Abstract
Abstract. Gender inequality is omnipresent in our society and in the field of education and training, the gender gap is especially evident in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) disciplines. While different studies have been conducted about potential reasons explaining this gap, little is known about gender inequality and underlying factors in the Earth Observation and Geoinformatics (EO*GI) domain. To close some parts of this knowledge gap, the initiative Women in Copernicus was established with the overall goal to make women working in the EO*GI field and especially in the Copernicus ecosystem more visible. This paper analyses the results of a survey of 462 women identifying reasons for not choosing STEM education and the barriers related to educational choices in their career path. The main obstacles that hinder choosing a STEM education for these women are stereotypes in society, missing female role models but also culture, television and society message transmitted by the media. The lack of self-confidence is an essential factor in this choice and is also experienced as a barrier during individual career paths. This analysis provides insights valuable for political decisions making targeting at a gender-balanced work environment and emphasizes the importance of attracting more girls and young women towards a STEM education and supporting them during their career to reach skills and occupational equality and strengthen the economic development of the EO*GI sector.
Highlights
1.1 Gender gap in STEMGender inequality is omnipresent in our society with males being on average better positioned in social, economic, and political hierarchies (UNEP, 2013; WEF, 2019)
While an overview of survey results ranging from full demographic and educational background to details of barriers and facilitators can be found in Jagaille et al (2020), this paper focuses on the detailed analyses of reasons for not choosing STEM education and barriers and partly facilitators related to educational choices experienced by these women during their path
In line with Fitzsimmons (2018) quoting of the need to “urge industries traditionally dominated by one gender to send diverse role models to schools to talk about careers”6, we argue that increased publicity about career opportunities when choosing STEM education related to the Earth Observation and Geoinformatics (EO*GI) sector in society and education can motivate girls and young women to join
Summary
Gender inequality is omnipresent in our society with males being on average better positioned in social, economic, and political hierarchies (UNEP, 2013; WEF, 2019). Several studies provide different possible explanations, such as relative strengths – girls being better in other disciplines compared to boys (OECD, 2019); lower confidence or poorer perception of abilities in some STEM subjects of girls (OECD, 2019); role-model function of female STEM teachers (Bottia et al, 2015); influence of society and family through gender stereotypes (Makarova et al, 2019) or gender role beliefs (Dicke et al, 2019); expectations to what type of jobs different subjects can contribute, where girls have the tendency to favour people or society- oriented work values, which are not perceived to be coupled with STEM discipline (Guo et al, 2018); or monetary expectation in later stage of career, which on contrary are often perceived to be coupled. Focus Political & regional: Europe / GIS Networking & mentoring: GIS Networking & mentoring: GIS Networking & regional: Africa / GIS Technical & networking: EO / GIS Technical: Open Street Map / GIS Technical: Landsat data / EO Technical: SAR data / EO Technical: drone / EO
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