Women in the STEM workplace

Women have been discriminated against time and time again if history has been any indication, and as we move forward in the 21st century, many are still stuck on backward stereotypes about women such as “Women belong in the kitchen” or in cases of sexual harassment “She must have worn something provocative”. Being a woman also means disadvantages in the workplace and one such example is in STEM programs. 

In STEM fields, a recent survey found that there was a lower percentage of bachelor’s degrees given to women than men (36% vs 64%), and other research also shows that this gender gap has led to poorer and more unfair conditions for women. What needs to be realized is that this discrimination doesn’t only affect all women it also affects STEM programs because there is a loss of different perspectives and a poorer quality of work. 

A lower percentage of women being awarded bachelor degrees is especially pronounced in subjects such as Physics, Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics, and Engineering which are the main subjects in STEM programs. Furthermore, problems such as sexual harassment have also raised to concerning rates (20 - 50% in students and over 50% in staff) in many of these programs. A subject that many students follow for secondary education, Engineering, has the worst statistic of women graduates with only 13% according to a 2019 survey. 

The fortunate amount of women who can work in STEM programs have mentioned facing other issues such as higher expectations to prove themselves; family pressure where many colleagues have told them to stop working after becoming mothers; feminine roles where peers believe women to maintain a “ladylike” image and sexual harassment. 

Countless young girls are discouraged from pursuing careers which leads to many more problems than just gender inequality. Moreover, there are unquestionably many advantages to hiring women for STEM programs for example a fresh set of perspectives; numerous greatly qualified women (many of whom are actually more qualified than quite a few men); bridging the gap of gender inequality in the workplace; an improved STEM workforce; a better economy; inspiration for the next generation of STEM workers, etc.

In conclusion, this gender gap needs to be rectified immediately. Starting with the fact that young girls should never be discouraged from pursuing careers and should be given the same education and opportunities as boys. Additionally, scholarships and research experiences should be given to more women as well and workplaces have to do everything possible to reduce sexism (such as derogatory comments, sexual harassment, unequal pay/conditions, etc). These are imperative and long overdue steps that must be taken so that we can better STEM programs for women, men, and education and workplaces as a whole.

Author: Taara Jonnalagadda

This article got help from:

online.maryville.edu - Women in STEM: A Guide to Bridging the Gender Gap

https://www.thehindu.com/ - Why are there more men than women in the field of STEM?