On the occasion of International Women’s Day on March 8, we have looked back at Eurostat figures released last February on the distribution of female scientists and engineers across the EU.

The figures display that there are at least as many women as men in university-level education, whilst the number of female doctorate students has increased more rapidly than the number of equivalent male students in most Member States. From the 17 million scientists and engineers in the EU, 40% are women and 60% men. But while women currently hold the majority of jobs in science and technology in service activities, they only account for 28.4% in manufacturing.

The figures allow us to reflect on the current imbalance (in manufacturing especially) and serve as yet another wake-up call in addressing the existing issues that cut across various policy areas. EuCheMS has been vocal over the years in its call for an equal distribution of male and female scientists and engineers in the EU. In 2011, EuCheMS published ‘European Woman in Chemistry’, an unmissable voyage through centuries of chemical research, focusing on the lives of amazing women who dared to study and innovate, and continuously defied societal expectations.