It has been observed that gender neutrality is more prominent in developed nations like USA than developing nations. Yet when it comes to choosing academics and career options even in developed nations where socially men and women are treated as equals; fewer women choose STEM subject in their academics. Hence we find lack of women in STEM job also. Let us examine why does this happen?
This topic has been debated among several intellectual groups. Steps are been taken to induce girls to take up STEM subject in their academics. So there could be increase in women pursuing science and technology career options.
Glimpse at History of Women in STEM Occupations
If we look at the past, and read about findings of scholars and policymakers, it would reveal STEM occupations are predominantly occupied by men. Intellectuals and government officials are continually making surveys on disparity in STEM jobs between men and women. It has been found out that there are many factors involved leading such disparity. Attitude of young men towards sense achievement in mathematics and science are based on many factors. Not limited to encouragement from parents, interactions with mathematics and science teachers, curriculum content, and hands-on laboratory experiences, high school achievement in mathematics and science, and resources available at home. A study conducted by eminent scholars revealed that girls begin to lose self confidence in middle school as they believe that men seem to possess more intelligence in subject related to mathematics, science and technology.
In the US, women make up just a marginally less level of the workforce than their male partners. As indicated by the United States Department of Labor, women hold 47% everything being equal. The number of women workforce is by and large filled with nurses (2.8 million), school teachers (2.7 million), and secretarial jobs (2.4 million). It has also been observed that there is vast disparity in women in STEM jobs and non-STEM jobs.
STEM occupations can be commonly characterized into five categories: PC occupations, building occupations, life and physical science occupations, sociology occupations, and numerical occupations. Half of all STEM jobs fall into PC occupations, while the other half of employments are circulated among the other four categories.
While women are about keeping pace with men in sociologies, natural and therapeutic science jobs, holding 58% and 48% of jobs, separately, ladies represent 13% of designing and 25% of PC and maths jobs. As per a study, since the 1970s, the level of women working in STEM employments has been improving with the exception of those in PC occupations, which has been on the decrease since the 1990s.
In spite of the fact that there is an clear disinterest by women in STEM-related occupations, the dissimilarity among people inspired by these fields doesn’t show itself until women reach advanced education. Indeed, in K-12 training, more young girls take precalculus, variable based math, and propelled science courses than their kid peers.
Barriers to Women’s Career in STEM
Today human race faces numerous challenges: delicacy of monetary and political frameworks, cold and hot wars, cyber-attacks and fanaticism, and disturbances brought about by environmental change. We need each device to comprehend these dangers and art functional arrangements. Science, innovation, designing and math (STEM) fields are at the bleeding edge of making instruments and imaginative arrangements. At each level, we need our best masterminds and that must incorporate women.
During few seminars in 2018 held in Japan, discussions were held on the most proficient method to urge women and young ladies to seek after STEM professions. These discussions featured the worldwide and provincial hurdles on career options in STEM by women, and how to change this current situation.
All around, women are underrepresented in STEM. As indicated by UNESCO, 29 percent of those in science innovative work are women, with a low of 19 percent in South and West Asia and a high of 48 percent in Central Asia. Europe and North America are at 32 percent. 80 percent of STEM employments in the US are in building and software engineering yet women involve just 12 percent of the designing workforce and 26 percent of the registering workforce. In the U.K., women are underrepresented in STEM at each phase of the STEM pipeline. During 2016-17, women understudies represented under 10 percent of A Level test sections in processing, 21%in material science, and 39% in maths. Over the 34 part nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), women speak to 58 percent of college graduates, however just 20 percent of PC sciences graduates.
In both scholastic and useful STEM conditions, we have to develop methods for handling science and innovation issues that are comprehensive, not elite, and that feature the effect of STEM on certifiable issues. This helps intrigue women in STEM, which can address holes in innovation plan and ease of use. Most man-made brainpower (AI), and the projects that use AI, are made by (white) men. Those projects and applications will be unique in relation to those made by a progressively assorted gathering.
Solutions to increase women in STEM must address 3 major challenges:
- Currently social setup, parental guidance and most important media mindset has to be changed towards encouraging women to choose STEM as a career options.
- Women drop off at each phase all through the STEM venture, regardless of whether in primary school, secondary school, college, or in the work environment. The individuals who remain can be detached. An OECD concentrate found that while multi year-old young men and young ladies are genuinely even as far as science inclination, young women have less trust in their capabilities. Young girls drop out due to a confidence gap and not lack of abilities. In any case, when employed, similarly as in different fields, women may not be urged to seek higher level occupations by their managers and the time imperatives lead unavoidable circumstances as women enter child bearing years.
- Gender biases and stereotypes
How to Encourage Women Take Up STEM Career Options:
- One way to encourage women take STEM career is to propagate about women in STEM jobs who are extremely successful.
- Involve women who have attained STEM degrees in resolving pressing world level issues. Such as fragility of economic and political systems, cold and hot wars, cyber-attacks and extremism, and disruptions caused by climate change.
A repository should be prepared pertaining to women in stem jobs getting high pay package and should highlighted as career in STEM are best high paying careers for women.
- Another important step that can help in women pursuing STEM careers is revamping our educations system. It’s imperative to support female understudies from grade school on by approaching them in class. Like paying attention to their inquiries, and ensuring they see the potential outcomes of STEM professions. Instructors need the aptitude to install this intrigue, and the presentation to the women talked about above.
- One should rethink the hiring and retention process for women. There shouldn’t be assumptions like women don’t work for long, cannot adapt to changing scenarios in industry and etc.
Inducing interest among women for STEM fields may land more women for STEM opportunities after graduation. Colleges and universities should encourage and try and place female candidates with good employers for STEM OPT jobs related to programming and software development. It has been observed that women do perform well in such jobs. One such organization which helps female candidates get OPT jobs in their residence proximity is OPTnation. They provide support to such candidates seeking career for international students on OPT CPT jobs.