Today, #February11, is UN's [_International Day of Women and Girls in Science_](https://www.un.org/en/observances/women-and-girls-in-science-day/), for _“full and equal access and participation for women and girls in science”_.
While it may be a laudable initiative in general, I'm here to report two little known facts:
* Science ≠ technology ≠ engineering ≠ IT
* In some parts of the world, #girls and #women are on par with, or even ahead of, #boys and #men in scientific areas of study and jobs.
eg, in 🇪🇸 #Spain:
* Women are the majority of students enrolled, and get the most degrees, in _all_ areas of study — and that includes “sciences” and “health sciences” (the only exception being “engineering and architecture”). (Source: INE, data 2016/2017)
* There are as many women “scientists and engineers” as men (49.3% female). (Source: [Eurostat](https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/-/EDN-20200210-2))
* There are more women than men employed in “science and technology” (53.5% female). (Source: [INE](https://www.ine.es/jaxi/Datos.htm?path=/t00/mujeres_hombres/tablas_1/l0/&file=c02002.px))
So if you mean to encourage #women “…in Africa”, “…working as software engineers”, “…with a PhD in nuclear engineering”, etc, make sure you qualify your stats and your specific claim to avoid perpetuating myths (eg, that women are somehow disadvantaged in science in Spain) and to highlight achievements that run counter to the mainstream narrative (eg, more than twice as many women than men studying health sciences at all university levels in Spain).