by Tracy Yang
Last Monday, February 11th, was the UN’s international day of Women and Girls in Science. In 2015, the UN passed a resolution declaring this day as part of a commitment to gender equality and encouraging equal access and participation in sciences for women and girls. Since then, the world has made significant progress in closing the gender gap for women and girls in STEM fields. In fact, today, in some parts of the world, women actually outnumber men in some STEM fields. According to the Higher Education Statistics Agency, in Britain, women make up 69% of all students studying for medical technology related degrees, 63% of all students studying zoology, 57% of all students studying genetics, and 56% of students studying microbiology.
Yet, despite these promising steps forward, current global statistics for women in science still display a disappointing reality, which is that, despite increased participation from women in the sciences, there are still very few women around the world occupying high-level jobs in these fields. In 2016, only 21% of all STEM jobs were occupied by women, and women made up less than 30% of scientific and engineering researchers worldwide. When looking at global figures for women in science, it also remains glaringly apparent the disparity that exists between men and women participating in math and computer-related fields. It seems that, while more and more women are subscribing to fields related to medicine and biology, they are still extremely underrepresented in math, engineering, and computer science careers, with women making up only about 11% of professionals in engineering worldwide.
Let’s examine some of the reasons behind this gender imbalance. A major cause that many people attribute to the gender gap in the field of STEM is the stereotype threat. From a young age, children are met with the notion that math and science are for boys, and art is for girls. In school, most people have probably encountered this stereotype before, and it can also be seen reflected in media representation of women in science. In 2015, study by the Geena Davis Institute showed that only 12% of onscreen characters with STEM jobs were women. This can explain why interest in the sciences from girls appears to drop off a great deal at adolescence in comparison to boys. Lack of representation and of female role models in media could discourage young girls from becoming potential scientists by giving the notion that it is unrealistic, and reinforcing the idea that science a field predominantly for men. From this age, the stereotypes girls encounter in school and in the media can also begin to seriously affect their attitude toward the sciences. Girls are often told that it is unusual or absurd for them to be interested in science, and that they will not be as successful as their male peers in these fields, discouraging them from even entering them.
Furthermore, even after entering their career fields, women scientists still face barriers to job opportunities specific to their gender. A study conducted by Yale in 2013 showed that scientists in the fields of physics, chemistry, and biology were more likely to hire a male scientist than a female one with the same qualifications. When given completely identical resumes, professors at six different research institutions showed that they were significantly more inclined to hire the man than the woman. Furthermore, even if they did hire the female scientist, her salary would be on average set $4000 lower than the man’s. Interestingly, however, female scientists in the study displayed the same internalized prejudice when hiring as their male peers.
These types of internalized stereotypes can discourage young women who potentially have a lot to contribute to the field of science from pursuing a career in STEM, preventing them from exploring their full potential and contributing new ideas to STEM fields. But what can be done to solve this problem?
I was fortunate enough when I was in the tenth grade to have been part of a group of girls taking a computer science course in my school selected take part in a workshop sponsored by Microsoft as part of a program to encourage more girls to enter computer programming in China. Hearing female programmers talk about their experiences in programming and the difficulties they experienced was an incredibly inspirational and empowering moment.
It may take decades to break down gender stereotypes about women in science completely, but in the meantime, different steps can be taken to advance progress for women and girls in science. One way to close the gender gap between men and women in STEM careers is to actively encourage young women to take part in science, math, and engineering through programs like Microsoft’s. If we wish to eventually achieve equal participation from men and women in STEM and stop excluding a large portion of the world’s bright minds from what they have to contribute, we can begin by fostering an interest in science in young girls from an early age and encouraging more of them to pursue such interests, so that they can go on to become tomorrow’s scientists.
