By: Pritika, CEO & Founder of stemHERd
Posted June 9, 2020
Historically, females have been consistently excluded from education in STEM. Although we’ve made good progress regarding opening training opportunities to women in past decades, there is yet a good deal of work that needs to be done. Gender discrimination in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields is a problem that is now well recognized. Remarkably, more women are getting degrees and jobs in STEM fields than ever before. However, the situation may not be as good as reported. Women are still less likely to choose STEM majors and get STEM degrees/jobs than men. Sadly, this is the reality even though women do as well, or better than men on STEM tests and projects. The disparity is strongest in the physical sciences, computer science, math, and engineering. Women make up only ~20% of students in these majors in the U.S. Even the Government of Canada’s findings were tremendously disheartening. In 2016, Canadian women made up only 34% of STEM bachelor’s degree holders. Only 34%. After reading studies, the final understanding of all of them is that women are simply “not good enough" for STEM. The real question is why.
All these differences are gender differences and they are created by society. Gender inequality is therefore a form of inequality which is distinct from other forms of economic and social inequalities and stems from pre-existing gendered social norms and social perceptions. Gender inequality has an adverse impact on development in society. It hampers the overall well being because blocking women from participation in social, political and economical activities can adversely affect the whole society. Though we are in a globalized era, still the status of women has not been improved.
Women in computer jobs are more likely than women in STEM, overall, to say they have experienced discrimination (74% vs. 50%) and these women are particularly likely to report pay inequities (46% vs. 29% of all women in STEM) and 40% say they have been treated as if they were not competent at work because of their gender (29% of all women in STEM jobs say this). Evidently, the figures themselves, tells society enough. The problem is not the women, it is the stereotype: “STEM is mostly for males as it is male-dominated.”
With respect to intersections, the lack of equal representation of women in STEM in the media is also directly related to the systems we put in place within institutions to tackle gender equity. To sum up, addressing inequity in STEM and other research fields is every bit as important as exposing mis-reporting of the catches of fisheries. Moving to resolve inequity in STEM is one mechanism to ensure the voices of [women] scientists are not silenced. Hearing the perspectives from the trenches, of women at all career stages in the sciences, is a pivotal component of ensuring any diversity scheme will be effective.
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