The manifestation of gender disparities globally come in many forms, such as uneven access to education, lack of equality in employment, absence of bodily autonomy, religious freedom, political representation, job segregation, and medical care. There are careers, jobs, or occupations associated with a particular gender or considered gender-specific. Automobile repair, fork-lift truck driving, carpentry, and joinery are associated with males, while catering, speech-language pathology, pre-school and kindergarten teaching are associated with the female gender (Cimpian et al., 2020). The association of certain professions with gender is reflected in the gender domination in these professions. For instance, males dominate in farming, construction work, aerospace engineering, and architecture, while females dominate in sales, marketing, nursing, and teaching. Gender associations with careers or professions are prevalent in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). Educators need to focus on teaching STEM to women because the field provides prestigious and high-paying opportunities, and women are underrepresented in the discipline despite the increasing personnel demand.
The world should be wary of the current gender disparities in STEM because collective success requires both inputs from both genders for optimal outcomes. Future jobs may require at least a basic comprehension of mathematics and science as reflected in the world's fast-changing technology. While the need for necessary STEM skills is projected to rise, the number of girls or women in the field remains low. The implication will be an underrepresentation of both genders with a likely bias of having only the male gender in STEM. There is current gender discrimination evident by lack of access to technology and education implies girls will likely be kept out of the workforce if nothing is done about it. The social and economic returns of STEM-educated girls to the families and the community. Therefore, getting more women trained, prepared, and working in the STEM field will help harness the ingenuity, intelligence, talent, creativity, and innovation in women to add to what the men are already doing in STEM for humanity's progress.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Representation of Girls or Women in STEM
There is the underrepresentation of women in STEM, which poses a significant concern for attaining balanced gender-wise participation. The determination of reasons for this under-representation can help analyze the girls in stem and on crafting viable solutions to challenges facing girls in STEM. A study conducted by Cimpian et al. (2020) indicates an increasing trend in gender equity when it comes to faculty hiring. The quantitative synthesis of the study results by these authors demonstrated that raters preferred men in male-dominated jobs such as engineering and architecture but preferred women to men for STEM instructors or teachers. The raters had mixed information that influences their perception of the competence of both genders. In the specific study by Cimpian et al. (2020), academic hiring considered women more than men in accepting job applications and sending out job offers. Furthermore, there is reduced bias against women in tenure review and grant funding against women. Most girls or women have not persisted in STEM fields since they are less encouraged to continue pursuing further studies in the field (Wang & Degol, 2017).
The underrepresentation emanates from the historical beliefs that convinced women they had no place in education and high-level learning. Historically in the United States, girls and women were told to shun STEM fields and not bother girls with such advanced thinking (Caranci et al., 2017). The middle and upper class have been learning the necessary literacy skills of writing and reading, with women pushed to cooking, sewing, and looking after children. The past discrimination and disadvantages of girls and women have led to the current underrepresentation. The increasing desire of women for high education in STEM fields led many countries globally, including the U.S., to develop programs for women and girls that would help correct the past discrimination (Gomoll et al., 2016). The enrollment in STEM courses is prevalent in the United States, with most states subsidizing costs and, in other cases setting lenient requirements for enrollment for girls compared to the cut-off points set for their male counterparts.
Sexism and Gender Gaps/Imbalances of Women in STEM
There are contemporary parallels concerning women's progress in the STEM fields and critical information relating to the sexism and gender imbalances among women in STEM. According to Caranci et al. (2017), while there is an increased demand for higher skill levels in STEM, women remain underrepresented even with the increased employment rate. Smith-Castro et al. (2019) noted existent gender differences in math performance and how they are affected by socio-natural aspects such as sexist ideologies. Research by Caranci et al. (2017) indicates a significant effect of math-gender stereotypes (associating success in math with the male or female) and self-efficacy on the girls' mathematics performance. The research compared girls' or women's performance in social sciences, humanities, and impacts of women's performance stereotypes on female learners' performance and self-efficacy (Caranci et al., 2017).
Policymakers and practitioners should consider setting up systems and legislation that promote decision-making in enhancing gender equity because it determines the directions stakeholders take on girls' STEM issues. The current gender gap in STEM is disadvantaging females by denying them opportunities to contribute their \STEM innovations. Wang & Degol ( 2017) explain evidence of steady progress towards achieving gender parity in male-dominated fields while decrying the persistence of continued women's under-representation in STEM. A study by Holman et al. (2018) assessed the past, present, and future of women's ratio in various fields of STEM to demonstrate the difficulty in achieving parity in the future for women in STEM if the current trend persists. According to the authors, Wang & Degol (2017), additional interventions must be considered to attain this gender balance. There are direct and indirect effects of sexist ideologies and stereotypes on women's academic performance in STEM. The internalization of such ideologies and the social-cultural stereotypes directly impact women's educational outcomes with sexism and gender inequalities in STEM due to the stereotypes.
