ABSTRACT
Introduction In countries around the world, concerns about deficits in the science and technology (S&T) workforce have come to occupy places of prominence on policy agendas. Indeed, human capital development in fields associated with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics generally has been recognized as crucial to progress and growth in today’s innovation-driven knowledge economy. Human capital is at the centre of innovative activity and can be addressed either as a constraint or as an opportunity for innovation policy (Zimmerman 2012). Persons with S&T training and skills play an important role in channelling investments in knowledge into productivity and growth and, accordingly, achieving technological advancement requires human capital development as an investment in research and innovation. This situation has brought increasing attention to questions about educational access and workforce opportunities for populations who have been especially underrepresented in S&T fields, referring particularly to women (and, also, to some underprivileged minorities). Indeed, their underrepresentation has emerged as a major political, economic, and social issue for workforce development and growth. Recognizing women as a rich, yet under-utilized and often untapped resource in the S&T research enterprise (Pearson et al. 2015), gender dynamics and relations are a critical consideration in matters associated with politics and technology and the development of the future S&T workforce.
