The representation of women in engineering and IT remain the lowest of the STEM professions, while the gender imbalance is closing in science roles, says new research by talent acquisition Guidant Global.

In its analysis of gender representation in roles requiring STEM skills worldwide, Guidant found a concerning lack of women holding roles that require technology, engineering or mathematics skills, showing that the gender imbalance remains a prevalent issue in these fields.

Women hold only 20% of engineering roles globally; however, this representation increases to 27% for those working in IT across the globe, while women currently hold 33% of jobs requiring mathematics skills.

According to Guidant, jobs requiring science experience – including computer, environment and data science – are currently seeing the best balance in gender representation of women, with almost half (46%) of roles held by women.

Simon Blockley, CEO of Guidant Global, said: “It’s encouraging to see the gender imbalance closing in science-related jobs worldwide, but the result of our analysis highlights that more still needs to be done. With a growing shortage of STEM talent affecting much of the world, it’s crucial that more women are encouraged into a career in technology, engineering and math-related jobs. Still, with limited role models, emerging generations of women are unlikely to pursue this route.

“However, employers can tackle this to some degree by carefully planning how they recruit and ensuring equality, diversity and inclusion (ED&I) is at the foundation of their talent supply chain. If businesses are to tackle gender imbalance, they need to be engaging with organisations in the supply chain that are equally as committed to addressing this issue.”