According to Wang & Degol (2017), gender-related biases and stereotypes are among the main reasons for gender imbalances in these fields, such as associating girls’ success as reliant on them choosing career paths in arts while males are encouraged to pursue science courses. The authors further emphasized diversity in the STEM fields and how it can be improved based on evidence. Additionally, the lack of role models for girls aspiring to pursue their careers in STEM causes underrepresentation. The authors argued that few women going into these fields lack mentorship and role models to follow. Similarly, sexism is a reason for the inequality gap. Women face gender stereotypes that make them feel less confident and comfortable in pursuing these STEM.
Barriers to Women in STEM
Early experiences with STEM-related content in women's childhood affect them throughout adulthood, which significantly influences their career choices. Breaking the mindsets of one gender being naturally better in STEM than the other can change girls' attitudes and persistence in STEM. The pervasive and influential effects of the negative stereotypes and beliefs are major barriers. The barriers are also evident in the reduced confidence to significant levels that adversely affect girls' scores in STEM coupled with the absence of female role models, which sells STEM professions as less attractive in girls' eyes. There is significant progress in gender equality in employment and education over the past five decades. Women today increasingly have access to career educational opportunities as their male counterparts, who are well represented in STEM. Regardless of the progress in other fields, there is a slow improvement in gender balance in STEM careers and professionals. By 2016, women made up 27% of the workforce globally in all sectors, with only 29% that were university-qualified STEWM labor force. The gender balance in STEM is still far from reach, with many females pursuing non-STEM professions. Notably, STEM is crucial innovation and economic growth. The current barriers that limit women’s representation adversely affect women's societal success and future in contributing enhanced productivity and creativity that are ingredients to more significant innovation.
Women experience alienation, being treated as undeserving, and unwelcome whenever they attempt to venture into STEM fields. Unfortunately, such barriers have led to the current 24% of women's workforce in STEM compared to the overwhelming 76% workforce (Holman et al., 2018). The low female representation in STEM significantly affects their contribution leading to a shortage of STEM workers. Governments and industries need to train women in STEM fields and shun discriminatory policies and culture. Removal of societal barriers that hinder women from undertaking STEM studies and joining the STEM workforce requires collaborative community efforts. WGU (2019) affirms that the current challenges of higher attrition women face than their male counterparts and non-STEM females must be halted to achieve positive results. Also, STEM women earning more salaries than their non-STEM counterparts should be used as a motivator for the women driven by money. The barriers of gender stereotypes should no longer interest and confidence of girls in pursuing STEM.
Retention of Women in STEM
Cimpian et al. (2020) examined gender gaps in the STEM fields and highlighted explanations of the differences and the persistent gender gaps in STEM. The authors also highlighted barriers to women causing a disproportionate attraction of low achieving men in these fields. According to the authors, interventions to close the gender gaps will help attract high-achieving women in these fields. The findings on the retention of women in STEM through the longitudinal survey tracking 1258 women demonstrated that women in the STEM field are more likely to leave their occupations (Fouad et al., 2017). Fouad et al. (2017) concluded that marriage and children are significant factors likely to catalyze these women's decisions out of their STEM careers.
In cases where women make it to STEM professions, it is increasingly challenging for them to persist in their STEM professions. One of the reasons this is the case is because of the unmet occupational needs. Fouad et al. (2017) conducted a survey of female engineers' work experiences and the degree to which the work environment fulfilled and matched their occupational needs. The researchers note that the study's unmet needs triggered some women’s decisions to quit their engineering jobs and occupation. According to Fouad et al. (2017), occupational environment issues caused some women engineers to leave the engineers fields, which they worked hard and trained hard to enter. Occupational needs include:
a) Comfort: the working conditions, pay, and security.
b) Safety: fairness of organizational policies and practices.
c) Achievement: confidence in using their abilities in doing meaningful work.
d) Status: recognition of their work.
e) Altruism: unmatched needs concerning employees’ relationship and consistency of the essentials with their moral values).
f) Autonomy: the desire to be in management/leadership roles.
g) Opportunities for career growth and gaining broad experiences in an area that leads the women to venture into the non-STEM profession because of the difficulty of achieving the same in STEM jobs.
The Lack of Diversity and Equity in STEM
Schools can help bridge the gap of women underrepresented by encouraging women to specialize in STEM as a priority. The benefit of such inclusion will be female participation in the STEM fields, strengthening workplace diversity and equity. Equity enhances productivity and sustainability González-González et al. (2020) highlight the dire need for interventions to tackle the persistence of equity issues. Thus adopting STEM inclusivity initiatives will encourage the participation of girls.
