February 11 was International Day of Women and Girls in Science. Although the overall global statistics claim that science and engineering fields are dominated by men, the situation in Lithuania is different. 58 percent of Lithuanian scientists and engineers are women, and this is the highest proportion of women in science and tech in Europe.
According to the Eurostat survey using figures from 2016, 60 percent of scientists and engineers in the EU are men, while just 40 percent are women. Worldwide, less than 30 percent of scientific researchers are women, according to the United Nations.
The three countries that have more female than male scientists and engineers are Lithuania (58%), Bulgaria (54%) and Latvia (52%). Less than one third of scientists and engineers are women in Luxembourg (25%), Finland (28%), Hungary (31%), Austria (32%) and Germany (33%).
According to a United Nations study of 14 countries, women are far less likely to obtain a Bachelor’s degree, Master’s or PhD in a science-related field, and are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics at both graduate and research levels.
Kaunas University of Technology (KTU), the second strongest university in Lithuania is contributing to building the number of girls and women in science and tech: 50.4 percent of all women, studying at KTU are studying in physical sciences and technology fields.
In October 2017, almost 73 percent of KTU students were studying biomedical, physical sciences and technology; almost 75 percent of them were men and 25 percent women. In total, 63 percent of men and 37 percent of women study at the University.
Check out all the majors available on https://admissions.ktu.edu/
