Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) job industries are clearly a minority group as opposed to males. And each of these statistics above has been used to analyze and raise awareness about the discrepancy between genders within STEM occupations. However, there seems to be lesser research on the education system that feeds into these work opportunities. It is vital to note that the disadvantage for women in STEM starts well before they enter the workforce; it starts when females are young, and still within the educational system. Additionally, the disparity between males and females in STEM extends much further than the educational system, into popular culture. Young girls and women, growing up in a society that …show more content…
Because there is less opportunity to switch between STEM industries, and because individuals cannot enter the STEM industries without a strong, targeted scientific background, it is key to focus on developing an effective educational system to feed women into the STEM workforce.
Granted, it must be noted that there is a high rate of women dropping out of scientific industries after having graduated, or having worked in the field. Research has shown that 38% of women who earn engineering degrees leave, or never enter that workforce (American Psychological Association, 2014). However, it is vital to keep in mind that this statistic is 38% of the few women who graduate with an engineering degree in the first place.
Not only are there few women earning STEM degrees, but there are also few female and university science teachers. A study reported that in high schools across the country, about 44% of science teachers were females (Bottia et al. 2015). Although this number seems to be very close to 50%, the study explains that this small gender discrepancies among science teachers have a profound impact on the number of students who decide to pursue a STEM degree. And that high schools which have more female STEM teachers, largely raise the chances of producing women who will
Science, technology, engineering, and math are the four areas of study that make up STEM. These four areas all have one thing in common: they are all dominated by men. According to Lauren C. Williams, “men outnumber women 7 to 3 in tech jobs in New York City — and nationwide.”.7 Despite this, “women now earn more bachelor’s and master’s degrees than men”.6 However, “women are a minority”.2 Women are a minority in all STEM careers. The ratio of men to women in scientific fields has never been one to one. For some unknown reason very few women are choosing to become chemists, physicists, engineers, computer technicians, or mathematicians. There are many proposed theories for why women are extremely outnumbered in these scientific
However, of that 48%, only 24% of them are involved in a STEM field. However, statistics are saying now, more than ever, women are pursuing STEM careers. Yet, what happens behind the scenes while earning your degree? My mother has experienced a prime example of exactly what happens when women attempt to pursue a STEM career. She had decided on taking a programming course in college. Long story short, she got to her assigned computer and began to design her screen like the creative woman she is. Her professor walked up to her found it unrighteous to have her computer screen pink when everyone else's where "manly" colors. He suggested that she goes to the counselor to change courses since technology was "manly" thing. Sadly, she listened along with many other women. I say that because "...nearly a third of women in science, engineering and technology (S.E.T.) fields say they are likely to quit within a year," (Sherbin, ...Bias in Their Labs). It's unfortunate that women all over feel that they are not worthy because of their gender or their lack of "manliness." STEM fields aren't a manly thing, they need to be identified as gender neutral profession, as every profession should
Although the recent upward trends in the number of women in STEM fields are promising, they are not truly due to decreasing cultural stereotypes. Women receiving graduate degrees in engineering increased by 2 percent from 2000 to 2008, but this trend is not as hopeful as it may seem (Giges). This increase was mainly evident in communal fields like environmental or biomedical engineering (Giges). This is further evidence of the impact of cultural stereotypes and their influence on women’s career paths. Society’s expectation of women is that they serve as caring motherly figures and community-centered careers adhere
Before women to get more involved in the STEM fields women first have to go and get degrees in STEM undergraduate programs. One way to help change this is the lack of female role models. Girls need role models to show that they can be successful in STEM fields. If there are such strong gender stereotypes it might be discouraging women from pursuing STEM education and STEM jobs. It is complicated to get young women role models because the people who are part of the hiring team said that were less likely to say they would hire the female applicants overall and that they would offered them lower salaries and fewer mentoring opportunities. This is a problem because women will be less likely to want to get into these fields because they will have to work so much harder to get the same recognition as the males. Young girls will be more interested in getting into one of these fields where they fear comfortable. Young girls need a role model like Emily Roebling who studied math and science and became the chief engineer in the building of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1860. Another reason that girls are less likely to pursue these majors is gender stereotyping, and less family-friendly flexibility in the STEM fields. Across all STEM fields, female PhDs have lower rates of patenting and entrepreneurship than do male PhDs. This difference is most pronounced in physics, astronomy and the computer sciences, in which women earned only 1 in 5 PhDs. There is a need to encourage and support women in
This report navigates the current state of STEM demographic in the country. It examines the reasons why there are less females undertaking STEM majors and gives recommendations on the problems. A brief history on STEM is outlined and the discussion follows with in depth analysis on the subject. STEM is a very critical education discipline with an importance in the economy of the country. Much as it is important, few students choose a career path in STEM. Although, there are more than 50% female students in Colleges and Universities, 12% take STEM related course. Why is this? This report is a compilation of empirical data collected in journals on the same subject explaining
Since the beginning, men have ruled the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Which explains the huge gender gap in STEM jobs. As of 2009, women occupied 24% of STEM jobs. Many of these women work in the science field. Only about 12% of women occupy the engineering and computer science field.
