The Gender Gap in STEM

Zoe Bond
Independent Research G/T
May 10, 2019

Advisor: Adrienne Shearer

 ​Bond 1

Abstract

The official definition of an gender gap is the discrepancy in opportunities, status,

attitudes, etc. between men and women. This is seen the most in STEM, as there is only 26% of

women in STEM. Men dominate control over 76% of careers in science, technology,

engineering, and math causing a scarcity of women. The 50% difference has originated from

many barriers that women face. The lack of representation of women in STEM is caused by

many things such as, stereotypes to discrimination causing industries to have trouble to

determine the solution it. However, by having an early introduction of STEM in schools it could

allow for more participation for girls and could promote more real world experience with female

mentors.
 ​Bond 2

Introduction

Gender inequality is seen constantly in the workforce especially in STEM. Because of

this gap, industries are currently in need to produce a more approachable image for themselves as

women are not pursuing a career in STEM because of the lack of educational opportunities and

mentorship programs. The purpose of this paper is to explain the various causes of to the lack of

women in STEM and the ways to fix it.

Review of Literature

STEM industries are losing women because they face many challenges such as the lack

of educational opportunities in schools and in mentorship. The first challenge is the lack of

educational opportunities. Some research has found that many schools do not provide

opportunities for girls to go into STEM, in one statistic it had shown that, “...​69 percent of

women who have not pursued careers in information technology attribute their choice to ​not

knowing what opportunities are available to them​.” (Baron, 2019).​ With more research, it has

shown that the best way to encourage more participation is to have more classes from K-12

provide STEM related classes. The way of fixing the gap should be applied to both secondary

school and in post- secondary as “...​the post-secondary level is where a stark gender gap emerges

for STEM education”(​Rubiano-Matulevich, 2019​).

 ​Bond 3

The second challenge is the lack of female mentors. ​Many women do not go into STEM

due to the fact that they cannot find someone who relates to what they are trying to study. “​The

absence of senior females in STEM removes a source of visible role models for existing and

aspiring women scientists.” ​(Mckinnon, 2016). This gender gap has been noticed by large

industries, such as Microsoft and Google, causing them to address the struggles that many young

girls and women are facing. In “...​ a recent study by Microsoft, many girls and young women

have a hard time picturing themselves in STEM roles and do not have a female role model in the

STEM field.”(​“The Importance of Women Role Models in STEM”). Also, shortage of female

role models has engender young girls not getting enough guidance. Research done by

Brookings, it had shown that,“​There are not many female role models or mentors that can help

young women navigate and ultimately overcome these concerns.” ​(Munoz-Boudet and Revenga,

2017).

The ways of fixing this challenges are by having parents and teachers encouragement

this could allow more participation. ​ “...parents and teachers need tools to encourage young

women and girls to consider STEM careers...”​ (Foster, 2019). Early introduction of STEM would

benefit young girls who may wish to go in to it. “​At the K-12 level, best practices include

providing near-peer mentors, role models who are similar in background to the students they are

encouraging…”​(McBride, 2017). “​Encouraging participation in STEM is certainly the first step

to increasing diversity in these fields”​ (McBride, 2017). By doing this it would fix the gender

gap in STEM, and women would start to become more represented.

Research Methods and Data Collection

 ​Bond 4

My research question: “With the gender gap between men and women in STEM fields,

what can industries in STEM do to create a more diverse environment for women?”, and the

hypothesis: if STEM industries are need for more women than they need to help of with more

educational opportunities and provide more female mentorship help encourage more women.

The data I have collected has shown that the lack of educational opportunities and the lack of

role model could be fixed if there was an early introduction of STEM at an early age. For the

data collection, ​ two meta-analysis and two interviews were used because it was difficult to find

four sources to use for the data collection. Using these methods, it allowed different perspectives

of the topic because of the usage of people who shared similar knowledge to what the of articles

were saying. This was most appropriate because it provide the best answers on how to fix STEM.

