Despite some progress over the years, women and girls still face various and often compounding barriers and challenges to meaningfully engage in the fields of science at all levels, including education and research. According to the UNESCO Science Report, women only account for 33% of the world’s researchers. They still occupy fewer senior positions than men at top universities, and only 12% of the members of the national science academies are women. To date, women and girls have only won 23 of the 631 Nobel Prizes in science and are still a minority in science-related studies and fields.

While in the Caribbean, the share of women scientists is barely higher than the global figure, students, educators, and societies from the region need to bolster girls' participation in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). It is essential to acknowledge that women in the Caribbean can discover new concepts and applications and that greater diversity fosters greater innovation.

Today, we must ensure that Caribbean girls get the education they deserve and that they can see a future for themselves in STEM. That is the raison d'être of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, which aims to recognize and inform on the role of women and girls in science, not only as beneficiaries but also as agents of change, including in view of accelerating progress towards the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Celebrating the 2022 International Day of Women and Girls in Science in the Caribbean provides us with an opportunity to: (i) Empower Caribbean young women in science (ii) Encourage women and girls from the sub-region to pursue STEM studies and careers (iii) Showcase women role models and women leading innovations and successes that could inspire girls in the Caribbean (iv) Advocate for diversity and inclusivity in the fields of STEM to advance Sustainable Development in Caribbean SIDS (v) Mobilize partners around gender equality, namely in science, like the L’Oréal–UNESCO For Women in Science Partnership that has been raising the profile of outstanding women researchers and young rising talents for two decades.