2026 International Day of Women and Girls in Science

Join UNESCO on 11 February 2026 for a global event celebrating women in science and shaping a future where science and gender equality advance together.

Event

International Day of Women and Girls in Science
11 February 2026 – 9:30 am – 11 February 2026 – 5:30 pm
Location: UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, France
Rooms: Room II
Type: Cat VIII – Symposia
Arrangement type: In-Person

From vision to impact: Redefining STEM by closing the gender gap
Today, women continue to represent less than one third of the world’s researchers (see the UNESCO factsheet). Closing the gender gap matters not only for fairness, but also for the quality, relevance and impact of science, technology and innovation.

Building on the 2024 UNESCO Call to Action “Closing the Gender Gap in Science” and the 2025 “Imagine a world with more women in science #EveryVoiceInScience” campaign, the 2026 International Day of Women and Girls in Science shifts the focus from recommendations and reflection to showcasing existing good practices and solutions for building more inclusive Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) ecosystems.

A hybrid one-day event will take place on Wednesday, 11 February 2026 at UNESCO Headquarters under the theme From Vision to Impact: Redefining STEM by Closing the Gender Gap. Organized in collaboration with Femmes@Numérique, it will place particular emphasis on new and emerging technologies and their influence on gender equality.

This celebration will bring together Member States, rising and renowned scientists (including from the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Programme and OWSD Chapters), stakeholders from the public and private sectors, UNESCO scientific networks, journalists and students.

Key discussion areas

This edition’s roundtables will highlight the positive impact of inclusivity through personal testimonies and evidence-based discussions.

Panelists from diverse regions and professional backgrounds will share concrete measures that have proven effective in reducing the gender gap in 4 key areas:

Health research

Cybersecurity

Artificial intelligence

Scientific entrepreneurship

They will also reflect on the conditions that enabled these successes and how such practices can be adapted or scaled in other contexts.

Register now

The event is open to the public, and we warmly invite you to join us in person in Room II at UNESCO Headquarters. For those not in Paris, the event will also be accessible online via Zoom.

Please note that registration is required for all participants, both in person and online. As places are limited, attendance will be confirmed on a first-come, first-served basis, so we encourage you to register as soon as possible before registration closes.