The event has been approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations with the aim of achieving equal and full access to and participation in science for women and girls. It is also intended to promote the empowerment of women in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) professions, in which gender inequality is prevalent.
Why is it necessary to hold this day?
This event seeks to demonstrate the importance of women and the fundamental role they can play in the field of science and technology. According to data provided by UNESCO, only 30% of the world’s scientific researchers are women. Only 3% of Nobel prizes for science have been awarded to women.
In Spain, only 12% of students enrolled on STEM degree courses are women, according to the report titled “IT Employment and Women: 10 professions with a future”, completed by Infoempleo and the International University of La Rioja in 2020. There’s still much to be done to bridge the gender gap in science and move closer to the goals of the Sustainable Development Agenda.
Promoting STEM vocations among girls
However, the educational programme of Fundación Telefónica and the “La Caixa” Foundation continues to encourage the involvement of women in STEM vocations. At ProFuturo we believe in the transformational power of digital education. Through technology we seek to enhance the essential skills of the 21st century. We want to reduce the current digital divide in education. But we’re also striving to ensure that the gender gap is minimised.
Therefore, many of our educational contents and online resources focus on these branches of knowledge so as to contribute to the development of future STEM generations led by women.
Many girls on our programme dream of becoming doctors, engineers and mathematicians. In this compilation video we can see how studying for these careers is the order of the day. From Nicaragua to Tanzania, our students are quite sure about what they want to be when they grow up.
Our educational resources
At ProFuturo we know that education is a basic pillar and a fundamental right. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us that digitising education and training teachers and students in the digital age are essential tasks.
Thus, since the closure of the classrooms due to the pandemic, ProFuturo has opened up its contents and offered them to students. To ensure that no girl or boy is prevented from learning, the programme provides access to materials in different subjects.
Our educational contents include resources focusing on science, technology and mathematics. In this section you can browse through the different categories. With these resources the students will learn about the workings of the human body, approaches to programming and the world of numbers and calculus.
