The engagement of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) was the topic of the discussion organised ahead of International Women's Day, observed on 8 March, and participants in the event were informed that the European average of women in STEM stands at a mere 29%.
The head of the EP information office in Zagreb, Violeta Stanicic, said that in Latin America on the other hand, the portion of women in STEM was 45%.
For instance, in India, women account for 30% of IT specialists, and in Europe there are half as many.
Although more than a half of those who enrol in colleges in the EU are women, a mere 15% of senior executives in the science sector are women. Women scientists make slower headway in careers, too.
The survey, which was conducted in 34 countries worldwide, shows that 70% of those polled perceive science as a field exclusively for men, Stanicic said.
Therefore, many initiatives have been launched by the European Parliament to strike a gender balance in science.
Some of the positive statistics in Croatia show that 57% of those who earn doctoral degrees are women. As many as 49% of professors and lecturers at institutions of tertiary education are women.
Broken down by gender, 3,012 employees at Rudjer Boskovic Institute are women and 208 are men.