The STEM Gap: Bringing More Women into STEM

After the summer of 17’, I found myself sitting alone in the corner of a computer lab after school. The room was full of chattering kids. As I waited for the coding teacher, I noticed pictures of Stephen Hawking, Mark Zuckerberg, and Bill Gates on the wall with the title, “THIS COULD BE YOU”. I continued to canvas the room, realizing what should have been obvious: I was the only girl there. In fact, the only person of color there. This situation has become far too common in the STEM world today. 

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics education translates into 8 million jobs around the world. These jobs range from civil engineers to biologists. However, only 28% of women make up the workforce in STEM. Less than 25% of those women are of color. These gender gaps are particularly high in the fastest-growing and highest-paying jobs like in the computer science and engineering fields. In computing jobs with salaries of 100K, only 2% of women of color occupy these jobs. Girls and women are being tracked away from science and math throughout their educations, limiting their resources and interests of going into these fields as adults. Why is this?

There are so many possible causes for this therefore it is difficult to pinpoint the exact reasons. However here are just two:

Lack of Role Models: We tend to identify ourselves with people we can relate to. This is especially true to gender and race. When we see people like us who go into fields we like, we use them as guides and motivation. However, history has not particularly been on the side of women in STEM programs. Very few women have been talked about when talking about accomplishments. If you were to ask me who were some cis white males in STEM when I sat in that computer lab, I could name 10. But if you were to ask me who were some women of color, or even white women, I wouldn’t know any. 

Sexism: In colleges, women studying STEM majors are often stereotyped as being less talented. And in the workplace, many women are criticized for their work and are often not taken seriously. With fewer women leaders, there are fewer people at the top fighting against this sexism in the workplace. And with fewer POC, fewer people are fighting against racism. Women of color are at the biggest disadvantage. This causes, what is known as, “stereotype threat”: the anxiety people face when they fear being judged in terms of a group-based stereotype. 

So where do we go from here? We must break these stereotypes and stop associating STEM with men. Instead, we have to highlight the women in STEM. Girls from a young age will have women in history to look up to and letting girls know that both women and men have contributions in STEM. We must encourage girls from a young age to be excited about STEM. Programs like Girls Who Code and Kode with Klossy help reinforce the idea that women can create change. By creating these support groups, we can fight the sexism and “stereotype threat”. Hopefully, in the future, no girl will be alone in a computer lab. 

From one of the most notable movies about women of color in STEM: 

“Their dark skin, their gender, their economic status--none of those were acceptable excuses for not giving the fullest rein to their imaginations and ambitions.” - Margot Lee Shetterly, Hidden Figures