She Figures 2021

The European Commission has published the latest She Figures report. The She Figures publications, first released in 2003 and updated every three years, presents data on gender equality objectives in the field of R&I policy.  Equality between women and men is one of the EU’s founding values. Despite EU legal and policy commitments, a range of gender inequalities persist, not least in R&I. These include segregation of women and men PhD graduates across different fields of study, the under-representation of women in Science and Technology occupations (including entrepreneurship and innovation), gender differences in researchers’ working conditions, gender inequalities in career advancement and decision-making, and more. Nonetheless, She Figures 2021 finds improvements in women’s representation as researchers across the Higher Education, Government and Business Enterprise Sector. Moreover, while previous She Figures editions found a gender gap in international mobility of researchers during their PhD, there was no prominent gender difference observed in 2019.

The 2021 edition of the report shows that the number of female students and graduates at bachelor's, master's and doctoral levels has grown steadily over the last years. However, women are still under-represented in research and innovation careers.

The She Figures 2021 publication highlights that, on average, at bachelor's and master's levels, women outnumber men as students (54%) and graduates (59%), and there is almost gender balance at doctoral level (48%). However, disparities between study fields persist. For example, women still represent less than a quarter of doctoral graduates in the ICT field (22%), while they represent 60% or more in the fields of health & welfare and education (60% and 67% respectively).

Furthermore, women represent only around one third of researchers (33%). At the highest level of academia, women remain under-represented, holding about one-quarter of full professorship positions (26%). Women are also less likely to be employed as scientists and engineers (41%) and are under-represented among self-employed professionals in science and engineering and ICT occupations (25%).