The United Kingdom, in partnership with the ASEAN Secretariat, has launched this year’s ASEAN-UK Supporting the Advancement of Girls’ Education (ASEAN-UK SAGE) Program, offering free scholarships for women in STEM. The fully-funded program will select 11 women from Southeast Asia and Timor-Leste to pursue Master’s degrees at top UK universities, The University of Warwick and The University of Manchester. This initiative highlights the UK’s commitment to breaking gender barriers and empowering women to take leadership roles in STEM fields.
Too few women in STEM
In Southeast Asia, gender parity in STEM fields presents a mixed picture. While women outperform boys in mathematics and science during primary and secondary education, they remain underrepresented in tertiary STEM programs, with only 19.3% of women earning STEM degrees compared to 39.8% of men. Women are also a minority in doctoral programs, and globally, women account for less than 30% of researchers, according to UNESCO. In East Asia and the Pacific, only 25% of researchers are women. This disparity persists in the workforce, with only 20% of STEM jobs held by women worldwide and just 16.5% of women inventors associated with patents, as reported in the 2022 United Nations progress report on Sustainable Development Goal 5, Gender Equality.
Bridging the gap
The ASEAN-UK SAGE program aims to address gender barriers to basic digital skills for employment, focusing on empowering marginalized groups by improving their digital skills and, consequently, enhancing their employment opportunities and quality of life. This initiative helps reduce the development gap in Southeast Asia. Supporting this effort, the ASEAN-UK SAGE Women in STEM Scholarships provide financial assistance to disadvantaged women from ASEAN countries and Timor-Leste, enabling them to pursue UK education in key STEM-related fields. This collaboration is designed to promote gender equality and open new avenues for women in STEM.
"ASEAN’s workforce is vast, and it is imperative to harness the full potential of humanity by encouraging both girls and boys, men and women, to pursue and excel in STEM education, which is critical for the future world of work. By doing so, we ensure that ASEAN remains at the forefront of global economic and technological progress", says ASEAN Secretary-General H.E. Dr. Koo Kim Hourn.
"This scholarship comes at a timely moment as we in ASEAN look towards increasing the involvement of ASEAN women in STEM fields, reinforcing our commitment to gender inclusivity and sustainable development in alignment with regional and global priorities", Hourn added.
Meanwhile, HMA Laure Beaufils, Ambassador of the UK to the Philippines, said the ASEAN-UK SAGE Women in STEM Scholarships "demonstrate the UK's commitment to inclusive and sustainable development through education and women's empowerment".
