Publication: Stepping Up Women’s STEM Careers in Infrastructure: An Overview of Promising Approaches
Loading...
Files
9 downloads
36 downloads
10 downloads
12 downloads
Published
2020-05-29
ISSN
Date
2025-06-24
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
This short note summarizes some of the findings from an extensive literature review, a global stocktaking exercise, key informant interviews, and five case studies in order to provide World Bank Group project teams with insights that they can use to support women’s science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers in infrastructure at each stage of their careers. The report is intended to underpin and expand the existing knowledge on gender equality issues, under the World Bank’s Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP).
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Schomer, Inka; Hammond, Alicia. 2020. Stepping Up Women’s STEM Careers in Infrastructure: An Overview of Promising Approaches. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/43366 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Stepping Up Women’s STEM Careers in Infrastructure(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2020-05-29)The five case studies detailed in this document describe a variety of contexts in which measures are being implemented to attract, recruit, retain, and advance women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) roles in the infrastructure sectors. The area of focus for each of these studies is as follows: recruitment; retention; advancement; attraction, recruitment, retention, and advancement; and recruitment, retention, and advancement: institutionalizing gender equality in project design.Publication Stepping Up Women's STEM Careers in Infrastructure(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-11-03)Stepping Up Women's STEM Careers in Infrastructure: An Overview of Promising Approaches describes a variety of ways to level the pathway for women entering into and progressing in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) employment within the infrastructure sectors—energy and extractives; water; transport; and digital development. It is composed of three volumes : Volume 1 distills the findings from an extensive literature review, a global stocktaking exercise, key informant interviews, and five case studies in order to provide World Bank Group project teams with insights that they can use to support women’s STEM careers in infrastructure at each stage of their careers—from initial attraction to the sectors and job recruitment, to retention within organizations, and advancement to managerial and leadership roles. The report is intended to underpin and expand the existing knowledge on gender equality issues, under the World Bank’s Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP).The case studies featured form part of the insight captured in the associated report Stepping Up Women’s STEM Careers in Infrastructure: Case Studies (Volume 1). Volume 2 is composed of five case studies that describe a variety of contexts in which measures are being implemented to attract, recruit, retain, and advance women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) roles in the infrastructure sectors across Ethiopia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), North Macedonia, Panama, and Solomon Islands. The first three case studies profiled in this document focus specifically on recruitment, retention, or advancement. The remaining two case studies focus on organizations that are tackling the issue of women’s underrepresentation holistically, in each of the crucial stages of a woman’s career. The case studies featured form part of the insight captured in the main report Stepping Up Women’s STEM Careers in Infrastructure: An Overview of Promising Approaches (Volume 1). Volume 3 summary note provides a brief overview of some of the findings from an extensive literature review, a global stocktaking exercise, key informant interviews, and five case studies (featured in Volume 1 and 2) in order to provide World Bank Group project teams with insights that they can use to support women’s STEM careers in infrastructure at each stage of their careers.Publication Improving Gender Equality and Rural Livelihoods in Senegal through Sustainable and Participatory Energy Management(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-06)Launched in 2011, the Second Sustainable and Participatory Energy Management Project (PROGEDE II) for Senegal has been hailed for effectively mainstreaming a gender perspective into an energy project. Under the project, women have participated more in decision making; developed skills in technical production, entrepreneurship, and organizational management; and benefitted from increased incomes.Publication Women and STEM in Europe and Central Asia(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021)In the last decades, developed economies have witnessed significant declines in wages for low-skill workers, increases in employment in high-skill occupations, rapid diffusion of new technology, and expanding offshoring opportunities. Labor markets in developed countries have reallocated labor from manual to cognitive jobs and from routine to non-routine work. Overall, workers are now required to do more complex tasks than before. In a changing labor market, education systems should impart the right skills, ideally both foundational ones and additional skills that will be amenable to adaptation and re-training to match with job opportunities. This is even more important in the ECA region given the context of the increasing share of older people who will depend on today’s generation of children when they join the working age population. Women’s access to and progress in what is generally referred to as STEM fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics are topics that have been growing in significance in recent years. The interest in gender segregation in STEM, as in other sectors, arises mainly from the role segregation plays in gender inequality in the labor markets. Gender differences in productivity and earnings are systematic and persistent as women exhibit lower average productivity and earn lower wages than men across the board. The report is organized into three chapters. The first one looks at education - including STEM content and fields of study that are within the education realm. The second one follows women into the labor market and looks at employment and wages in STEM sectors and for STEM occupations. The final section looks at policies, from the many initiatives and efforts in place to promote women’s participation in STEM, with a focus on those that have documented results.Publication Survey of ICT and Education in Africa : South Africa Country Report(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-06)This short country report, a result of larger Information for Development Program (infoDev) - supported survey of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in education in Africa, provides a general overview of current activities and issues related to ICT use in education in the country. In all the different facets of the ICTs for education prism, South Africa boasts more than a decade of accumulated experience from its wide range of projects and programs pioneered by noteworthy champions across the stakeholder spectrum of communities, the private sector, civil society, donor, development, and government agencies. A variety of tested models on ICT access, digital content development, teacher training and professional development, optimal usage, partnerships, and resource mobilization have encouraged significant learning among innovators, practitioners, and policymakers. The scale of all these interventions to date has led to at least 22 percent computer penetration in all public schools. While South Africa has a policy on e-education only for the schools and Further Education and Training (FET) college sectors, herein too lay animated debate on the optimal ways to implement the policy. Over the coming period, with South Africa acting as host for the 2010 World Cup and the national government embarking on accelerated economic growth strategies, the race is on to move to broadband and promote ubiquitous ICT access. South African education institutions in general, and the schools and FET college sectors in particular, are set to grow significantly in ICT access, teacher training, and professional development and usage. However, major challenges still need to be overcome, such as the lack of a comprehensive policy on ICTs in education that covers all sectors in education, the continued need for leadership and co-ordination of various initiatives, the promotion of enhanced learning through optimal usage of the technologies, and, above all, the need to demonstrate the value of the investment in ICTs through improved performance of learners and teachers and improved employability in the changing labor market.