Women in Science 2025: Progress, Persistence, and the Work Still Ahead
On International Women's Day 2025, we take stock of the genuine progress women have made in science — and the structural barriers that remain. Representation is necessary but not sufficient; the goal is full participation at every level of the scientific enterprise.
The statistics on women in science in 2025 tell two stories simultaneously. The first is of genuine, measurable progress: women now constitute 44% of science and engineering graduate students globally, up from 32% in 2010. In several biological and health sciences, women are the majority at every level of training. The pipeline, for many disciplines, is no longer the primary constraint.
The second story is told in the attrition data. Despite near-parity in graduate training, women hold only 28% of senior research positions, 21% of full professorships in STEM fields, and 14% of chief science officer roles at research-intensive companies. The progression from training to leadership is not a smooth slope — it contains inflection points where structural barriers convert talent into departure.
ScienceWerx's Women in Science initiative operates at those inflection points. Our fellowship program provides direct financial support to women researchers at the post-doctoral transition — the most significant attrition moment in academic science careers. Our mentorship network pairs early-career scientists with senior women across industry, academia, and policy. And our corporate partner program works with science-intensive organizations to audit and redesign the evaluation and promotion processes that consistently disadvantage women researchers.
The community dimension of this work matters as much as the structural interventions. Science is social — ideas are developed in conversation, opportunities are communicated through networks, and confidence is built through visible models. ScienceWerx convenes women scientists across our global network for an annual symposium, maintains a year-round digital community with over 12,000 members, and actively platforms women researchers in our public communications. None of this is tokenism; it is the infrastructure of belonging.
Progress in 2025 is real, and it should be acknowledged without equivocation. But incomplete progress is not a destination — it is a waypoint. ScienceWerx's commitment is to full, structural, sustainable participation for women at every level of the scientific enterprise. That goal remains unfinished, and we intend to keep working on it until it isn't.