When I finally had my first big-girl engineering job, the paltry number of immediate colleagues who looked like me was a huge culture shock. As a student, I haven’t been in industry long enough to experience the effects of the perpetual recurrence of these feelings, but by the end of three months, I had drawn my own conclusions. If I wanted to have a long, shining, successful career in this field, I needed to know my role models, mentors and about acceptable work culture (at least in my immediate team). I also needed to solidify my motivations and confidence in the field, and in myself, in order to survive the barriers produced by this gender disparity.
Women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) fields have long been subjected to sexism in the workplace. They face stereotyping, harassment, opportunity gaps, derogatory comments and are paid less, promoted less and given less access to work opportunities. Despite women earning 35.1% of undergraduate degrees and 34.5% of Ph.D. STEM degrees between 2008–2015, the drop to 27% for female STEM workers and 5% for females in top executive positions isn’t entirely shocking.
Several measures can be taken to improve the work environment for women. A 2016 study published in the Harvard Business Review found that in a hiring pool of four candidates, increasing the number of female or minority candidates from one to two significantly increased their chances of being hired. Specifically, they found that the likelihood of a woman getting hired was 50% in a candidate pool of two men and two women, but dropped to 0% in a candidate pool of three men and one woman. Thus, implementing gender-blind hiring policies could help women overcome the barriers of these types of biases. Furthermore, even though 50% of American jobs are performed by women, women make up only 6.6% of Fortune 500 CEOs. To address the bias that has led to this statistic, companies can implement directed programs providing training, mentorship and exposure to leadership opportunities for women, with clear articulations such as end-goals of promoting participants to senior managerial roles or C-suite positions.
Continue reading: https://stanforddaily.com/2022/02/09/opinion-keeping-the-stem-woman-in-stem/
Women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) fields have long been subjected to sexism in the workplace. They face stereotyping, harassment, opportunity gaps, derogatory comments and are paid less, promoted less and given less access to work opportunities. Despite women earning 35.1% of undergraduate degrees and 34.5% of Ph.D. STEM degrees between 2008–2015, the drop to 27% for female STEM workers and 5% for females in top executive positions isn’t entirely shocking.
Several measures can be taken to improve the work environment for women. A 2016 study published in the Harvard Business Review found that in a hiring pool of four candidates, increasing the number of female or minority candidates from one to two significantly increased their chances of being hired. Specifically, they found that the likelihood of a woman getting hired was 50% in a candidate pool of two men and two women, but dropped to 0% in a candidate pool of three men and one woman. Thus, implementing gender-blind hiring policies could help women overcome the barriers of these types of biases. Furthermore, even though 50% of American jobs are performed by women, women make up only 6.6% of Fortune 500 CEOs. To address the bias that has led to this statistic, companies can implement directed programs providing training, mentorship and exposure to leadership opportunities for women, with clear articulations such as end-goals of promoting participants to senior managerial roles or C-suite positions.
Continue reading: https://stanforddaily.com/2022/02/09/opinion-keeping-the-stem-woman-in-stem/
