The gender gap in STEM programs is a result of both cultural and structural issues, and until we address them, closing the gap will remain a pipe dream.
TweetShareShare Despite our best efforts, the STEM gender gap isn’t closing at an acceptable rate. And the gap is more prevalent in some areas than others. “Over 30 years, the percentage of engineering bachelor’s degrees awarded to women has risen very little and currently hovers around 20%,” says Jeanne W. Christman, PhD, associate professor and associate department chair of Computer Engineering Technology at Rochester Institute of Technology .
Biases, Stereotypes, and Peer Pressure Cultural biases are hard to dispel, and whether they’re conscious or not, the effect is the same.
However, sometimes, peer pressure is the biggest factor discouraging girls from pursuing STEM. “Even if teachers are supportive in the classroom, if the young girls’ peers are telling them that they don’t belong in a computer science classroom or in advanced math, young girls have an uphill battle,” Sukumaran says, adding that she speaks from firsthand experience.
Yet another problem is that women students may not stay in a STEM field long enough to even make it to the core classes. “While some universities are making moves to change the curriculum, many stick to the model that has been around forever, in which the first year of engineering consists of Calculus I & II, Physics I & II, Chemistry I & II, two liberal arts courses and two programming courses,” Christman explains.
“Women leave with higher GPA’s than their male classmates,” she says. “Women who switch majors out of engineering can do the work, they just choose not to.” The Elephant in the Room: Harassment Persecution also hinders efforts to close the STEM gender gap. “A ‘wicked problem’ that exists in many academic work and learning environments within STEM is the existence of organizational cultures that are conducive to sexual harassment, most commonly gender harassment,” says Margaret Bailey, Ph.D., professor in mechanical engineering and interim director of AdvanceRIT at Rochester Institute of Technology.
“Some dimensions of culture and practice are overt and many, many more are subvert,” she says. “Overt actions include such things as public statements, active efforts to block access, prosecutable sexual harassment, et cetera.” However, for every overt act, Minerick says that are more than 10 subvert actions that range from macro-aggressions to micro-aggressions and gender discriminations.
“Gender roles seems to be more entrenched in the developed world with color coded clothing and gendered toys, and we need to break down these barriers if we want to see any concrete changes,” Sukumaran says. But it’s not just girls that need an education. Addressing cultural issues can help people recognize their biases and make corrections. “Over the grant period , AdvanceRIT hosted 39 events on enhancing and improving campus culture including: unconscious bias education workshops, bystander awareness workshops using interactive theater, and ground rule discussions,” says Bailey.
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