11 February is the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, which recognises the often underappreciated role women and girls play in science and advocates for their full and equal access and participation.
Gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls is essential to fostering reliable, representative and meaningful science. These are at the heart of the United Nation’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and are critical to the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Medium Term Strategy.
Yet the gender gap in science persists. Although women account for 33 per cent of researchers, only 12 per cent of national science academies’ members are women, according to UNESCO’s Science Report 2021. They tend to have shorter, lower-paying careers, and their work is underrepresented in high-profile journals.
We spoke with Andrea Hinwood, Chief Scientist at UNEP, about her role, the importance of science-based approaches in tackling environmental issues, and how to engage women and girls in science.
How would you describe your first year as UNEP’s Chief Scientist?
Andrea Hinwood: First of all, it’s humbling to have this role with UNEP. I ensure that the science UNEP uses is robust, that we’re credible, authoritative and, of course, that the science is used to generate change in terms of improving environmental outcomes.
I’ve been helping to look at the impact we are having across the very broad number of issues we deal with. Of course, the scientific method is very useful in this analysis. We’re developing key performance indicators, and one of the recommendations is providing a seat at the table for women as a key element to support the science-policy interface.
We’ve also introduced a new automated system looking at how we can diversify our products to meet different audience needs.
UNEP: How important is it that UNEP is involved in this broad number of issues?
AH: UNEP has to be engaged across the array of environmental issues. I believe that we can prioritize and focus our effort on where we’re going to drive the most change in a way that considers the role of women and girls, social inequalities, poverty and other issues.
You can’t fix the environment if you haven’t addressed underlying inequality.
If you start to resolve some of the environmental dimensions – food security and water security – you might actually reduce conflict. Then you might see some shifts where people can engage more meaningfully about changing the environment.
We have sister agencies that deal with all of those issues. UNEP will never be able to do these on its own. It has to partner across the UN system to effect change.
How critical is science in combating environmental misinformation?
AH: It is more important than ever. It is absolutely fundamental.
The challenge is that to combat environment-related misinformation; you have to make your information available and accessible to anyone all over the globe. One of the things we want to do as an organization is to make our science open and accessible – and therefore gain trust. You don’t gain trust by telling someone, “Trust me, I’m a scientist.”
You’ve got to keep promoting that science so you become a trusted voice and you’re able to show that evidence.
You have to broaden the diversity of the types of science, embrace different knowledge systems and ensure you’ve got geographic and gender diversity within your authorship, the people who review and the people who contribute to panels. I think UNEP takes that pretty seriously.
How can science generally engage with women and girls in a meaningful way?
AH: We need to engage girls earlier in their education. We need to provide them with opportunities and talk about what’s possible, particularly in developing countries. And we need to engage women and girls where they are.
Often, people don’t even realize that they're ‘doing science’. Having worked for a regulator, I used to hear people say, “We're not scientists,” because they didn't have a degree. But they were approaching problems using the scientific method: what's the situation, what did they observe, what information did they collect, what conclusions did they draw, and how did they respond to it?
In many different parts of society, we’re using science in the way we think all the time. But we're just not calling it that.
As academics, in government and in places like UNEP, we need to ensure that we have women – whatever their roles are – so that we can engage. It will improve our outcomes.
What we're doing in science, is trying to ensure that people consider women's roles in particular industries and their activities
To some extent, we're missing a lot of data. One of the things we can do is have women participate in research – we might improve the science and that will result in environmental benefit.
The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affects women in science and engineering. How can we overcome this challenge?
AH: Only a small percentage of the recovery funds have been used. There is an opportunity to look at some of these systemic issues globally and to prioritize them.
One of the great opportunities we haven’t taken full advantage of is that everything has gone online. Courses are now online, which means if you’re a young woman with access to the Internet, you now have access to that training. Our challenge is ensuring there is that uplift in digitalization and in access.
Costs associated with delivering online training also need to be significantly reduced.
How important is it for women and girls to have good role models, and what advice would you give those interested in becoming more involved in science?
AH: When I was a young woman we were always told that science was hard. That it was not for girls.
There’s enormous pressure to fulfil particular roles. I was just very lucky that my mother encouraged me. I have been married. I have a couple of children. And I have managed that through the process.
I would encourage young women to ensure they seek help wherever they can if they really like something. Seek mentorship and guidance to help them achieve their goals.
I think it's important that young women have confidence in themselves because often – from a societal point of view – they don't. They have to listen to that voice inside themselves that says, “I really like maths, or I love coding, or I love biology, or I love animals.”
I've always encouraged young women to follow that spark.
Sometimes, it won't be easy. But nothing worth pursuing is ever easy.
To achieve full and equal access to – and participation in – science for women and girls, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution A/RES/70/212 in 2015, declaring 11 February as the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.
