Grabar – Kitarović: Croatia needs education reform and a private sector that will enable women’s integration and advancement

Despite laws that prescribe gender equality, the stereotype that girls are suited for one profession and boys for another has not yet been erased in Croatia, it was stated on Thursday during a “round table” discussion on the (under)representation of women in STEM fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. At the forum organized by the Australian Embassy in Croatia to encourage girls and young women to consider studying in the STEM field, the President of the Republic of Croatia, Kolinda Grabar – Kitarović, emphasized that while we have managed to remove some stereotypes from schools, we have not done so in everyday life.

As leaders, parents, and community members, we must reflect on whether our actions discourage girls, whether we push them into some female group of professions, the president said.

She added that testing shows that girls in primary and secondary school are more successful than boys in Croatian language and mathematics, but few choose STEM professions. This year, 80 percent of young men and only 20 percent of young women enrolled in the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, says Grabar-Kitarović, questioning where we “lose” girls who were better in mathematics and natural sciences in earlier stages of education?

According to the president, girls’ ambitions must be nurtured, and both girls and boys need to be told that there are no “male” and “female” professions.

– We need education reform, society must prepare for it, but also the private sector must enable women’s integration and advancement, emphasized Grabar – Kitarović, adding that modern and prosperous countries are oriented towards STEM, as it offers jobs with higher added value, innovation, creativity, and the possibility for higher earnings. STEM also brings faster technological and economic progress.

The Deputy Director of the Croatian Employers’ Association, Bernard Jakelić, believes that Croatia needs a radical reform of the education system, considering that some faculties have limited quotas and number of places, while on the other hand, we have an underrepresentation of women in STEM professions. However, he stated that this trend has been changing for the better in recent years.