Science and gender equality are vital towards the achievement of the SDGs. Over the past decades, while there has been a lot of effort towards inspiring and engaging women and girls in science, yet women and girls continue to be excluded from full participation in science.
It is to achieve full and equal access to and participation in science by women and girls, and thereby further achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, that the United Nations General Assembly, in 2015 declared 11 February as the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.