Closing the STEM gender gap: Training women in Earth observation and geospatial information technology

Abstract

Over the next couple of decades, jobs across the globe will increasingly require digital literacy and information and communications technology skills, and likely involve the use of geospatial technologies such as Earth observation (EO) and geospatial information technology (GIT). Despite the growth of EO and GIT, the number of women professionals in this sector remains low across the world. To bridge the technology and gender gap and to promote a gender-balanced workforce in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH), our SERVIR-HKH Initiative has been training young women STEM professionals through its “Empowering women in GIT” (WoGIT) training series, initiated in 2018. This publication records our WoGIT journey – its milestones, impacts, and efforts to help build a skilled, gender-balanced workforce that can keep up with the rapid innovations in EO and GIT. To date, we have organized nine WoGIT trainings (two in-person, and seven virtual) in five HKH countries, benefitting 410 women.