Why Women in STEM Matter to All of Us

The newest data from the past few months tells a mixed story. The World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2026, published on 16 September, marks twenty years of tracking gender parity across 145 economies. The good news is that the world has now closed around 69% of the overall gender gap. The bad news is that progress over the last decade has been noticeably slower than in the decade before it.

Technology is where the gap is sharpest. According to the WEF report, fewer than one in five AI engineers are women. LinkedIn research released in August 2026 adds more detail:

• Women made up only 26% of AI hires in 2025, compared with roughly half of hires into non-AI jobs.
• A typical AI job posting now lists around $177,000 in pay, compared with about $80,000 for non-AI roles, so the gap is also a pay gap.
• Across 27 countries, women hold just 13% of C-suite AI leadership roles at AI companies.

Separate Randstad data reported by Bloomberg in August shows that only about 29% of AI-skilled workers worldwide are women, and that women are less likely than men to be offered AI tools at work in the first place (35% versus 41%). In other words, part of the problem is not talent or interest. It is simple access.

Teams design from their own experience. For decades, crash-test dummies were modelled on an average male body, and many early health and fitness apps overlooked basic needs of half their users. When teams include women engineers, researchers and designers, those blind spots are caught earlier, often before a product ever reaches the market. Everyone benefits from that, including men, children and older users whose needs also tend to fall outside the "default."

AI systems learn from data, and they inherit the gaps and biases in that data. If the people who choose the data, test the models and set the rules come mostly from one group, the results will quietly favour that group. Hiring tools, credit scoring and medical diagnosis are areas where those hidden biases have real consequences. More women building and governing AI is one of the most practical safeguards we have.

Despite the headlines, there are strong signs of momentum. In South Africa, the recruitment platform Pnet reported in August 2026 that women now make up more than half of professionals listing generative-AI content tools on their CVs, and roughly 39% of those listing general AI skills. Women are clearly ready to learn. They need equal opportunity to use those skills.

In Europe, the European Centre for Women and Technology (ECWT) describes itself as the largest network for women in the digital world on the continent. Its work focuses on four practical goals: getting more girls to study ICT and STEM, attracting and retaining women in ICT careers, designing gender-sensitive technology, and supporting women's digital entrepreneurship.

ECWT has also launched the Role Models in STEM portal, an EU-supported platform that collects real career stories and advice from women across 16 sectors, from microelectronics and space technology to AI research. It currently features more than 170 profiles and over 2,500 answers to a detailed questionnaire. Resources like this matter because they turn abstract statistics into human stories that a 14-year-old can relate to.

Supporting women in STEM does not require a big budget. It requires consistent, everyday choices.

If you are a parent or teacher:

Because the products, medicines and AI systems we all rely on work better and more safely when the teams building them reflect the people using them. A more balanced workforce also widens the talent pool and strengthens the economy.

According to the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2026, fewer than one in five AI engineers are women. LinkedIn data shows women made up 26% of AI hires in 2025.

Provide equal access to AI tools and training, publish transparent pay bands, run structured mentoring and sponsorship, offer flexible work, and make women's work visible inside and outside the company.