The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat has called for greater investment in women and girls in an effort to address their historic underrepresentation in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

The Secretariat was commenting as it joined the rest of the world in memorating International Day of Women and Girls in Science, under the theme ‘Women Scientists at the forefront of the fight against COVID-19’.  

International Day of Women and Girls in Science is celebrated each year on 11 February and is an initiative backed by the United Nations, to encourage the participation of more women and girls in science.    

“We salute and celebrate all these tireless and brave women who have worked to protect us all from COVID-19,” the Secretariat said.

“The Caribbean Community continues to work to ensure girls and women are empowered through engagement in STEM via a regional initiative launched in 2020, the CARICOM Girls in ICT Partnership.”

In highlighting the unacceptable historic underrepresentation of women and girls in science The Secretariat noted that STEM occupations are the highest earning occupations but have the lowest percentages of women workers.

“Varied and complex factors determine the disparities between men and women in their access to STEM from an early age in school and are deepening in universities and in the world of work,” the Secretariat said.

“Only three out of 10 students in STEM majors and programmes, two out of 10 artificial intelligence professionals and one out of 10 machine learning researchers,  are women.”

The Secretariat also noted that only three per cent of Nobel Prizes in science have been awarded to women.

At the same time, the Secretariat noted that, according to UNESCO, in light of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, 75 per cent of jobs will require STEM skills.

With that in mind, it noted that only 35 per cent of students in STEM majors and university programmes are women.

“Giving women equal opportunity to develop and thrive in STEM careers helps reduce the gender wage gap, improves women’s economic security, ensures a diverse and talented workforce,” the Secretariat said, while also noting that more than 60 per cent of children entering elementary school today will go to jobs that do not yet exist.