Why Girls Don’t Go For STEM Careers

[Modern School]

A new nationwide survey of 1,000 teen girls from the Girl Scout Research Institute suggests that girls are both interested in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) careers and have the confidence that they can succeed in these fields. The institute reports that nearly 75% of teen girls are already interested in STEM subjects at school, and 82% believe they're "smart enough to have a career in STEM."

Despite these numbers, only 20% of STEM jobs are filled by women, according to Good Education, which attributes this to girls’ ignorance about STEM jobs. Indeed, the report said that only 13% of girls listed STEM jobs as their top career choice, while 60% said they weren’t clear about which careers were available in those fields.

Ignorance of STEM careers is only a small part of the problem, however. Consider that well over 50% of the graduate students at UCSF medical school are women (64% in 2006), suggesting that women do want to go into STEM careers and many know exactly where to go to prepare themselves. Yet the only 45% of the postdoctoral fellowships went to women and only 40.6% of the faculty positions are held by women, suggesting that even with an awareness of STEM careers and a solid education to prepare for such a career, women are still being left behind.

This is probably due to a combination of factors, including bias. 57% of girls surveyed by the Girl Scouts Institute did recognize that sexism is a problem in STEM fields, saying they would "have to work harder than a man to be taken seriously."

However, women don’t just have to work harder to be taken seriously. They may also have to consider giving up motherhood or be willing to subcontract out much of their mothering responsibilities to nannies or other family members, something that is not always possible, particularly early in one’s career. Academic science positions are highly competitive and often require more than 60 hours per week to write grants, do research, teach, write and publish articles and participate in university committees and bodies.

Furthermore, once a female scientist has children, she often faces physical barriers that hamper effective mothering and her own health and wellbeing. At the UCSF Parnassus Campus, for example, there are very few places where a woman can go to safely and privately pump breast milk for her child, thus discouraging breast feeding and undermining the health of her child.

In a 2002 survey of UCSF professors, only ¼ of female and 1/3 of male professors felt like their jobs permitted sufficient time for their families, while 75% of women and 60% of men said they have to work an unhealthy and unreasonable amount. Female faculty were also particularly critical of the way the university welcomed new women and felt that there were unfair limits placed on their participation in the university. Furthermore, 50% of women, compared with 10% of men, felt they had faced discrimination.

Modern School
http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2012/02/why-girls-dont-go-for-stem-careers_23.html

[Loudmxr]

1. It's because they should be homemakers, sex toys, and liars.

OK it's

This post reminded me of one of my favorite videos.

I weep emotionally everytime I see it.

Women have always been my best friends, confidants, and advisers. They have always insisted that I be perfect. I finally gave up and ... OK I will be perfect all the time. Lo and behold it's worked for me.

&ob=av3e

Great video. Great record.

[eppur_se_muova]

2. Those statistics may hide a bit of good news ...

and that is that the younger the women are, the more optimistically they view their prospects. Any woman currently holding a senior faculty position was a pioneer, and may have spent much of her career as the only woman in her dept., one of the few in her field, etc. Women just starting out now will still face bias, but it's much less tolerated by administrators and colleagues. And young girls now sound like they reject the whole notion of "women's work" vs "men's work", which was so ingrained in the thinking of earlier generations that it biased the thinking of even knowledgable, well-intentioned people who were aware of the unfairness of it.

[exboyfil]

3. At least in medical careers is women's participation really a problem

"Yet the only 45% of the postdoctoral fellowships went to women and only 40.6% of the faculty positions are held by women, suggesting that even with an awareness of STEM careers and a solid education to prepare for such a career, women are still being left behind. "

5% from 50%/50% does not seem to be significant - maybe more women aspire to be actual doctors as opposed to going on to grad school. The real eye popping numbers is when you look at U.S. versus foreign born going on for postgraduate STEM.

[exboyfil]

4. What I have found interesting is the number of women engineers

whose husbands are also engineers that elect to go to reduced employment or even not work. These are decisions they are making for their families. They think it is important for a caregiver to spend time with their children. Their children perform well in school and extracurriculars.

One one daughter is looking to become an electrical engineer focussing in the film/video production/editing field
My other daughter wants to be a surgeon

I am excited for both of them and neither has indicated any issues with teachers treating them differently (with the possible exception of placement into PreAlgebra in 7th grade - I still don't know if that was sex related or based on an overemphasis on cognitive and aptitude tests). Some of their most encouraging teachers in math have been men.

My daughters have participated in Women in Science events at both of our national universities. Lego Robot League and FIRST Robtic competition have female participation. We have many young women in the Project Lead the Way engineering classes at the High School.

Most medical schools are near 50% or more women now. These represent some of the most prepared students in the nation. The competition to get into medical school is brutal.

The way I have seen it characterized is that top level women go into STEM, but the more average women do not while men do. I would think the best way to cut a deeper trench in participation would be with more scholarships for women at the undergraduate level. I don't think encouraging more H1-B visas is the way to go though (hint to Obama).