Gender and Social Change

Gender in STEM

In today’s world, there is no doubt that science and technology play a large role in our everyday lives. With the internet always a tap away, the technology industry is a highly profitable and growing sector. The role and capabilities of the internet evolved even more when a global pandemic hit, forcing schools, universities, and workplaces to move online. When COVID-19 hit, there was an increased need for medical innovation, and fast. Essential healthcare workers were in greater demand than ever before. Scientists and mathematicians conducted research on the spread of COVID, and what could be done to slow it down. 

Overall, all sectors of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) are an important aspect in the development of today’s society. Further, STEM is a growing industry with increasing opportunities and demand for skilled workers. In a 2022 Forbes article [1], three out the top 5 career fields in 2022 are included in STEM. STEM careers provide statistically higher salaries, with the 2019 median salary for STEM careers $1,557/week, while the median salary for all careers and non-STEM careers were lower at $920 and $846 [2], respectively. Today, 27% [3] of all STEM workers are women. This inequality in STEM further spreads the economic inequality that is present between the sexes. In this project, we will discuss why there is a lack of gender diversity in STEM, and what can be done to fix it.

Firstly, we will be starting off our exhibit discussing the gender pay gap. There are quite a few gender disparities present within the STEM field, one of the most prominent being the wage gap. As in many other fields, women in STEM are not paid nearly as much as men and there is a wide wage gap between the two. This section of the exhibit seeks to understand what the underlying reasons are behind why it is that women earn less than men for completing the same STEM related jobs. In order to do this, various studies conducted and thoroughly described in research journals will be assessed and utilized as well as data that has been compiled in literature reviews. As the question is answered, much emphasis will be put on the main three reasons it appears that a pay gap between men and women exists in STEM including low levels of self-efficacy, human capital and labor market, and housework and familial responsibilities.

The low levels of self-efficacy, or self-confidence, subsection focuses on why women might be paid less than men because they have less self-confidence when going into the STEM field than men typically do. For example, one article discussed how most women typically do not negotiate salaries, but rather accept the very first offer when starting a new job. The second subsection focuses on human capital and the labor market and how women and men typically have very different skill sets. It touches on how many studies found that men typically hold more PhDs and experience overall. Finally, the third subsection focuses on housework and responsibilities at home. The articles and research focuses on how women typically spend most of their time at home and with their families and therefore take on less responsibilities at work which leads to fewer years of experience. 

The timeline subsection is about the history of women in STEM fields and the endemic question of why there aren’t more women with jobs there. There have been numerous studies about the problem that have found equally as many reasons for the disparity. These include, broadly, the gendered norms and expectations attached to science and scientific thinking, the cultural biases of science-related personnel (both in academia and actual STEM positions), and how both of these things work to prevent women from both entering and staying in STEM.

The engineering subsection will look into why In the United States, more women than men enroll in college with almost half the bachelor's degrees being earned (Around 44.7 %) in the STEM fields are being awarded to women. But, the proportion begins to vary greatly by field, with female STEM degree holders being more prevalent in psychological, biological, and agricultural sciences while being less prevalent in computer sciences and engineering. From 1998 to 2018, the number of women awarded bachelor's degrees in engineering went from 18.48% to 22.20%, an increase of only 4% in 20 years! This section will discuss the self-perpetuating issues in the field of engineering that leads to this.

Gender disparity in leadership positions in medicine has been argued and although this problem has been discussed for many years there has not been much to be done to change gender disparity in leadership positions in medicine. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 80% of the healthcare workforce is made up of women, however, only 20% of women hold leadership roles in medicine and only 19% of hospitals and 4% of healthcare companies are led by women. In order to counter this problem, the medical community needs to address the hierarchical system as well as the implicit bias in medicine that is pushing women out of leadership positions and putting more men in these positions. Furthermore, there is still a deep rooted stereotypical view of women in medicine, in that they are seen as mothers and more willing to give up their careers for family. 

Lastly, we will conclude our project discussing the role that women’s performance in mathematics has on the larger issue of gender inequality in STEM. Although math itself is not the largest sector in STEM, with only 3.84% of Science and Engineering bachelor’s degrees awarded in mathematics and statistics in 2018, mathematics and quantitative reasoning skills are needed in all levels in STEM. Thus, one explanation for the lack of women in STEM could be the lack of high performing women in mathematics. We will further investigate this by looking at 2 possible explanations. First, we will examine whether biological differences in men and women could play a role in their mathematical ability. Second, we will look at sociocultural factors that could affect women’s performance in advanced mathematics. Lastly, this section will conclude with a discussion of how the math gender gap affects the amount of women in STEM, and suggestions for what can be done to remedy this problem.

1. Stahl, Ashley. “The Top 5 Growing Career Fields In 2022.” Forbes. Accessed December 8, 2021. https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashleystahl/2021/11/08/the-top-5-growing-career-fields-in-2022/.
2. “Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering: 2021 | NSF - National Science Foundation.” Accessed December 8, 2021. https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf21321/data-tables#group4.
3. Bureau, US Census. “Women Are Nearly Half of U.S. Workforce but Only 27% of STEM Workers.” Census.gov. Accessed December 8, 2021. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/01/women-making-gains-in-stem-occupations-but-still-underrepresented.html.