Widening gender gap in European ICT research

Author Moonshot.news

Published on: 11/02/2025

“Europe’s innovation potential is at risk. While women outnumber men in university education, they remain strikingly underrepresented in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) careers and leadership”, according to a statement from the EU Commission’s directorate for research and science releasing an annual report called She Figures. The report shows a widening gender gap in sectors like information and communication technology (ICT), where only 22% of doctoral graduates are women.

The report was published on the International Day of Women and Girls in Science on February 11.

“This not only deepens the EU’s existing skills shortages but also threatens long-term competitiveness. Gender disparities persist at the highest levels of research and innovation, with just 9% of inventors being women and 98% of EU research failing to integrate a gender dimension.” 

“These findings echo concerns raised by the Draghi report on EU Competitiveness, which emphasised the need to harness the power of a diverse and inclusive workforce, to boost Europe’s competitiveness and economic growth.”

“Talent has no gender, but opportunity too often does”, says Ekaterina Zaharieva, Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation. 

“The She Figures report is a wake-up call, women are driving progress in education, but still face too many barriers in research, innovation, and leadership.” 

“We need to change that—not just because it’s fair, but because Europe’s future depends on it. A truly competitive and innovative Europe is one where every mind, regardless of gender, gets the chance to thrive.”

“While in 2023, women made up 52% of the 78.3 million people employed in science and technology in the EU, only 41% of scientists and engineers are female. Denmark has the highest representation of female scientists and engineers with 50.8%, while Hungary has the lowest at 30.7%”, the European Parliament says in a statement.

The statement from the Commission says that integration of a gender dimension into R&I content is a requirement for most projects. Increasing gender balance throughout the programme is another objective, with a target of 50% women in Horizon Europe related boards, expert groups and evaluation committees.

“As a result, 81% of Calls for R&I proposals now address the gender dimension, and women now make up more than 51% of participants in Horizon Europe boards and expert groups. Furthermore, 38% of the researchers in Horizon Europe projects are women and the share of women-led consortia in this funding programme has also risen from 23% to 31%.”

Key findings:

• Women are more likely to complete their Bachelor-level studies than men. 82 % of women completed their Bachelor studies compared to 70 % of men). This was also the case for the narrow fields of STEM, where women are typically underrepresented. 
• Women continue to comprise around half (48 %) of Doctoral graduates in the EU, and gender balance is observed in most countries 
• Despite maintaining a gender balance in the overall pool of Doctoral graduates, gender gaps persist in specific broad fields of study. Women represent the majority of Doctoral graduates (over 60 %) in the field of Education across most countries, but remain underrepresented (less than 40 %) in the fields of ICT and Engineering, Manufacturing and Construction. 
• Women’s representation at Doctoral level has decreased in half of all narrow STEM fields since 2018 and women continue to be underrepresented in half of all narrow STEM fields, including Physical Sciences, Mathematics and Statistics, and Engineering and Engineering Trades. 
• Women comprise just over one-third (34 %) of the total population of researchers at EU level. 

The European Parliament contributed to the International Day for Women and Girls in Science by publishing an overview of some contributions by European women:

• 1911: Marie Skłodowska-Curie (Poland/France) received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her pioneering work in radioactivity that led to the discovery of radium and polonium.
• 1938: Lise Meitner (Austria/Sweden) co-discovered nuclear fission, explaining the process by which atomic nuclei split ̵ a fundamental discovery in nuclear physics.
• 2008: Françoise Barré-Sinoussi (France) received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her key role in the discovery of HIV as the cause of AIDS.
• 2012: Fabiola Gianotti (Italy) led the discovery of the Higgs boson at CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research. In 2016, she became the first female Director-General of the organisation.
• 2020: Emmanuelle Charpentier (France) received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, along with American biochemist Jennifer Doudna, for the development of a method for genome editing known as CRISPR-Cas9.