Across the globe — women remain underrepresented in STEM fields.[1] Despite job demands and recent and historical gender diversity initiatives, women made up only 28.2% of the global workforce in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in 2024.[1][2]
Notably, in non-STEM fields, women comprised 47.3% of the workforce and account for less than one-third of research positions.[3][4] Extensive research demonstrates that post-pandemic policies that govern where and when work occurs — such as remote, hybrid, or return-to-office (RTO) arrangements — are reshaping based on gender, caregiving, and occupational disparities.[5] [6]
Emerging global data suggest that flexibility has created tangible gains for women since the pandemic, contributing to improved retention, productivity, and work–life balance across the workforce and pointing to measurable gains in workforce participation.[7]
For example, survey research spanning 40 countries — including the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, South Korea, China, India, Brazil, and others across Europe, Asia, and Latin America — found that women, particularly mothers, consistently expressed stronger preferences for hybrid or remote work arrangements than men.[8]
Likewise, WFH opportunities increased women’s STEM employment probability by 2.43 percentage points (a 13.6% rise) relative to pre-pandemic levels, suggesting that flexible work arrangements act as pivotal role in narrowing workforce gender gaps.[7]
However, as the post-pandemic era ushers in widespread RTO mandates, evidence suggests that many of those hard-won gains might now be at risk.[9] Global trends indicate that as organizations scale back remote and hybrid options, women face renewed structural barriers that might potentially hinder workforce participation.[10]
There is some research that explicitly warns that RTO mandates risk creating a two-tiered labor market, undermining gender diversity, talent retention, and overall workforce well-being by disadvantaging those who rely on flexibility, in particular caregivers.[11]
However, despite growing awareness of these patterns, academic literature in this space remains limited in scope — on both a qualitative and quantitative level — and especially in cross-national contexts that examine how RTO mandates uniquely shape women’s participation and persistence in STEM.
On a global scale, this gap in research underscores an urgent need to better capture the pivotal role that RTO mandates may play in shaping women’s careers in STEM.
Our findings show that on a global scale RTO mandates are influencing women in multiple and complex ways — including reduced flexibility in WFH options, increased burnout, higher attrition, and limited advancement in career opportunities. However, we also see that while flexibility supports women’s participation, well-being, and retention in the workforce — RTO is met with resistance, with women more likely to quit their jobs. This pattern is not surprising, given that research consistently shows WFH can help narrow gender gaps in workforce participation.
Importantly, our research demonstrates that while gender inclusive policies seem to improve gender representation of women in the workforce, research remains limited in this space. There is a need for more global research to better understand the long-term effects of this evolving landscape — in particular, studies that seek to examine not only which factors potentially promote women’s STEM workforce participation and gender parity, but also which workforce practices may unintentionally erode them.
For the SWE research team’s insights on the U.S perspective on RTO, read What Flexibility Built: How Remote Work Opened Doors for Women in STEM — and What’s at Stake as They Close.
References
[2] Society of Women Engineers. (2025). Global STEM workplace.
[3] UNESCO Institute for Statistics. (2024). The gender gap in science. UNESCO.
[6] Hassouna, N. (2025, March 12). Remote working: An underrecognized tool for reducing health inequality. Institute for Women’s Policy Research.
[11] Chung, H., & Yuan, S. (2025). Return-to-office mandates: What is at stake for workers, companies, and gender equality? King’s Global Institute for Women’s Leadership.
[12] Ensono. (2025). Speak Up 2025: How women in tech weigh RTOs and AI alongside their leadership ambitions.
[14] International Women in Mining (IWIM). (2024). Return to office mandates: What is at stake for workers, companies, and gender equality? International Women in Mining.
[15] Emanuel, N., Harrington, E., & Pallais, A. (2024). Research: How remote work impacts women at different stages of their careers. Harvard Business Review.
[16] Taheri, R., & Khan, S. (2023). Project Insights Report: The impact of remote work on engineering. Future Skills Centre.
[17] OSPE. (2024, November 13). OSPE launches project to enhance gender equity through flexible work options. Ontario Society of Professional Engineers.
