A gifted mathematician, Augusta Ada King, the Right Honourable Countess of Lovelace, later known as Ada Lovelace, is considered to have written instructions for the first computer program in the mid-1800s. Ada displayed her mathematical aptitude at an early age. At the age of 12, she designed a steam-powered flight machine. In her late teens, she was asked to translate an article on Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine that had been written by Italian engineer Luigi Federico Menabrea for a Swiss journal. Aside from translating the original French text into English, Ada also added her own thoughts and ideas about the machine. Her notes ended up being three times longer than the original article. Ada’s contributions to the field of computer science were not discovered until the 1950s. Her notes were later re-introduced to the world by B.V. Bowden, who republished them in Faster Than Thought: A Symposium on Digital Computing Machines in 1953. Since then, Ada has received many posthumous honours for her work.

The purpose of this brief history lesson is to provide some background about the status of women in science, technology and innovation back then and compare their previous position to their current one today in the 21st century. Ada’s story shows us that women’s efforts and breakthroughs in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) were neither recognized nor accredited. Ada’s ‘rebirth’, so to speak, came only after her death, almost two centuries later.

Although the situation of women in STEM has greatly improved following the Beijing Conference of 1995 and the increased publicity given to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) #5 on Gender Equality, their underrepresentation is still evident. To increase their visibility, agitate for their inclusion and recognize their efforts within such sectors, the United Nations annually commemorates days such as the International Women’s Day on 8 March and more specifically to the theme at hand, the International Day of Women and Girls in Science on 11 of February. This article series entitled Women in Science, Technology and Innovation will look at women’s accomplishments, celebrating both International Days.

It is a known fact that the STEM workforce is crucial to the world’s innovative capacity, industrial development and global competitiveness which precede economic development, employment and social stability. Based on that, the co-relation between SDG #9: Industry, Infrastructure and Innovation, and women’s empowerment and inclusion in STEM becomes self-evident. Unfortunately, as mentioned above, the question of innovation and women’s participation and empowerment are seldom discussed in the same context even though their inclusion in industry and innovation is of essential value for development. The question then becomes, how can more women be brought into innovation spaces and how can it be used for their empowerment and gender equality?

Over the next weeks until International Women’s Day on 8 March 2017, United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) will publish a series of articles and interviews by leading 21st century women scientists and innovators, highlighting the gender dimension of their work and inventions as they relate to SDG #9 and outlining the implications of their inventions and initiatives in the achievement of that goal. The series aims to showcase case-study based models focusing on different nuances that influence the broader subject of the role of women in industry, innovation and infrastructure.

We invite you to join the conversation on social media using @ImpactUN. We would love to hear your views on industry, innovation and infrastructure, what is happening in your community and what you see as the opportunities and obstacles to women’s progress in industry, innovation and infrastructure.