The Problem Of Stem And Gender Inequality

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

The force of societal stereotypes is a large part of this gap. Instead of joining STEM careers, the most common careers among women are secretaries, nurses, and elementary and middle school teachers (Mandell). This truly illustrates that when well-rounded, talented women have the choice, they are inclined to delve into the field in which society expects them to belong. In this way, the stereotype of women not being involved in STEM is forcing less women to be involved in these fields. The deficiency of women in technical fields, despite their well-roundedness and ability, can be directly related to unyielding cultural stereotypes that stigmatize women in supposedly masculine fields.

In a speech in February 2013 President Barak Obama said, “One of the things that I really strongly believe in is that we need to have more girls interested in math, science, and engineering. We’ve got half the population that is way underrepresented in those fields and that means that we’ve got a whole bunch of talent…not being encouraged the way they need to.” It been three years since President Obama has made that statement and the underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering and math as known as STEM majors is still a big problem today. The STEM workforce is crucial to Americas global competitiveness and groundbreaking capability. The people who work in the STEM field make up nearly half of the United

While this bill undoubtedly aligned with the mission and purpose of women’s colleges, there remains an unbalanced amount of representation of women in STEM programs and careers. “Globally, women remain particularly behind in participation at elite institutions and in traditional ‘male’ fields of study including science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or STEM” (Renn, 2014, p. 3). While the very existence of women’s colleges asserts their right to belong within realms of higher education, the work towards equity and inclusion must take place in all facets of life. “Even where women outnumber men in undergraduate enrollments and enjoy full access to higher education, women’s institutions act symbolically to remind society that in many other domains of public and private life, gender equality remains elusive” (Renn, 2014, p. 125).

The stated prerogative is to introduce slow yet lasting change and to integrate more women and people of color within the STEM field; however, the plan for change, and the reason for its perceived need to be slow is nowhere addressed; , suggesting that it is rather the reluctance of men to relinquish control and allow feminization of the field (Tepperman and Curtis, 2012). Reports of these initiatives claim to be struggling struggle in attracting and keeping women within the STEM field. Yet by shifting the blame on women, the inaction taken by scientific institutions to reform the patriarchal ideals dominating the scientific realm is justified (Tepperman and Curtis, 2012). In addition, the economic paradigm that western society is built around is one that necessitates inequality to function. The Neoliberal welfare is instrumental in constructing gender

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

To add to the stereotypical gender roles women have been trying to repair for years, women are much more likely than men to work in service occupations like personal care aides, home health aides, nursing assistants, and other roles that include a gentle touch. Although these occupations are on the rise as far as growth for the upcoming years, the median annual earnings for these jobs are less than $25,000 per year. In addition, women are less likely than men to work in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (“STEM”) occupations; jobs that are stereotypically more demanding, and meant to be fulfilled by men. According to the report, only 4.6% of women work in STEM occupations, compared to 10.3% of

Traditionally, men take on the manufacturing, engineering, science occupations in society. Since the 1970’s women’s representation in science, engineering, mathematics, and technology, a group of subjects known as STEM, occupations has increased; but younger girls, under 40, remain underrepresented in these occupations (Census). Furthermore, within the group of few but strong females a part of STEM lies a huge discrepancy between employment of whites and Asians, compared to Africans, Hispanics, and native Americans. Although it is hard to identify the reason for the limited amount of girls in these subject areas, some specialist speculate lack of girls is due to stereotyping threat, stigmas of females lacking the intelligence to comprehend

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.

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.

Gender inequality in the workplace starts with gender inequality in education. There are many stereotypes of “female majors” and “male majors”. It is common to see greater numbers of females involved in education, liberal arts, and social service majors, where men are commonly seen in the STEM and business fields. These differences in majors are often caused by the stereotype that the more intense and demanding jobs need to be occupied by men. (Gender Discrimination in the Workplace) This frequently leads to differences in job levels, and, as a result, pay. (Introduction to Sociology, pg 288) In fact, only about 4.6% of women work in STEM fields compared to the 10.3% of men. (Women…Like Men, Only Cheaper) Recently, females have become involved in the so called male majors, such as engineering and business, leading to more equality in job qualifications. Even though

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

Gender inequality also assumes that men get senior jobs or more jobs in the STEM fields. STEM fields employ many men and it is rare to find women. Many believe that the STEM fields are sexist and only employ men. Although, according to Cornell University, “Women are preferred 2:1 over men for STEM faculty positions” (Bosnia). Facts show, that women are preferred in STEM fields but they choose not to be in these positions. This large difference in women and men in STEM fields is not because of STEM but because of women not choosing STEM positions that they offer. In addition, research shows that, “the only evidence of bias the authors discovered was in favor of women; faculty in all four disciplines preferred female applicants to male candidates,