Results and Data Analysis

Interviewees Date Questions Answers

Mrs. Macri Young 3/18/19 1. What made you get into
Occupation- RN-BC STEM?
(BC stands for Board 2. Does Howard County
Certified)
General Hospital offer any
Clinical Coordinator
Howard County General programs for girls and
Hospital minorities to help them into
4 Pavilion STEM?
3. Do you believe that the
lack of education
opportunities, and
mentorship at an early age
affect women who want to
go in to STEM?
4. Does your choice in
STEM allow you to have
the opportunity to branch
1.What prompted me to get into STEM was
that someone suggested I pursue a career in
Nursing. Before that, my work experience
was in banking and finance. I had never
thought about going into medicine.
2. Howard County General is part of the
Johns Hopkins Hospital System. As part of
a larger entity that has multiple programs
that support diversity, we have access to
many programs for girls and minorities to
help them pursue careers in STEM.
Johns Hopkins is headquartered in
Baltimore, Maryland and they have
partnerships with school systems and
programs throughout Maryland that support
STEM.
3. Yes I do believe that the lack of
education opportunities and mentorship at
an early age affects young girls who want to

into different parts of
STEM such as technology?
5. If you could improve the
current system of STEM
what would you do?
6.What advice would you
give to young girls thinking
about a STEM career path?
Dr. Lisa 3/14/19 1. What made you get into
Anderson-Wyman STEM? Were you inspired
Occupation: by someone?
Veterinary Pathologist
2. Where there a lot of
II at Charles River
Pathology Associates females and minorities in
your classes in college? Do
you think you would have
received the same learning
​Bond 5
go into STEM. From 2010 to 2015, I
instructed a Nursing Assistant program in
Baltimore City Public Schools. I was
amazed at their enthusiasm, but was
disheartened by the lack of basic skills my
students possessed.
4. Yes. Nurses are able to branch into many
different parts of STEM. We have research
nurses, and nurses who work in Information
Technology (IT) departments to help with
the innovation of computer systems that
assist in patient
care.
5. If I could improve the current system of
STEM it would be to introduce STEM
concepts to students in elementary school.
In addition, I think that STEM pathways
should begin prior to middle school so that
students can begin their focus early and
have the basic
skills needed to succeed in STEM.
6. I would tell young girls thinking about a
STEM career path to "GO FOR IT!" There
are a wealth of options for them to pursue
and I think that they should
seize every opportunity. My daughter is an
engineer and I am very proud of her and the
experiences she's had within her career.
Also, I work with many young nurses who
I've had the opportunity to watch grow in
the field of medicine. Many of them are
now Nurse
Practitioners which is very close to being a
physician.
1. I wanted to be a Veterinarian since I was
7 years old. I always loved animals and
envisioned having a mixed small and large
animal clinical practice.
My parents are both Doctors of Dental
Science (i.e., Dentists). My dad was a
general dentist and oral surgeon and my
mom was an orthodontist and pediatric
dentist... both retired now), so I’ve always

opportunities if you
attended a different
college? If so, how? If not,
why?
3. How would you
encourage more women
and minorities into STEM?
4. What challenges have
you faced in your area of
STEM?
5. How would you explain
your field in STEM to
young girls?
6. Did you have a mentor
growing up? If not, what
makes a good mentor for
girls who want to pursue a
STEM career path?
​Bond 6
been exposed to science and higher
education. You could say that my parents
were my inspiration. So, it was a natural
step. I just followed my passion. I worked
in a veterinary clinic in high school just to
verify it was truly a good fit before I
committed to it.
2. Although I grew up in Columbia, MD
and experienced little racism growing up, I
experienced a great deal of racism in the
private all-girls catholic high school I went
to in Baltimore (Archbishop Keough High
School, no longer in existence). I figured
that college and Vet School would be hard
enough and I didn’t want to have to deal
with racism too. So, I chose to go to an
HBCU, Tuskegee University. I went there
for both undergrad and Vet School. Of
course, undergrad was predominantly black.
Vet school was about 50/50, as whites that
can’t get into other Vet Schools come to
Tuskegee...even racist ones. There were
always more females than males, in every
class.
I actually think I would have experienced
better learning opportunities at a different
college. HBCUs don’t get the money that
predominantly white institutions get, so
resources are limited. I’ve also felt a stigma
in my career from some colleagues for my
choice of Vet school. If I had it to do all
over again, I probably would have chosen a
different college and Vet School.
3. I often talk to kids interested in
Veterinary Medicine and encourage them to
follow their dreams. I give them an
overview of the field and all that it has to
offer. There are many jobs in veterinary
medicine that many people do not know
about. I’m involved in a program through
Tuskegee that targets college students at
HBCUs. We mentor them through the
 ​Bond 7

preparation and application process. I

continue to mentor them through vet school.
I would love to do the same for high school
kids, especially women and minorities.
STEM careers are rewarding in so many
ways.

