How to Recognize and Support Women in STEM
Happy day of women and girls in science! Today is a great reminder of how far women have come in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), but also how far we still have to go.
Women in STEM often feel marginalized during internships, work opportunities, or team-based activities because of their gender. According to a survey of women in STEM, 91% said gender discrimination is a continuous obstacle in their career, and a whopping 100% reported feeling self-doubt and lack of confidence in their professional lives.
Unfortunately, this is not surprising since we know, on average, women in STEM earn less than their men counterparts, are passed up for promotions more often, and are cited less often.
Promoting gender diversity has the potential benefit of expanding viewpoints, allowing researchers to ask better questions and make new discoveries. Without gender diversity, businesses can miss out on a unique and equally talented pool for leadership positions.
Challenges women face in STEM
A universal challenge in STEM is the lack of women in leadership positions who can act as mentors and role models to other women. Because of this imbalance, the few female scientists in leadership positions carry a majority of the burden of outreach compared to their male colleagues.
The challenge in STEM is how to make a more inclusive culture. Women, especially women from underrepresented groups, face implicit bias, microaggressions, and even explicit bias. These experiences can exclude women and discourage them from considering or continuing in STEM careers.
How to support women in STEM
Encouraging women to grow professionally starts with establishing policies and procedures that foster growth. By looking for opportunities to support and advocate for women in STEM, we can help propel them to new heights, ensure their talent is recognized, and get more women to the top.
Listen
Listening to women's personal experiences is the first step to gender diversity and equity. Understand that your professional experience may not be the same as theirs. Active listening requires not interrupting, paying attention to, believing, responding to, and remembering what is being said.
The simple act of listening to women acknowledges the professional barriers they face, validates their experiences, and improves the professional climate.
Evaluate biases
Institutions need to implement programs to train faculty and students to recognize implicit bias and reduce its impact. However, training alone is insufficient. Implicit bias training can alter individual beliefs and actions, but it is still largely ineffective in diminishing institutional inequities.
To begin to eliminate implicit biases, start by recognizing and quantifying them. Women are already counting how well they are represented in conferences, lectures, papers, and panels. Men should also observe the gender balance of their departments and strive for equal representation.
Support inclusion efforts
Women take on the majority of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts at the expense of teaching and research, often with little reward or recognition. To help with this, institutions and departments should encourage men to participate in DEI efforts.
Train men as equity advisers to help combat implicit bias and advocate for underrepresented groups. Recognize, reward, and incentivize DEI efforts, such as:
Creating a departmental award for DEI efforts (this one is key.)
Requiring a diversity statement in faculty applications.
Recognizing DEI efforts as positive contributions in promotional material.
It is clear that we need to cultivate more inclusive and diverse environments in all facets of STEM. We can do this by hiring, supporting, and encouraging girls and women. Without women and other underrepresented groups in science, the world may miss out on valuable innovations and ideas that alternate perspectives bring to the table. To avoid the risk of losing valuable employees, companies need to consider where to make priority investments to change that trajectory.