The EU statistical office, Eurostat, released data today showing the number of women entering the science and engineering professions increased in 2020 and women now account for 41% of the total workforce in this sector.
“In 2020, there were almost 6.6 million women scientists and engineers in the EU, 254,500 more than in 2019, a proportion of 41% of the total workforce in science and technology,” said Eurostat.
The percentages of women scientists and engineers vary widely from country to country – from 52% in Lithuania, Portugal and Denmark to 31% in Hungary and 30% in Finland.
“By sector, women are under-represented in the construction sector (where only 22% of scientists and engineers are women), while there is a greater gender balance in the service sector (46%),” the statement added.
Promoting gender balance in education and employment is one of the EU’s key priorities with the Gender Equality Strategy adopted by the European Commission in 2020 aiming to enhance women’s empowerment and ensure equal opportunities in the labor market.
Nevertheless, the EU still faces gender imbalance in employment and wages.
The employment rate between women and men is very different in the EU with the proportion of employed men of working age exceeding that of women by 11.7%.
The gender pay gap in the EU is 14.1% with the gap widening to be higher in Estonia where men are paid 21.7% more than women, in Latvia (21.2%), in Austria (19, 9%) and in Germany (19.2%).
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