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Green Technologies: Decarbonizing Development in East Asia and Pacific(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-05-19)The East Asia and Pacific region is helping the world decarbonize and is encouraging the domestic adoption of renewables. But there is an imbalance: while the region’s innovation and investment improve global access to green technologies, its own emissions continue to grow because of the reluctance to penalize carbon-intensive practices. The disparity between domestic supply and demand spills over into international trade, provoking measures by other countries that limit access to markets and technologies. "Green Technologies: Decarbonizing Development in East Asia and Pacific" argues that deeper reform of the region’s own policies will encourage the domestic diffusion of cleaner technologies and may also foster greater international cooperation—on climate as well as on innovation and trade in green goods. The book proposes a framework to guide policy on green technology development and diffusion. It will be of interest to policy makers, businesses, and researchers working at the intersection of economics and environmental policy.Publication Global Economic Prospects, January 2025(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-01-16)Global growth is expected to hold steady at 2.7 percent in 2025-26. However, the global economy appears to be settling at a low growth rate that will be insufficient to foster sustained economic development—with the possibility of further headwinds from heightened policy uncertainty and adverse trade policy shifts, geopolitical tensions, persistent inflation, and climate-related natural disasters. Against this backdrop, emerging market and developing economies are set to enter the second quarter of the twenty-first century with per capita incomes on a trajectory that implies substantially slower catch-up toward advanced-economy living standards than they previously experienced. Without course corrections, most low-income countries are unlikely to graduate to middle-income status by the middle of the century. Policy action at both global and national levels is needed to foster a more favorable external environment, enhance macroeconomic stability, reduce structural constraints, address the effects of climate change, and thus accelerate long-term growth and development.Publication Reboot Development: The Economics of a Livable Planet(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-09-01)“Reboot Development: The Economics of a Livable Planet” explores how the foundational natural endowments of land, air, and water—long taken for granted—are under growing threat, putting at risk the very progress they helped create. For generations, natural resources have powered development, supporting health, food, energy, and economic opportunity. Today, strains on these resources are intensifying. This report argues that failing to maintain a livable planet is not merely a distant environmental concern, but a present economic threat. Drawing on new data, the report shows that over 90 percent of the world is exposed to poor air quality, degraded land, or water stress. Loss of forests cuts rainfall, dries soils, and worsens droughts, costing billions of dollars. The nitrogen paradox emerges—fertilizers boost yields but overuse in some regions harms crops and ecosystems. Meanwhile, air and water pollution silently damage health, productivity, and cognition, sapping human potential. The report warns that these hidden costs are too large to ignore. Yet the message is not one of constraint but of possibility. Nature, when wisely stewarded, can drive growth, create jobs, and build resilience. The report shows that more efficient resource use—like better nitrogen management and forest restoration—yields benefits that far exceed the costs. It also urges a shift to cleaner sectors and producing “better things,” noting that these provide new sources of growth, creating more jobs per dollar invested. The findings are clear: Investing in nature is not only good for the planet, it is smart development.Publication The Global Findex Database 2025: Connectivity and Financial Inclusion in the Digital Economy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-07-16)The Global Findex 2025 reveals how mobile technology is equipping more adults around the world to own and use financial accounts to save formally, access credit, make and receive digital payments, and pursue opportunities. Including the inaugural Global Findex Digital Connectivity Tracker, this fifth edition of Global Findex presents new insights on the interactions among mobile phone ownership, internet use, and financial inclusion. The Global Findex is the world’s most comprehensive database on digital and financial inclusion. It is also the only global source of comparable demand-side data, allowing cross-country analysis of how adults access and use mobile phones, the internet, and financial accounts to reach digital information and resources, save, borrow, make payments, and manage their financial health. Data for the Global Findex 2025 were collected from nationally representative surveys of about 145,000 adults in 141 economies. The latest edition follows the 2011, 2014, 2017, and 2021 editions and includes new series measuring mobile phone ownership and internet use, digital safety, and frequency of transactions using financial services. The Global Findex 2025 is an indispensable resource for policy makers in the fields of digital connectivity and financial inclusion, as well as for practitioners, researchers, and development professionals.Publication Global Economic Prospects, June 2025(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-06-10)The global economy is facing another substantial headwind, emanating largely from an increase in trade tensions and heightened global policy uncertainty. For emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs), the ability to boost job creation and reduce extreme poverty has declined. Key downside risks include a further escalation of trade barriers and continued policy uncertainty. These challenges are exacerbated by subdued foreign direct investment into EMDEs. Global cooperation is needed to restore a more stable international trade environment and scale up support for vulnerable countries grappling with conflict, debt burdens, and climate change. Domestic policy action is also critical to contain inflation risks and strengthen fiscal resilience. To accelerate job creation and long-term growth, structural reforms must focus on raising institutional quality, attracting private investment, and strengthening human capital and labor markets. Countries in fragile and conflict situations face daunting development challenges that will require tailored domestic policy reforms and well-coordinated multilateral support.