Why We Need More Young Females in STEM…and How to Make it Happen
In our current technology-based world, the demand for STEM professionals is increasing exponentially. Despite that fact, women are drastically underrepresented in almost all STEM-related professions.
So, what’s the best way to help level the playing field in STEM careers?
Why We Need More Females in STEM Education
STEM is an acronym which stands for “science, technology, engineering and mathematics.” Careers in these fields are vital to technological and economic progress, driving a great deal of the innovation which makes our world such a dynamic, amazing place.
Women have a lot to gain from pursuing these lines of work, and society has a lot to gain by it as well.
Our country will need several million more engineers and IT professionals in the coming years. We literally can’t afford to allow women to go underrepresented in STEM fields, as there won’t be enough available workers to fill the void.
Additionally, having more women involved in STEM will drive innovation and advancement. It’s an established fact that more diversity leads to greater innovation.
A homogenous group of people, composed of individuals with the same backgrounds and experiences, will produce a limited range of perspectives from which to draw inspiration. Innovation requires new ideas and approaches. That innovation will be severely hindered if everyone thinks and acts alike.
Women approach problems differently than men. Females have their own conflict resolution strategies and bring solutions that would otherwise be overlooked. A diverse workforce is needed to establish a dynamic, adaptable, and creative organization.
Gender Imbalance in the Workplace
Unfortunately, the percentage of women involved in STEM is actually on the decline. In 1990, 35% of computing professionals in the US were women. Today, females fill a mere 26% of the available IT roles. The figures are even more bleak for engineering, where only 12% of professionals are women.
Why is this happening? Why have we actually regressed, rather than move forward? It’s because we haven’t invested enough in young women when it comes to STEM education.
Five Ways to Encourage Gender Diversity
Creating a diverse STEM environment demands a bottoms-up approach. We can’t solve the problem by just hiring more women, simply to tip the scales in favor of a female-rich industry. Rather, we all need to work together to encourage and equip the next generation.
1. Start Early
It is essential to encourage females early on. Generate a natural interest in these subjects while young students are still trying to identify their passions.
Waiting until these females are ready to begin college is too late. Students need to appreciate the practical application of numbers and scientific elements before they can generate true enthusiasm for the subjects. Women need to be passionate about the implications of a given subject before they start planning their careers.
There comes a point in all our lives where a drastic career change seems too daunting to consider. By introducing STEM subjects early in life, females have the chance to explore these occupations before a major transition is required.
2. Encourage Girls to Explore and Create
One of the most significant components of all STEM subjects is experimenting— tinkering, breaking things down, and figuring out how things work together to achieve the overall goal.
Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple Inc., is one of the most widely-recognized innovators of our time. When he was a child, his favorite hobby was taking apart and reassembling electronics. This unstructured education through natural curiosity is essential for STEM success.
We need to encourage youngsters to experiment, think outside the box, and innovate. Parents and teachers should encourage young females to get their hands dirty, so to speak. Kids need to test cause and effect and learn through trial and error.
3. Showcase the Positive Impact STEM Careers Can Make
On their own, things like complex math equations and the periodic table aren’t interesting to the general population. However, when we recognize the practical application of those components, we can appreciate how they can be used to make the world a better place.
For example, I personally didn’t have an affinity for math until I took woodshop and computer programming in middle school. For the first time, I was able to appreciate the practical use of numbers as they helped me calculate the angles to cut wood and the different ways to create computer programs.
STEM enables everything from building prosthetic limbs controlled by thought to powering the world by sunlight or wind power.
It is important to show young women that reality. Numbers shouldn’t remain just meaningless symbols on a page—we need to give girls some kind of significance to attach to those numbers.
4. Don’t Impose Limitations
One of the biggest problems to recruiting women into these fields is still the widespread belief that men have a natural aptitude for STEM-related fields. Even though the science clearly disagrees, the societal bias is slow to change. As a result, males are often encouraged with greater enthusiasm to pursue science and technology, while females end up getting the impression that they are less capable than their peers.
We have to realize that our attitudes can create a self-fulfilling prophecy that guides young women away from technical careers. Females are reinforced with the idea that they’re not as good at science and math, so they tend to avoid STEM all together.
We have to remember that no one is born as a great engineer, physicist or IT expert. We need to reinforce in the minds of all children that, while natural aptitude can play a part, the most important piece of the puzzle is hard work. No matter who you are, you can achieve greater heights than you might have ever imagined, so long as you dedicate yourself to the path you choose.
5. Lead Youngsters to Challenge their Comfort Zone
While the U.S. is woefully unbalanced when it comes to gender distribution in STEM, other countries fare much better. In China, for example, the population of STEM professionals is nearly 50/50.
One reason why other countries have a more female-rich workforce is because of parental involvement. Parents take a more active role in guiding their children’s education.
In the U.S., parents tend to take a hands-off approach, allowing their children the freedom to “fulfil their destiny.” However, if we are truly honest with ourselves, it isn’t reasonable to think that middle school-aged children have the presence of mind to decide the education path which will dictate the course of their future.
As a society, we’ve become too focused on the idea that we have to give children as much freedom as possible so that they can discover their path. While it’s good to let children explore their interests, as parents, we should also know when to step in. We must be accountable and offer some guidance.
It might not be what your child wants in the immediate sense, but guiding them toward positive choices will be beneficial in the long run.
A More Diverse Talent Pool Makes for a Stronger Industry
Getting more girls interested in engineering and computing from an early age benefits us all.
Diversity leads to greater and more rapid innovation. For STEM fields, that means new technologies, a higher standard of living and better quality of life for all of us. It also helps create a stronger, more dynamic economy, with new opportunities for the next generation to build upon.
We have to take a proactive role in encouraging girls and young women to take a better look at STEM. The young people of today are the ones who will literally build our future, but it’s up to us to decide what that future is going to look like.
