Page 5 - Recruiting Girls in STEM

DEFINING THE CHALLENGES AND BARRIERS “If we’re going to out-innovate and out-educate the rest of the world, we’ve got to open doors for everyone. We need all hands on deck, and that means clearing hurdles for women and girls as they navigate careers in science, technology, engi- neering, and math.” -- First Lady Michelle Obama, September 26, 2011 Current status Gender bias in STEM fields continues to persist and in spite of decades of progress to reverse this disparity, the number of men in STEM careers, particularly at the high- er levels of STEM professions, is much higher than that of women. In 1997, women received one in three sub-baccalaureate awards in STEM fields, and that number has dropped to one in four currently. Gender bias tends to strengthen the notion that women are better suited to fields calling for language skills, whilst men natural- ly excel in fields in which spatial and quantitative skills are used. The unfortunate result of this is that women are less likely to enter STEM careers and are most often concentrated in traditionally female-dominated occupations such as health aides, childcare workers and office assistants. These careers typically offer little opportunity for promotion and advancement, and often pay poorly. Research shows that among first-year university students, women are much less prone to say that they intend to major in STEM, as compared to men. By the time students reach graduation, there are significantly more men than women in nearly every science and engineering field, and in some, such as physics, engineering and computer science, the difference is striking with women earning only 20 % of Bachelor's degrees. Research also illustrates clearly that girls can perform just as well in mathematics as boys. To achieve equality, girls must be allowed to learn in an environment that fos- ters success in STEM subjects for all. The constant message should be that with work and effort, anyone can succeed in any field. 5