The Gender Gap in STEM: A Call for Change

In an Intro to Computer Science course, a student sits uncomfortably with the knowledge that she is the only girl in the classroom. In a lab somewhere, a Ph.D. candidate wears rubber boots much too big for her—a men’s size 12, the smallest option available in the lab. At an engineering firm, an engineer is assigned to manage email correspondence and create PowerPoints instead of partaking in the technical tasks done by her colleagues.

Though the push for gender diversity in STEM professions has gained traction over the past several decades, being a woman in one of these fields is still an uphill battle. The US Census Bureau reports that in 2019, women made up 27% of the STEM workforce, although 48% of all US workers are women. In specific fields, this imbalance is even more pronounced. Women make up 25% of computer workers and 15% of engineers, two fields that account for the majority (80%) of STEM occupations. Women of color hold even fewer of these positions, accounting for less than 6% of engineers.

Some attribute this gender imbalance to a lack of role models in these fields, or a lack of programs to get young girls interested in STEM, for example. However, the reality is that this discrepancy is not because women “just aren’t as interested in science” like some argue; it’s because many women are, for good reason, not as interested in enduring heightened discrimination, casual misogyny, and condescension in their field of work and study. The solution to disproportionate gender distributions is not just to encourage more young women to pursue STEM; this approach places the burden of correcting the issue on the shoulders of women and other underrepresented groups, pressuring them to enter fields that are too often hostile and isolating. Instead, our educational institutions and workplaces must undergo critical change to become environments in which underrepresented groups are safe and supported. Major structural change is needed because at the moment, much of the STEM world is structured around men.

The first deterrent many young women and girls face is the negative assumptions about their abilities made by those around them. Rebecca Wang, an engineering major at Stanford University, recalls, “In oversized, overwhelmingly male-dominated classrooms, I was scared to raise my hand, scared to make mistakes, scared to look like I had less knowledge than my male counterparts.” This experience can arise in high school or even earlier, and unfortunately continues further into academia. Tonia Venters was an astronomy and astrophysics graduate student at the University of Chicago, one of the only Black women in the program at the time. She echoes a similar experience: “I was very afraid of making mistakes, and having my mistakes color somebody else’s perception of all women, or all African Americans, or all Black women…I could do a hundred things right, and to me it felt like the only thing that mattered was the one thing I did wrong.” Women are acutely aware of ingrained bias against their abilities, and it creates pressure to overcompensate to disprove these stereotypes. Constantly having to prove validity of one’s skill set is draining, and only one of many stressors that make it difficult to learn or work in white- and male-dominated fields.

After reaching the workforce, many women in STEM face inequitable pay, opportunities, and recognition. A study done by MetLife found that 70% of women in STEM occupations believed their employer valued their male colleagues more than them. In contrast, 38% of women working in other fields reported feeling that way. Often in direct science fields, there is a discrepancy between “technical” work and professional “soft skill”-centered work with regard to how much recognition they receive. Many women, by preference or by persuasion, take on more of the managerial or interpersonal tasks. Unfortunately, these responsibilities are often undervalued and viewed as less significant than technical work. As Harvard Business Review articulates, “Female engineers experience stress from subtle and not so subtle cues that their skills and their work are not valued within the profession.” One of the most overt symptoms of such bias is pay discrepancy. The median annual earnings for full-time male workers in STEM is $90,000, compared to female workers in STEM with $66,200. In other words, women in STEM earn 74 cents on the dollar, whereas in the US workforce at large, women earn 80 cents on the dollar. Black and hispanic women in STEM have an even lower median salary, each at $57,000 yearly. (All data is from the Pew Research Center’s 2021 report). Because of conditions like these, women have a far higher rate of leaving STEM professions for other fields than men. Beyond getting more women to initially pursue these careers, attention must be given to efforts that improve the working experience of women in these domains so that they stay. Increased representation will be beneficial, but will and must come in tandem with specific change to ensure female employees respect and equity.

There are countless other barriers for women in STEM and in the workforce in general— sexual harassment, hiring bias, a lack of guaranteed paid parental leave, frequent microaggressions, and more. However, some companies and organizations have begun to make crucial, concrete, changes. Electronic Arts (EA) is a leader in this regard, with less than a 0.1% gender pay gap as they uphold their commitment to pay equity with comprehensive and expanding pay equity analysis. EA implements regular bias training for its employees, and currently employs a leadership that is 50% women. They foster a large number of employee resource groups, and in 2022, 87% of EA employees felt that EA is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion as a priority. Other corporations like Netflix lead the way in parental leave policies among Big Tech brands— Netflix now offers parents (birth parents as well spouses) a full 52 weeks of paid time off. Genetech, a biotechnology company, fosters a six-point plan for gender equity, and currently has a workforce that is 54% women; 41% of its executives are women. When companies take accountability and action toward reducing bias and inequity, gender diversity benefits, and so does the STEM world at large.

Although diversity in STEM remains lacking, it is clear that tangible action on the parts of companies and institutions can lead to better, more equitable environments. The resulting increased representation benefits more than just those being represented. Diverse teams often create better outcomes, and especially in STEM, gender diversity is crucial for making developments that advance our knowledge. Change must happen on a systemic level to restructure the culture and policies in academia and the workplace. Once these spaces consistently offer opportunities where women will feel valued and respected, more women will be inclined to pursue these fields. The STEM world is undergoing a transformation, and there must be personal and institutional responsibility taken to support it.