Addressing the gender gap in science: Lessons from examining international initiatives

From 2017 to 2019 the International Science Council funded a project investigating the gender gap in science disciplines. The aim of the project was to collect and analyse data on the gender gap and to create a database of good practices for encouraging girls and young women to study and pursue education and careers in the mathematical, computing, and natural sciences. In this article, we draw on our work in the Gender Gap in Science project to (1) explain the nature of the gender gap problem, (2) give examples of initiatives that scientists can take to help solve the gender gap problem, and (3) offer guidelines on how to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions designed to address the gender gap in science.