STEM education for girls and women: breaking barriers and exploring gender inequality in Asia

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields are considered catalysts for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Yet, particularly for STEM fields, girls and women, for a multitude of social, cultural and psychological reasons, engage and participate at a lower rate than boys and men. This research collection aims to highlight the contextual barriers that girls and women face in STEM education and careers and offer concrete examples of interventions that successfully encourage participation of girls and women in STEM. These eight case studies from across Asia explore both the barriers and the achievements in SDG 4 and SDG 5, and give context-specific analysis of different aspects of gender disparities in the respective countries.