Intimidated By STEM

However, of that 48%, only 24% of them are involved in a STEM field. However, statistics are saying now, more than ever, women are pursuing STEM careers. Yet, what happens behind the scenes while earning your degree? My mother has experienced a prime example of exactly what happens when women attempt to pursue a STEM career. She had decided on taking a programming course in college. Long story short, she got to her assigned computer and began to design her screen like the creative woman she is. Her professor walked up to her found it unrighteous to have her computer screen pink when everyone else's where "manly" colors. He suggested that she goes to the counselor to change courses since technology was "manly" thing. Sadly, she listened along with many other women. I say that because "...nearly a third of women in science, engineering and technology (S.E.T.) fields say they are likely to quit within a year," (Sherbin, ...Bias in Their Labs). It's unfortunate that women all over feel that they are not worthy because of their gender or their lack of "manliness." STEM fields aren't a manly thing, they need to be identified as gender neutral profession, as every profession should

Academicians should motivate their students to take whatever subjects they want without taking into consideration the myths surrounding stem subjects. Students should be able to differentiate myths from reality because male and female brains are the same, none is superior to the other.

As a woman who goes to a large university with an abundance of peers who are like me and are looking to enter fields like this, the topic of discussion is heavily important to me for obvious reasons. However, it is also important for the general public to become aware of such under-represenation in such fields because everyone needs to do their fair share of preventing this issue going forward from employers to professors to parents and all the way back to students who will eventually be workers in the STEM industry. Everyone needs to recognize the importance of including more women in these fields in order to make necessary progress occur.

Before women to get more involved in the STEM fields women first have to go and get degrees in STEM undergraduate programs. One way to help change this is the lack of female role models. Girls need role models to show that they can be successful in STEM fields. If there are such strong gender stereotypes it might be discouraging women from pursuing STEM education and STEM jobs. It is complicated to get young women role models because the people who are part of the hiring team said that were less likely to say they would hire the female applicants overall and that they would offered them lower salaries and fewer mentoring opportunities. This is a problem because women will be less likely to want to get into these fields because they will have to work so much harder to get the same recognition as the males. Young girls will be more interested in getting into one of these fields where they fear comfortable. Young girls need a role model like Emily Roebling who studied math and science and became the chief engineer in the building of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1860. Another reason that girls are less likely to pursue these majors is gender stereotyping, and less family-friendly flexibility in the STEM fields. Across all STEM fields, female PhDs have lower rates of patenting and entrepreneurship than do male PhDs. This difference is most pronounced in physics, astronomy and the computer sciences, in which women earned only 1 in 5 PhDs. There is a need to encourage and support women in

The stated prerogative is to introduce slow yet lasting change and to integrate more women and people of color within the STEM field; however, the plan for change, and the reason for its perceived need to be slow is nowhere addressed; , suggesting that it is rather the reluctance of men to relinquish control and allow feminization of the field (Tepperman and Curtis, 2012). Reports of these initiatives claim to be struggling struggle in attracting and keeping women within the STEM field. Yet by shifting the blame on women, the inaction taken by scientific institutions to reform the patriarchal ideals dominating the scientific realm is justified (Tepperman and Curtis, 2012). In addition, the economic paradigm that western society is built around is one that necessitates inequality to function. The Neoliberal welfare is instrumental in constructing gender

The force of societal stereotypes is a large part of this gap. Instead of joining STEM careers, the most common careers among women are secretaries, nurses, and elementary and middle school teachers (Mandell). This truly illustrates that when well-rounded, talented women have the choice, they are inclined to delve into the field in which society expects them to belong. In this way, the stereotype of women not being involved in STEM is forcing less women to be involved in these fields. The deficiency of women in technical fields, despite their well-roundedness and ability, can be directly related to unyielding cultural stereotypes that stigmatize women in supposedly masculine fields.

