Women in STEM – An International Comparison on Current Challenges and Opportunities

A free web seminar titled “Women in STEM – An International Comparison on Current Challenges and Opportunities” is set to take place on Wednesday March 1, 2023, in recognition of International Women’s Day, organized by the Office of Global Communications at the Prime Minister’s Office of Japan.

Increasing the participation of women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) is an internationally shared challenge. The most recent G7 Summit held in Germany in 2022 recognized the importance of gender equality as well as digitalization. As one of the G7 nations, the Government of Japan also understands the importance of increasing participation of women in STEM and raised this issue as one of the topics at the World Assembly for Women (WAW!) – an annual international conference aimed at promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment held in Tokyo in December 2022.

To further enhance the discussion held at the WAW! Conference ahead of Japan’s G7 presidency this year, this web seminar welcomes international experts in STEM as speakers. Guided by moderator Ms. Yumiko Murakami, Dr. Nergis Mavalvala from MIT, Dr. Rie Kijima from University of Toronto, and Ms. Debora Comini from UNICEF Regional Office for East Asia and the Pacific will be sharing their insights on the current state of the following two main issues:
1) Low proportion of women who study STEM
2) Low participation of women in the STEM labor market

They will discuss their thoughts on possible causes of the above issues as well as the best practices to address them. The discussion will provide the speakers and more so the audience with valuable cross-border insights and introduce them to different initiatives and programs in STEM.

This web seminar will aim to develop initial recommendations on how educational institutions, international organizations and the private sector can work together to address these international challenges.