Women in STEM Fields, We’re Rooting For You
If you’re a woman in this world, chances are your parents raised you to like pink and Barbie dolls, flowers and baking and to stay within your gender role. Gender roles are the “acceptable” behaviors of someone based on their gender. Restrictions and gender roles exist from the clothes one wears to how you’re supposed to act. Gender roles are a primitive concept, it’s almost 2020. What are we doing?
So what exactly is STEM? STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. These fields have always remained predominantly male but that doesn’t mean women aren’t interested. Women aren’t encouraged to go into STEM fields, even so, that we make up 50% of the total U.S. college-educated workforce, but only 28% of the science and engineering workforce. Further, only 12 percent of female college students will graduate with a bachelor’s degree in science, and a measly 3 percent will continue to work in a STEM field a decade after graduation. This issue matters so much because STEM careers tend to be significantly more lucrative than non-STEM jobs, as women in STEM earn roughly 33% more than women in all other fields. Closing the gender gap in STEM will undoubtedly help to close gender gaps in income in all other fields. Several factors contribute to this such as encouragement from parents and teachers (or lack thereof), resources at home, and environment.
In a study in 1996, it was found that girls begin to lose self-confidence in middle school due to them believing men possess more intelligence in technological fields. Among recent science and engineering bachelor’s degree recipients, women were less likely than men to be employed in science and engineering occupations. The (very real) wage gap between men and women is greater than for recent graduates in the majority of scientific positions. Salaries are highest in computer science, and engineering, and mathematics which are fields in which women are hardly represented.
Between 1901 and 2017 the female to total ratio of Nobel Prizes was 2 to 207 total for physics, 4 to 178 total for chemistry, 12 to 214 total for physiology/medicine, and 1 total 79 for economic sciences. These numbers are concerning low. We know what’s happening (or what’s not happening), but why?
The answer is simple, really. It’s the solution that’s more difficult. Women face extreme discrimination in STEM fields, spoken and unspoken. We’re twice as likely to leave a science and engineering job as opposed to men. Researchers have consistently found evidence of discrimination of ethnic minorities and women relative to cisgender Caucasian men. I’m seeing several patterns here, aren’t you?
Trans women and women of color experience this even worse. Ben Barres spoke about his experiences in an article reported by Jessica Nordell for New Republic: “People who don’t know I am transgendered [sic] treat me with much more respect.” He was no longer interrupted in meetings, and another scientist actually said at a conference, “Ben gave a great seminar today — but then his work is so much better than his sister’s.” This person did not realize that Ben and Barbara were the same person. People of color are already stereotyped beyond belief, can you imagine how difficult it is to be a woman of color in a STEM field trying to get your word heard and even more believed? Diversity is expanding in STEM, but it’s not nearly enough.
Who’s tackling this dilemma?
The first International Day of Girls & Women in Science was celebrated on February 11, 2016. Organizations such as Girls Who Code, StemBox, Blossom, Engineer Girl, Girls Can Code in Afghanistan, IndianGirlsCode, and Kode with Klossy lead by supermodel Karlie Kloss aim to encourage women and young girls to explore male-dominated STEM fields. A large quantity of these organizations offer summer programs and extensive scholarships to girls interested in STEM.
The National Girls Collaborative Project’s primary mission is to make sure that all girls have access to resources to enhance STEM education and interest. This goal is achieved by increasing the quantity and quality of resources and by developing a network of educators.
Founded in 2012, Million Woman Mentors aims to find one million women (and men) in science to mentor girls through high school, college, and further into career life to prevent women from leaving STEM fields. Mentors are a key part of women being interested and actually staying in STEM. So far, over 200,000 mentors have signed up.
There are so many organizations working hard for women in STEM, but what can you do?
Change begins with the individual. You can encourage the strong women around you to pursue their dreams, and always let them know they have options. Simply being supportive means the world to so many of us, for the small cost of $0.00. Eventually, women in STEM will truly thrive, but today it begins with you.