The STEM fields are diverse and evolving constantly, with the advancement of civil rights in regards to women as well as the education of the public to this issue, it is likely that there will come a time when women and men can be equally represented in these disciplines. The importance of studying the gender gap between men and women in STEM is to learn how to confront gender biases in these fields. Conclusive evidence has shown that diversity in science will likely yield positive results. Findings from the Journal of the Royal Society Interface state that:

Science is comprised of fields that investigate the physical and natural world or events dealing with matter, energy, and their interrelations with objectively measurable phenomena (Natural Science). Scientific fields are often subsumed under the umbrella term STEM which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Historically, STEM fields have been void of diversity and largely dominated by White males, leaving minority’s under-represented (Hines 3). Preserving the integrity of these fields is dependent upon diversity because it prevents bias and promotes the contributions different backgrounds bring to academia (Hines 4). Today’s global market requires a growing investment in the fields of science education to remain competitive with other countries (Palmer, Davis and Moore 105). President Baraka Obama has pushed to increase the number of minorities represented in STEM. In the article Obama Pushes STEM in State of the Union, freelance writer for U.S. News Jason Koebler quotes the President’s State of the Union speech where he urges Americans to, “Think about the America within our reach: A country that leads the world in educating its people. An America that attracts a new generation of high-tech manufacturing and high-paying jobs”. President Obama understands that it is essential for the nation to,

In today’s modern age, it is disappointing to still find gender bias in any facet of our society. It is even more disappointing to find it in our schools. Women are constantly combating gender bias in everyday life, and school communities are affecting the careers of women by pushing them further away from STEM subjects. Girls are afraid of their own abilities. Why have we allowed this to happen?

As a student who attended an underserved and marginalized high school, I was not afforded the resources and opportunities that some of my college classmates had been offered in high school. Rather than accepting this disadvantage as something that would obstruct my goals, I decided to do something about it. I researched reasons why students in underserved communities typically are not well trained in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) fields is because they don’t view it as an attainable career path. I also learned that these views are developed at a shockingly young age and because of this, the motivation to be attentive successful in a STEM classes is diminished. I thought back to childhood in an underserved community, and I, myself don’t recall seeing many doctors and engineers that came from my community or similar communities.

Women in STEM are greatly underrepresented. STEM usually refers to an educational curriculum. Usually the curriculum focuses on science, engineering, technology, and math. The percentage of women in the STEM workforce has risen from seven percent in the seventies to twenty six percent in 2011. (U.S Department of Commerce)

Women in STEM: Race and Women in STEM The underrepresentation of women in STEM is a known, yet a persisting fact. This lingering fact has encouraged a lot of research on the subject. Within this research the differentiating factors of minority women and their experiences in STEM compared to white women. The distinctions between minority women and white women are put into too categories single disadvantage, or only having a singular oppression against you, such as just being a woman, and a double disadvantage woman, which is a woman that has two oppresses characteristic, such as being a minority race and being a woman (1).

Traditionally, men take on the manufacturing, engineering, science occupations in society. Since the 1970’s women’s representation in science, engineering, mathematics, and technology, a group of subjects known as STEM, occupations has increased; but younger girls, under 40, remain underrepresented in these occupations (Census). Furthermore, within the group of few but strong females a part of STEM lies a huge discrepancy between employment of whites and Asians, compared to Africans, Hispanics, and native Americans. Although it is hard to identify the reason for the limited amount of girls in these subject areas, some specialist speculate lack of girls is due to stereotyping threat, stigmas of females lacking the intelligence to comprehend

There is great potential for adolescents to find high paying careers in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) field. There are currently millions of STEM positions in the U.S. alone with this number expected to keep on steadily growing. Unfortunately, these opportunities are not made equally available to all adolescents. There is concern with the lack of females and minorities pursuing STEM degrees and retention in the STEM pipeline. While some perceived barriers have been disproven by research, there are barriers which are still perceived to exist include reasons related to school, peers, and family. Studies have shown that by age eleven, adolescents have decided if they can pursue a STEM career. (Find site). It is the individuals’

Men are the people who have the most rank in technical skills. There has not been any growth in jobs in STEM since 2000 for women. It has been said that the pattern may begin in early education. Females may not be encouraged to study math and science as much as males are encouraged to do so. Very few of females who earn bachelor’s degree do so in the area of STEM. However, slightly over half of bachelor’s degrees are earned by women. Many people believe that females lack the intelligence to be successful in STEM. Others believe women do better in skills such as education, and humanitarian roles such as doctor’s an lawyers. Sometimes women themselves believe that men have what it takes to be successful in STEM. Sometimes females have “self-esteem”