias/))
- Women working in STEM fields publish less and often receive less pay (Source: [Women and Men in STEM Often at Odds Over Workplace Equity, PEW Research Center](https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2018/01/09/women-and-men-in-stem-often-at-odds-over-workplace-equity/))

If you want to dig into the data yourselves, there is a great resource courtesy of [UNESCO](http://uis.unesco.org/en/topic/women-science#slideoutmenu). The team is developing new indicators about the dynamics that shape women’s decisions to pursue STEM careers – from their educational pathways to the social factors, such as starting a family and workplace environment. The data will then be used as an evidence base to better target policies at the national, regional and global levels through a new project, known as SAGA (STEM and Gender Advancement), financed by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).

### Bond Girls: Data Scientists

This is a topic very close to our hearts. As a predominantly female team working in both data and life sciences (go [Bond Girls](https://covalentbonds.com/bond-girls/)!), we are passionate about breaking down every barrier we can to get and retain more women in our field. You can do your bit on a practical level. One simple way is to address bias where you see it. For example, there is a great initiative run by Bobbie Carlton ([Innovation Women](https://innovationwomen.com/)) that is designed to address bias on panels and speaking opportunities. If you see a panel of speakers who are all male, tweet it using the hashtag #manel. Put yourself forward to speak at conferences (yes you are as qualified as your male peers to be a thought leader!), publish that article. Own your brand!

It is up to each and every one of us to do our bit. Diversity and inclusion is not just a ‘hot topic’. Not addressing it has real-life consequences for people, but also [impacts business performance](https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/316482). Don’t just let International Women’s Day be one day a year: make sure that addressing all inequalities is at the heart of all your business decisions. It is something that we are committing to. Join us.

[View full post](https://blog.covalentbonds.com/international-womens-day-raising-awareness-against-bias)

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