4. Men hold many of the top executive

positions in corporate America. It’s not
impossible, but more difficult for women to
get ahead. Men still consistently get paid
more than women for the same jobs.
Sexism and sexual harassment are common
in all fields and I’ve experienced my share.

5. Veterinary Medicine encompasses a

variety of fields from pet medicine to the
race horse industry, the farming industry,
the military, food safety inspection, the
drug industry, scientific research, zoo and
wildlife medicine, marine medicine and
conservation, etc. There are so many niches
for specific interests and passions. It’s an
exciting field that offers personal,
professional, and financial rewards.
In Veterinary Pathology working for the
largest Contract Research Organization
(CRO) in the world, we were involved in
the research/testing of 85% of the drugs
approved by the FDA last year for human
patients. We are trying to bring better
medicines to market quicker, and kill drugs
that show toxicity early in the process, so
the companies can drop those and move on
to something else. We meet patients that are
waiting for these drugs to save their lives. It
is emotional and we are driven by the
patients to do our jobs. Like all industries, it
has its challenges. Drug research on animals
is a very difficult position, but I would
rather humanely sacrifice a rat (or monkey
or dog) than give my child a drug that could
kill him/her because it wasn’t tested in a
living system first. We use cell culture

Meta Analysis Articles Subject What I read and learned
https://www.globalpolic How having The article address the
yjournal.com/blog/10/0 women in barriers that women face in
1/2019/women-stem-cri STEM is an STEM. Its talks about how
tical-innovation critical women are
innovation underrepresented in STEM
globally. One barrier that
women face is the lack of
role models and mentors,
the article said that parents
and teachers are tools to
encourage young girls into
STEM. Another barrier is
the “leaky” pipeline, which
is that women drop off at
every stage throughout the
STEM journey and how
women drop out due to
lack of confidence not
ability. Another barrier is
“meta” challenges such as
​Bond 8
systems and other in vitro (outside of the
animal) systems whenever possible. I look
into a microscope most days at primarily
frozen human tissues, making sure the drug
targets the cell of choice and not other cells.
I love my job!
6. I did not have a mentor growing up, other
than my parents. They always told me I
could be whatever I wanted. So at 7, I chose
Veterinarian. I never once changed my
mind. Although once I learned about all of
other specialties I could choose from, I
chose pathology. It is certainly my niche.
I think the only thing a mentor needs to
have is love and passion for her career, and
the willingness to share educational
opportunities, professional experiences, and
networking connections with those entering
the field. It’s also important to choose a
career with demand for jobs. Right now,
we’re hiring!
Data Collected
The data that I have found were the ways to
encourage women to enter and to stay in
STEM. The article mentioned five ways to
do that, they are to highlight women in
STEM, redesign the educational system,
promote system role in problem solving,
collect data to expose gender gaps, and
rethink the hiring and retention process. The
article says that by “auditing” how the
schools operate by changing some of lesson
plans that are being taught. And how in the
U.S., women earn about 20% of
engineering degrees and 16%of computer
science degrees and how colleges are
addressing social impact of it. It also says
that how a school such as Harvey Mudd,
who have increased the percent of women
graduating from the computer science
program from 12% to 40% in 5 years and
they did this by revising its introduction
 ​Bond 9

stereotypes about women. computing science course, provided

research opportunities for undergraduates
after freshman year, and exposed young
women students to key conferences and
meeting women leaders in the field.The
article also says that data needs to be
collected by using databases such as the
European Union's “She Figure” which
tracks the comparison of women and men in
a STEM field.