The Solution to Problems and Challenges of Girls in STEM
There is an undeniable need for adequately training and preparing girls for STEM subjects at school and in their later lives. Girls should have opportunities to develop the skills necessary for their growth in the STEM industries. Thus it is important to prepare both girls and boys to correct the historical or traditional gender disparity in this field. They need to be prepared for future jobs by getting better at using technology in ways that will power the world. Breaking gender barriers in STEM by bridging the gender disparities in math and science through inclusive STEM subjects can help increase girls' roles and participation in STEM. Girls should be given opportunities to explore STEM-related concepts to help develop their passion and perhaps get them to pursue careers in STEM by building their confidence and thinking about possible solutions to real-life global challenges such as climate change.
Parents, caregivers, and educators should counter the negative impacts of stereotypes that influence STEM interest among girls in their childhood by being mindful of what they speak to them about STEM. .Girls are capable of undertaking STEM careers and should be embraced by both genders at all study levels. They should help the girls develop a growth mindset and encourage them to pursue STEM careers by exposing them to STEM content during their early years of study from as young as five years onwards. The employers should provide equal complex and interesting projects to both genders with training and development, networking, and mentoring opportunities in formal and informal settings. Raising awareness of existent bias against women in STEM can reduce and limit decisions or actions that disadvantage women. It will also help remove the unconscious bias and promote a transparent evaluation process in assessing women's STEM performance. Building a gender-equal workplace is key to promoting a conducive environment for both males and females to work and thrive in STEM.
Conclusion
The rising global need for STEM skills demands further inquiry into the best ways to deliver evolving possibilities of STEM disciplines to students, particularly girls, at the early years of their education to close the gender disparity gap and increase inclusivity. The significant issues of girls in STEM include the underrepresentation of women, sexism and gender gaps, retention of women STEM professionals to retirement age, and the solutions to women's STEM issues. Research by various authors has consistently shown the contribution of past discrimination, culture, and practices to women's current dismal state in STEM. The global increase in college females' freedom and opportunity to choose their major and career path is a positive contributor to increasing females in STEM professionals and girls pursuing STEM courses later in their college studies. Girls in STEM is essential to enhancing creativity and innovation. Consideration of both genders in STEM will help leverage women's intelligence and abilities in contributing to human progress. Stakeholders should encourage, contribute to, and provide resources for girls in STEM. The experience of positive outcomes for girls in education shapes their general interests, degree of time commitment, and STEM strengths.
References
Caranci, B., Judge, K., & Kobelak, O. (2017). Women and STEM: bridging the divide. TD Economics. TD Economics, September, 12 .
Cimpian, J. R., Kim, T. H., & McDermott, Z. T. (2020). Understanding persistent gender gaps in STEM. Science 368(6497) , 1317-1319.doi.10.1126/science.aba7377.
Fouad, N. A., Wen-Hsin, C., Min, W., & Romila, S. (2017). Women’s reasons for leaving the engineering field. Frontiers in psychology, 8 , 875.https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00875.
Gomoll, A., Hmelo-Silver, C. E., Šabanović, S., & Francisco, M. (2016). Dragons, ladybugs, and softballs: Girls’ STEM engagement with human-centered robotics. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 25(6) , 899-914.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-016-9647-z.
González-González, Carina, S., Alicia, G.-H., & Aruquia, P. (2020). Guest Editorial Diversity and Equity in STEM. IEEE Revista Iberoamericana de Tecnologias del Aprendizaje, 15(3) , 202-204.https://doi.org/10.1109/RITA.2020.3008124.
Holman, L., Stuart-Fox, D., & Hauser, C. E. (2018). The gender gap in science: How long until women are equally represented? PLoS biology, 16(4) , e2004956.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2004956.
Smith-Castro, V., Montero-Rojas, E., Moreira-Mora, T. E., & Zamora-Aray, J. A. (2019). Expected and unexpected effects of sexism on women’s mathematics performance. Revista Interamericana de Psicología/Interamerican Journal of Psychology, 53(1) , 28-44.https://doi.org/10.30849/rip/ijp.v53i1.905.
Wang, M.-T., & Degol, J. L. (2017). Gender gap in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM): Current knowledge, implications for practice, policy, and future directions. Educational psychology review, 29(1) , 119-140.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-015-9355-x.
WGU. (2019, July 01). Why are there so few women in STEM? WesternGovernorsUniversity: https://www.wgu.edu/blog/why-are-there-so-few-women-in-stem1907.html..html
