South Africa has made undeniable progress in opening STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) to women. Classrooms are fuller, graduation ceremonies are more representative, and policy frameworks are more ambitious than ever before.
Yet beneath these gains lies a troubling reality: for too many women, the journey from education to leadership in STEM remains fractured, fragile, and unfinished.
As the world marks the International Day of Girls in Science in 2026 tomorrow (11 February), South Africa stands at a crossroads.
The question is no longer whether women can enter STEM; the question is how. The question is why they still disappear before reaching positions of influence, innovation, and decision-making.
The leaky pipeline: where women disappear
At first glance, the picture appears encouraging. Women constitute between 43 and 44 % of South Africa’s STEM graduates and make up approximately 52 % of academic staff at universities.
At the undergraduate level, women earn nearly half of all bachelor’s degrees in STEM-related disciplines. These figures suggest that the long-standing barriers to entry are finally beginning to fall.
But parity at entry masks attrition at every subsequent stage. Only 29 % of doctoral candidates are women. In senior professional, engineering, and research roles, representation declines further, hovering between 23 and 29%. This pattern is not accidental; it is systemic.
It is what has become known globally as the “leaky pipeline”: the steady, predictable loss of women from STEM careers despite comparable starting points.
“The contrast across sectors is revealing. Women occupy 58 per cent of senior management positions in health, yet only 24 % of STEM professional roles. Female-led start-ups receive just 24 % of venture capital funding. Talent is not the issue. Retention, recognition, and reward are,” says Dr Linda Meyer, MD of IIE Rosebank College.
The reality behind the numbers
Structural inequality is compounded by economic disparity. Women in STEM earn, on average, 28% less than their male counterparts.
For black women, the picture is bleaker still. Despite forming most of the population and heading 42 % of households, women experience an unemployment rate of 35.9% and remain dramatically underrepresented at senior levels of STEM leadership.
These statistics are not merely abstract indicators; they reflect lived experience. They represent stalled careers, foregone innovations, and a national skills base that remains narrower than it should be.
Barriers that block participation
Women in STEM encounter intersecting obstacles throughout their careers. The absence of senior female role models limits mentorship and sponsorship for early-career researchers. Promotion pathways are often opaque, informal, and exclusionary, leaving capable women stranded in mid-level positions for years.
“Care responsibilities further compound these challenges. Women shoulder a disproportionate share of unpaid care and domestic labour, often without institutional flexibility or support. The result is a system that quietly penalises those who attempt to balance professional excellence with family responsibility,” says Dr Meyer.
Funding inequity remains a persistent barrier. Female scientists routinely receive smaller research grants than their male peers. Bias in peer review and publication processes means women are less likely to serve in first or last author roles that carry disproportionate weight in promotion and prestige.
Although gender-equity policies exist, implementation is uneven, and accountability is weak.
The roots of exclusion
The exclusion of women from STEM does not begin in the workplace. It begins in childhood. Deeply entrenched gender norms continue to frame science and technology as “masculine” domains, while girls are steered towards humanities and caregiving professions.
This early socialisation shapes subject choices, confidence, and aspiration long before formal career decisions are made.
Within STEM workplaces, male-dominated cultures reinforce exclusion through unconscious bias, entrenched stereotypes, and norms that reward conformity over diversity. Products are often designed with male users in mind, overlooking women’s perspectives, needs, and lived realities. Innovation suffers as a result.
Race-based inequality: the deepest fault line
For black women, gender exclusion intersects with race and class in ways that amplify disadvantage. They constitute the smallest proportion of STEM graduates and face the steepest barriers to advancement. Provincial disparities are stark, particularly in Limpopo and the Eastern Cape.
Only 5,2% of black women hold degrees, compared with 28.6% of white women, with even lower representation in STEM disciplines.
These disparities reflect the enduring legacy of unequal schooling, economic marginalisation, and persistent social expectations that science is “not for them”.
Regulations alone have not been sufficient to dismantle these layered exclusions.
Policy frameworks: progress without penetration
South Africa has not been idle. The National Gender Policy Framework, the White Paper on Science, Technology and Innovation, and the Department of Science and Innovation’s Science Engagement Strategy all signal a strong commitment to gender equity. The National Development Plan 2030 sets clear targets for women’s participation in STEM.
Yet policy ambition has outpaced implementation. Access to support remains fragmented, administrative processes are complex, and funding is inconsistent.
Research by the Human Sciences Research Council confirms that substantial work remains to translate policy intent into lived change, particularly for black women in under-resourced regions.
Emerging solutions
Despite these challenges, pockets of progress offer cause for optimism. Targeted scholarships are enabling more women to pursue postgraduate STEM studies. Mentorship programmes pair early-career researchers with senior professionals. Organisations such as Women in Tech South Africa and the Black Women in Science network are building pipelines of support, skills, and visibility.
Gender audit tools help institutions identify structural barriers, while women-only entrepreneurial incubators address funding gaps faced by female founders. Community science days, STEM fairs, and school-based programmes are igniting girls’ interest early, countering stereotypes with exposure, experience, and role models.
“These initiatives are not yet systemic, but they are demonstrably effective,” says Dr Meyer.
The cost of exclusion
The exclusion of women from STEM is not only unjust; it is economically reckless. Male-dominated innovation environments produce narrow solutions for narrow markets. Inclusive design, informed by women’s perspectives, leads to better products, stronger organisations, and more resilient societies.
South Africa pays a high price for inaction. A modest 10% increase in women’s participation in STEM could deliver up to 3,2% growth in GDP.
At a time of acute skills shortages in mining, manufacturing, and technology, and with women facing record unemployment, the continued leakage of female talent represents a self-inflicted constraint on national development.
The path ahead
“South Africa’s progress is real, but progress on paper is not enough. Fixing the leaky STEM pipeline demands more than celebration; it requires enforcement, investment, and institutional courage. Existing frameworks must be strengthened, access simplified, funding made equitable, and accountability embedded,” says Dr Meyer.
On this International Day of Girls in Science, the message must be unequivocal: inclusion is not charity, and equity is not optional. Through sustained mentorship, fair funding, inclusive workplace cultures, rural outreach, and targeted support for black women, South Africa can transform lost potential into shared prosperity.
The pipeline will continue to leak until we decide it won’t. The tools exist. The talent exists. What remains is institutional courage – in boardrooms and laboratories, funding committees and lecture halls, policy oversight and peer review. Time is running out.