http://www.pewsocialtre Many The article explains that
nds.org/2018/01/09/man Americans many Americans said that
y-americans-say-they-li say they they had interest in math
ked-math-and-science-i liked math and science but never
n-school-thought-about- and science pursued a career in STEM.
a-stem-career/ in school Every student in school
thought learns about science and
about a stem math and many people
career enjoy learning but many
don't join especially
women. The article had a
survey that had data on
Three-quarters of
Americans that said they
liked science classes in
grades K-12 and they
found that 25% liked
STEM class while 75% did
like STEM. Most of
response for the dislikes
were they did not like the
experience that they had in
school (the way they were
taught and the subject
course). The article also
said that men were more
likely to like STEM than
women. And that Whites,
Blacks and Hispanics were
about equally likely to say
they liked STEM classes in
grades K-12.
​Bond 10
The data that I have
found is that ¾ of
Americans have
said that they had
like science classes
in grades K-12. And
how about 4/10 of
STEM works said
that they had role
models. Some in
data in the article
said that men were
more likely than
women to say they
liked both math and
science classes
(54% vs. 39%). And
women who were
interested in STEM
but did not pursue it
said that it was
because they were
not encouraged (no
mentors), cost and
time barriers, had
difficulty getting
into STEM.
 ​Bond 11

Some results were that the reasons why women do not go into STEM. In my first

interview, in the analysis from the interview with Mrs. Young on her career in STEM and what

she challenges she has faced in STEM. By working at Howard County General Hospital, there

are many opportunities for women and minorities to go into STEM but, many do not take

advantage of it. She spoke about teaching a Nursing Assistant program in Baltimore City Public

Schools and how her students had a lack of basic skills which plays a role in the lack of

education in Baltimore City. She also mention that STEM was not her first thought instead it was

finance but, someone suggested to her to go into STEM. From the research so far, most women

do not have someone like that in their lives. Questions that were asked of her were what she

would do to fix the current system of women in STEM and she said to have an early introduction

of STEM concepts in schools. In the second interview the analysis was the challenges that

women face in STEM. The interviewee was a veterinary pathologist and the questions that were

asked of her were about information on her career and the obstacles she has faced. In the

interview, she mention that having a mentor plays a crucial role on girls who may want to go into

STEM. She also explains that being exposed to higher education gives girls more opportunities

to go into stem. Some questions about her job were asked and how she would explain it to a

younger crowd. She also said how she would encourage girls into STEM and said that by giving

them a overview of what women do in STEM and the possibilities that are offered could

influence them. With the research and with the help of this interview, it has shown that the lack

of education and mentor play monumental role in young girls decision to go into STEM. The

third piece of data collection was an article and my analysis of this article is that it is trying to

show that women do face a lot of challenges in STEM and how there will be a need to encourage
 ​Bond 12

women to come together to fix the barriers The article mentioned multiple of ways to fix the

problems, they provide beneficial data on to solve them. The final piece of data collected was

also an article and my analysis of this article from the Pew Research Center provide a lot of

information about STEM and the reasons why people don't go into it especially women. The

article provide relevant data that gave information on barriers that many women might

potentially face. It gave informative information about the gender gap seen in STEM and how

men were more likely to go into STEM than women. The results from my data collected said that

the lack of educational opportunities in school and the lack of role models all play a crucial part

onto why women do not go into STEM. The results were not surprising as other articles that have

been found have shown that those barriers are seen the most. Those barriers ended up that way

because many women do not of have confidence in themselves and that the schools are not

providing basic skills and real world experiences for young girls. The results gave a lot of insight

on my research question because it was able to show that the problems in schools with STEM

programs fell short. If there was possibility to do over the data collection it would have done all

by interviews and not two meta-analysis because with the interview it gave first hand accounts

from women in STEM who have seen the problems in STEM. The results of data collection will

provide potentially answers on why the gender gap in seen so big in STEM, the results will

provide STEM industries on what to do to increase more participation in women and in young

girls. The results could help future researchers and humanity because there are many gender

gaps seen today and by fixing the one STEM, this could provide more beneficial help to end all

the gender inequality. Some new knowledge that can be extrapolated from the results is most

females have a general like for STEM in school, however, most do not go to into it.
 ​Bond 13

Discussion and Conclusion

With this knowledge of the challenges women face, STEM industries should now be able

to implement more programs into schools that will allow for participation for young girls at an

early age and they should have more role models who could potentially become mentors to those

young girls who are thinking about a STEM career.

