Women in STEM

The year 2018 was a big year for women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). Donna Strickland became the third woman in history to win the Nobel Prize for Physics. Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell’s 1967 discovery of pulsars was recognised with a Breakthrough Prize for Science. Women came to lead the majority of the UK’s learned societies, including the Institute of Physics (IOP), Royal Academy of Engineering, and the Royal Statistical Society. At the same time, women continue to be underrepresented amongst the world’s researchers despite growing evidence that science is stronger when done by diverse teams. Whilst global data are complicated to compare—particularly given [Page 1664]that the definitions of ‘scientists’ vary between countries—it is clear that equity (ensuring everyone has access to the ...