Today’s college students have the opportunity and freedom to choose their major and their career path. Many factors influence the decision of a college student’s career paths including background, general interests, personal strengths, time commitment, and job outlook. Although many important decisions are made in college, one of the most important is the choice of major and career track. Out of hundreds of majors the science and engineering fields are under-represented by women. Although the numbers of women in science technology, engineering, and mathematics, STEM, majors has been increasing in the past years, women still are in the minority in the STEM fields. In her study, Lona Whitmarsh
However, research shows that increased training in science and engineering fields does not yield more STEM workers. ( CENSUS RELATIONSHIPS). Studies from the U.S. census illustrates that the vast majority of workers who trained in science and engineering are not currently working in a STEM occupation. A total of 26% of male and female science and engineering graduations are currently employed in STEM occupation, the other 74% took up jobs in management healthcare, law, education, social work, accounting, or counseling ( CENSUS R). Examination of the data shows that nearly 25% of female STEM graduates are 25% likely to get a job in a STEM field, compared to 10% of men who do not get a job in a STEM-related field (CENSUS D). Despite popular belief, Hunt found that females having children or getting married have little to no effect on their decision to leave the STEM field. Rather, most females leave the field due to dissatisfaction over pay, promotion opportunities, or working condition (HUNT). These factors are clearly identifiable as the differential gender gap in numerous jobs, within and outside of STEM. However, STEM fields hold a major portion of biggest gender gap jobs. On average, in a STEM field, women would be paid about 16,000 dollars less than a man (CENSUS
Men are the people who have the most rank in technical skills. There has not been any growth in jobs in STEM since 2000 for women. It has been said that the pattern may begin in early education. Females may not be encouraged to study math and science as much as males are encouraged to do so. Very few of females who earn bachelor’s degree do so in the area of STEM. However, slightly over half of bachelor’s degrees are earned by women. Many people believe that females lack the intelligence to be successful in STEM. Others believe women do better in skills such as education, and humanitarian roles such as doctor’s an lawyers. Sometimes women themselves believe that men have what it takes to be successful in STEM. Sometimes females have “self-esteem”
Industry , government, and academic leaders argue that americans should make the science, technology, engineering and mathematical fields (STEM) more accessible. “They have high-quality, knowledge-intensive jobs that lead to discovery and new technology,” improving the U.S. economy and standard of living;(Lavender 1). One focus area for increasing the STEM workforce has been to reduce disparities in STEM employment by sex, race, and Hispanic origin. Actually, women, Blacks, and Hispanics have been underrepresented in the STEM employment. Some researchers find that women, Blacks, and Hispanics are less likely to be in a science or engineering major at the start of their college experience, and less likely to remain in these majors by its conclusion.
In his article, “Does Gender Matter?”, Ben A. Barres writes about the apparent absence of women in the science, technology, engineering, and math fields. He starts out the article by informing the reader about a few of the hypotheses that aim to explain this difference in presence, hypotheses that Barres aims to disprove. Barres explains, and at a few points depicts with charts and graphs, the significance of the gap between the amount of white men in the STEM majors and fields of studies and the amount of women and minorities in these same areas. He tell the readers the misconceptions such as the idea that women are inferior in these fields are untrue, and the fact is that woman and minorities are discouraged from entering into these areas
Andresse St. Rose, Christianne Corbett, and Catherine Hill, are actively involved in the field of female studies in education and researchers for The American Association of University Women. In their 2010 book titled Why so Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, the first chapter is the book’s namesake and contains a wide depth of information, from statistics regarding a smaller female presence in STEM careers, differences across gender in students pursuing STEM related AP courses, and a comparison of the gender divide in earlier years with the present time.
The U.S. Department of Education recently reported that even though relatively more female high school graduates took advanced STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) courses than male counterparts, their interests in STEM subjects were significantly low regardless of race/ethnicity (U.S. Department of Education, 2015). Furthermore, there are significantly less women who completed STEM degrees compared to men (Lee, Alston, & Kahn, 2015). This gender discrepancy has been the key goal for the researchers for the last decades, and many studies have examined how to promote gender parity in STEM fields.
Since time has begun women as a whole have struggled for equality in many different arenas. There have been laws passed that have made strides such as the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote. Although progress has been great, there are still many other aspects of inequality that can be tended to. One of these being the issues of advancement and underrepresentation of women in STEM-related career fields. These science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) careers have been mainly dominated by the male sex since the birth of them. Just as when someone speaks of say a construction worker the mind immediately associated a male with this role. This should not be the case for the many STEM careers let alone any other. The imaginary
The underrepresentation of women in STEM is a problem in which I harbor particularly strong feelings, as female scientists are typically neither recognized nor celebrated for their scientific contributions. Young girls with dreams of being scientists find few role models as male figureheads historically dominate STEM fields, teaching women that this is not a suitable field of study.