Works Cited
 ​Bond 14

Baron, J. (2019, February 11). We Have A Long Way To Go Before Women Are Equally

Represented In The Sciences. Retrieved from

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jessicabaron/2019/02/11/we-have-a-long-way-to-go-before-

women-are-equally-represented-in-the-sciences/#6a662cb66168

Berwick, C. (2019, March 12). Keeping Girls in STEM: 3 Barriers, 3 Solutions. Retrieved from

https://www.edutopia.org/article/keeping-girls-stem-3-barriers-3-solutions

Blume-Kohout, M. E. (2014, October). Understanding the Gender Gap In STEM Fields

Entrepreneurship | The U.S. Small Business Administration. Retrieved from

https://www.sba.gov/advocacy/understanding-gender-gap-stem-fields-entrepreneurship

Cimpian, A. (2018, December 14). Here's how to encourage more girls to pursue science and

math careers. Retrieved from

https://theconversation.com/heres-how-to-encourage-more-girls-to-pursue-science-and-m

ath-careers-98229

Dille, Grace. (2018, August 14). The Importance of Women Role Models in STEM. Retrieved

from ​https://epics.ieee.org/the-importance-of-women-role-models-in-stem/

Forbes, M. (2019, March 29). Advice For The Next Generation Of Women In STEM. Retrieved

from

https://www.forbes.com/sites/moiraforbes/2019/03/29/advice-for-the-next-generation-of-

women-in-stem/#4335fd3d5d7f

Funk, C., & Parker, K. (2018, January 09). Many Americans say they liked math and science in

school, thought about a STEM career. Retrieved from

 ​Bond 15

http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2018/01/09/many-americans-say-they-liked-math-and-sc

ience-in-school-thought-about-a-stem-career/

Helping Students Aspire to STEM Careers. (2019, February 04). Retrieved from

https://now.tufts.edu/articles/helping-students-aspire-stem-careers

Horting, Karen. "Closing the gender gap through STEM: technology is expanding faster as

connectivity offers sensing and control, preventive maintenance, supply-chain

optimization, and full remote control of industrial processes." ​Machine Design,​ Sept.

2016, p. 68+. ​Science in Context​,

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A486642563/GPS?u=glen20233&sid=GPS&xid=9af

be28​ d.

Huhman, H. R. (2012, August 02). STEM Fields And The Gender Gap: Where Are The Women?

Retrieved from

https://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-progress/2012/06/20/stem-fields-and-the-gender-g

ap-where-are-the-women/#4552526641ba

Koehler, E. (2008, January 01). Women in STEM fields still need support. Retrieved from

https://www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/print/volume-44/issue-1/columns/comment/wo

men-in-stem-fields-still-need-support.html

Kugler, A., Tinsley, C., Ukhaneva​, O. (2 November 2017)​Why there aren't more women in

STEM fields. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://voxeu.org/article/why-there-arent-more-women-stem-fields

McBride, Lisa.(​14 Sept. 2017) “Inclusion of Diverse Groups in STEM Leads to Increased

Creativity, Innovation.” ​INSIGHT Into Diversity,​

 ​Bond 16

www.insightintodiversity.com/inclusion-of-diverse-groups-in-stem-leads-to-increased-cr

eativity-innovation/​.

Mckinnon, M. (2016, July 13). How to keep more women in science, technology, engineering

and mathematics (STEM). Retrieved from

https://phys.org/news/2016-07-women-science-technology-mathematics-stem.html

Munoz-Boudet, A. M., & Revenga, A. (2017, March 08). Breaking the STEM ceiling for girls.

Retrieved from

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/future-development/2017/03/07/breaking-the-stem-ceili

ng-for-girls/

Pisani, H. (2019, March 07). We need to talk about the lack of women in STEM. Retrieved from

https://www.siliconrepublic.com/advice/women-in-stem-gender-gap-international-wome

ns-day

Rubiano-Matulevich, E. (2019, February 11). Improving the pathway from school to STEM

careers for girls and women. Retrieved from

https://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/improving-pathway-school-stem-careers-girls-and-

women

The STEM Gender Gap. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre2018090700

Women & STEM: It's Not Just a Numbers Problem. (2016, May 11). Retrieved from

https://haasinstitute.berkeley.edu/women-stem-its-not-just-numbers-problem
​Bond 17