While STEM jobs are some of the most lucrative and in demand career options, there continues to be an alarmingly low percentage of women in STEM. As the world becomes increasingly reliant on technology, who it is that makes the technology is incredibly important. Therefore, not only does the low percentage of women in STEM mean women are working in lower paying jobs, but it also means that the people who make the technology that we rely on daily are predominantly male. This lack of diversity in STEM careers results in a biased environment for women and other underrepresented minorities. As the world becomes increasingly reliant on technology, it is imperative that the gender gap in STEM is fixed.
In 2016, while the number of women in Health-Related and Life Science careers reached high percentages of 75% and 47% respectively, the number of women in some of the harder sciences still lags behind (Funk & Parker, 2018). Two main areas still have shockingly low numbers of women in them. These areas are computer science and engineering. While the percentage of women in engineering has slowly increased from 12% in 1990 to 14% in 2016, the percentage of women in computer science has decreased from 32% in 1990 to 25% in 2016 (Funk & Parker, 2018). Therefore, despite some areas of STEM having equal and even dominant percentages of women, there are others with alarmingly low percentages. One must then ask why these low numbers still persist, as well as what caused the drop in the percentage of women in computer science.
Problems in STEM Education
The Leaky Pipeline is a model explaining the decrease of women in STEM from high school education to universities to the workforce (Blickenstaff, 2005). Blickenstaff summarizes two main reasons for the low numbers of women in STEM (2005). These reasons are a lack of role models and problems in teaching and science pedagogy. The lack of role models creates an environment where girls do not see examples of female scientists or when they do, the scientists do not have families and prioritize work above all else. Therefore, many girls do not see role models of women in science that show a desirable work-life balance. Additionally, girls don’t see as many images of scientists who are women in their textbooks and learn about relatively few female scientists in their classes. Thus, subconsciously they are given the notion that science and other STEM fields are for men and only few women can succeed in these fields. However, this notion is incorrect. Women are equally capable in STEM, but if they do not believe the opportunities exist for them or believe that they have to work harder to achieve the same recognition as men, then they are intimidated by the idea of entering STEM fields.
A gender gap persists in academia to such a degree that the New York Times titled an article “The Gender Gap in Computer Science Research Won’t Close for 100 Years” (Metz, 2019). The problem in the disparity between the number of men and women in academia is that universities teach the next generation of scientists and engineers. As previously discussed about the importance of role models, if women in college don’t see professors who are successful and look like them, they subconsciously question whether they could belong in academia. Not just in STEM fields, but in general, “a disproportionate number of women choose a nonacademic career” (Wang & Widener, 2019). Therefore, “there aren’t enough women serving as role models for the next generation of female faculty” (Wang & Widener, 2019). According to the Society of Women Engineer’s website, only 17.4% of tenured/tenure-track faculty in the U.S. were women in 2019 (2020). The lack of role models for female college students is clear. However, there is reason to hope. Despite the percentage of women in varying STEM fields not increasing as quickly as one may want, they do appear to be increasing. One such area is the percentage of women earning PhDs in Engineering, which has increased from 12.3% to 23.5% from 1997 to 2016 (Field of Degree: Women, 2019). However, unfortunately the numbers are not continuously going up in all fields. In both computer science and mathematics/statistics, the percentage of women earning PhDs has decreased from 2006 to 2016. Therefore, it is imperative that there continues to be work done to increase the number of women in STEM.
Work-Life Balance
Not only do some girls and women not believe they belong in STEM fields, but they also struggle with understanding how to maintain work-life balance in STEM jobs. This is one main reason that women will leave STEM careers. They are expected to be the predominant caregivers of their children, which is added pressure when compared to expectations of their husbands. According to the Pew Research Center, 27% of mothers were stay-at-home moms and only 7% of fathers were stay-at-home dads in 2016 (Livingston, 2018).
In an overview of women in STEM, Jean et al. explain that “history and tradition contribute to gender-based stereotypes about who should be scientists, technology professionals, engineers, and mathematicians” (2015). As a result of these stereotypes, not only do some men not think women should be in STEM, but some women also believe they do not belong in STEM. Gender stereotypes are created in young childrens’ minds and influenced by simple factors of their lives such as the toys they play with. In addition to the gender stereotypes, some women also struggle with work-family conflict, which is “ the interrole conflict that occurs when strains from the work and family domains are in some way mutually incompatible” (Jean et al., 2015). Along with caring for children, some women also care for their parents. With expectations of caregiving falling predominantly on women, how is it then expected that women are able to have successful careers and a family?
In terms of ways in which to help women succeed as professionals in STEM fields, one essential change for women with families is to have their partners share the caretaking load. Not only that, but having their partners also help with the housework is imperative. In the United States in 2010, on average women spent 127 minutes everyday on housework and men spent only 82 minutes (Khazan, 2016). While this difference of about 40 minutes a day may seem minor, in a week the comparison becomes 15 hours versus 9.5 hours. These extra hours spent doing housework and caregiving are hours that cannot be spent at work or recovering from a long day.
Other Challenges Faced
These challenges that girls and women face when entering STEM do not occur at one set time in their lives; instead, girls and women seem to face challenges every step of the way. It is no surprise then that there continues to be a gender gap in STEM. It is essential that these hurdles are knocked down to allow all of the great talented women to succeed and to increase the opportunities for women in STEM. These hurdles are a lack of role models for girls and problems in STEM education, along with gender stereotypes, which are all faced from an early age. Then, when women make it through the pipeline, by graduating college and pursuing careers, the expectations created by gender stereotypes weigh women down with family obligations and housework. Fundamental societal changes need to be made to increase the numbers of women in STEM.
Sources
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