---
title: "Women in STEM"
chunk: 3/11
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_STEM"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:22:08.521064+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

==== Indonesia ====
UNESCO's A Complex Formula states that Indonesia's government has been working towards gender equality, especially through the Ministry of Education and Culture, but stereotypes about women's roles in the workplace persist. Due to traditional views and societal norms, women struggle to remain in their careers or to move up in the workplace. Substantially more women are enrolled in science-based fields such as pharmacy and biology than in mathematics and physics. Within engineering, statistics vary based on the specific engineering discipline; women make up 78% of chemical engineering students but only 5% of mechanical engineering students. As of 2005, out of 35,564 researchers in science, technology, and engineering, only 10,874 or 31% were female.

==== Japan ====
According to OECD data, about 25 percent of enrollment in science programs at the tertiary education level in Japan are women. Japan has the lowest share of women in tertiary teaching staff among OECD countries, with only 28% of female faculty members, far below the OECD average of 44%. Women make up just 17.7% of teaching staff at national universities, with only 10.8% in science and engineering fields and 9.4% in executive positions. Additionally, female enrollment in natural sciences, mathematics, and statistics stands at 27% (OECD average: 52%), while in engineering, manufacturing, and construction, it is just 16% (OECD average: 26%)."

==== Kazakhstan ====
According to OECD data, about 66 percent of enrollment in science programs at the tertiary education level in Kazakhstan are women. Despite strong enrollment rates, women in Kazakhstan remain underrepresented in STEM leadership roles. The government, along with international organizations, has introduced mentorship programs, scholarships, and leadership training to encourage more women to enter and stay in STEM careers. These initiatives aim to close the gender gap and promote inclusivity in high-tech industries.

==== Malaysia ====
According to UNESCO, 48.19% of students enrolled in science programs in Malaysia were female as of 2011. This number has grown significantly in the past three decades, during which the country's employment of women has increased by 95%. In Malaysia, over 50% of employees in the computer industry, which is generally a male-dominated field within STEM, are women. Of students enrolled in pharmacy, more than 70% are female, while in engineering only 36% of students are female. Women held 49% of research positions in science, technology, and innovation as of 2011.

==== Mongolia ====
According to UNESCO's data from 2012 and 2018 respectively, 40.2% of students enrolled in science programs and 49% of researchers in science, technology, and innovation in Mongolia are female. Traditionally, nomadic Mongol culture was fairly egalitarian, with both women and men raising children, tending livestock, and fighting in battle, which mirrors the relative equality of women and men in Mongolia's modern-day workforce. More females than males pursue higher education and 65% of college graduates in Mongolia are women. However, women earn about 19–30% less than their male counterparts and are perceived by society to be less suited to engineering than men. Thirty percent or less of employees in computer science, construction architecture, and engineering are female while three in four biology students are female.

==== Nepal ====
As of 2011, 26.17% of Nepal's science students were women and 19% of their engineering students were also women. In research, women held 7.8% of positions in 2010. These low percentages correspond with Nepal's patriarchal societal values. In Nepal, women that enter STEM fields most often enter forestry or medicine, specifically nursing, which is perceived as a predominantly female occupation in most countries.

==== South Korea ====
In 2012, 30.63% of students who enrolled in science programs in South Korea were female, a number that has been increasing since the digital revolution. Numbers of male and female students enrolled at most levels of education are comparable as well, though the gender difference is larger in higher education. Confucian beliefs in the lower societal value of women as well as other cultural factors could influence South Korea's STEM gender gap. In South Korea, as in other countries, the percentage of women in medicine (61.6%) is much higher than the percentage of women in engineering (15.4%) and other more math-based stem fields. In research occupations in science, technology, and innovation, women made up 17% of the workforce as of 2011. In South Korea, most women working in STEM fields are classified as "non-regular" or temporary employees, indicating poor job stability. In a study conducted by the University of Glasgow which examined math anxiety and test performance of boys and girls from various countries, researchers found that South Korea had a high sex difference in mathematics scores, with female students scoring significantly lower than and experiencing more math anxiety on math tests than male students.

==== Thailand ====
According to OECD data, about 53 percent of enrollment in science programs at the tertiary education level in Thailand are women.

==== Gulf Cooperation Council States ====
Ann Hibner Koblitz reported on a series of interviews conducted in 2015 in Abu Dhabi with women engineers and computer scientists who had come to the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf states to find opportunities that were not available to them in their home country.  The women spoke of a remarkably high level of job satisfaction and relatively little discrimination.  Koblitz comments that

...most people in most countries outside of the Middle East have no idea that the region, in particular the UAE, is a magnet for young, dynamic Arab women making successful careers for themselves in a variety of high-tech and other scientific fields; "land of opportunity," "a tech-person's paradise," and yes, even "mecca" were among the terms used to describe the UAE by the women I met.