Stem, in Italy almost one in two researchers is a woman

44% of researchers in the Stem subjects (science, technology, mathematics and engineering), in Italy, are women: the field of research in our country continues towards gender equality, as the report “Gender in research” from Elsevier, one of the most important scientific publishers in the world. In Italy, the presence of women among researchers exceeds the EU average (which is 39%), and reaches well beyond Denmark (35%). Italy is second only to Portugal and Spain, which reach 48%.

Good news also with regard to pay equality: albeit the pay gender gap is present, it is around 7%, which corresponds to less than half the European average (over 15%) and almost a third of that of Denmark (just under 20%).

The number of women who sign a publication for the first time is also progressively increasing, and even in this respect Italy proves to be at the forefront: until 2003 in Europe, on average, the percentage of female researchers in Stem was just over 20 % (in the same years Italy already exceeded 30%); today at the European level this percentage has reached 40%, e Italy is almost 50%. As far as engineering research is concerned, Italy, once again, exceeds the European average: between 2014 and 2018 women were 25.5% of researchers, compared to an EU average of 20.7.

In the Stem disciplines sector, in Italy women outnumber men among doctoral candidates (52%), while among white-collar workers and technicians, they are almost 60%, while the EU average is just over 50%.

Unfortunately, however, our country is below average in top positions of research institutes: women have just over 20% representation, even if, in any case, the percentage of the rest of Europe is only a few percentage points higher.