Women in STEM

While progress has been made in the past forty years, women are still incredibly underrepresented in many STEM fields both in college and in the workforce. Despite women forming the majority of college students, far fewer of them are pursuing STEM degrees. While 29% of male freshmen said that they were planning to pursue a STEM degree, only 15% of female freshmen said the same. A 2010 report from the American Association of University Women found that women hold fewer than one-quarter of the positions in STEM fields in America. These are much higher numbers than those of the 1980s. The newfound diversity that pervades STEM fields is comforting, but there is still an awfully long way to go.

So why are women so underrepresented in STEM? I reached out to female MSU students studying STEM and asked them about their degrees, career paths, and feelings regarding STEM and women’s place within it. I also spoke with Dr. Brittany Fasy, an associate professor studying computational topology in the School of Computing. She completed her undergraduate education at St. Joseph’s University in Pennsylvania and her graduate work at Duke University in North Carolina. Their responses proved that, while many things have changed in the past forty years, there are still inherent problems in many aspects of the way that America markets and provides STEM degrees to women.

There is a marked gender difference in STEM classes. All of the women with whom I spoke told me that they had at least one class (and often many classes) that were dominated by male students and professors. Civil and Environmental Engineering sophomore Abbey Murray and Environmental Engineering sophomore Molly Taylor both reported demographics of about 80% male and 20% female in their courses. While most of my interviewees reported that they were not treated differently in their classes, they said that they noticed women tended to sit together and remain quiet during discussion and lecture rather than asking or answering questions. Fasy added that in her undergraduate cohort, she was one of only two women majoring in math and computer science. Murray, in particular, mentioned that the “dread that comes from walking into a room and realizing you are quite obviously in the minority is a very real and powerful emotion.”

However, my interviewees also saw MSU (and universities as a whole) as a powerful force for good. They cited female mentors, female-driven clubs, and female faculty and staff as strong sources of support in their studies. Female advisors seemed to provide some of the best encouragement. Some interviewees were discouraged by members of extracurricular activities or other acquaintances, but most reported that MSU was doing a good job of bolstering women in STEM through encouragement and equal treatment. Fasy added that she had strong mentors, particularly her professor and advisor Steven Cooper at St. John’s University, who encouraged her in pursuing her degree. Murray did comment that other women have been hurt in her field by “small actions and gestures, probably expressed out of good intentions,” which have pushed them away from their passion for STEM.

My interviewees had mixed experiences outside of school. Biochemistry sophomore Kelli Ober has worked in two labs on campus with roughly equal gender representation, but she noticed that there seemed to be more male than female presenters. Taylor and Murray are both members of Engineers Without Borders, a club on campus with an all-female executive board, and both love the group. Avery Berg, a sophomore in Fish & Wildlife Ecology & Management, works with the Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) in Yellowstone National Park and often felt as though she was “being talked down to by colleagues,” even though she also had supportive co-leads who vigorously encouraged her participation in the group. Fasy discussed multiple interactions with male colleagues who told her that she couldn’t be a female mathematician, and said that these people “see you as your gender and the stereotypes that come along with it instead of your accomplishments.” However, Fasy also reported strong support from communities of women in computational topology. My student interviewees reported both encouragement and discouragement from family, coworkers, and friends.

In short, women in STEM face a myriad of stumbling blocks. The greatest challenges seem to come from the world outside of their classes. They generally have strong support from their university and mentors, but they struggle with labs, extracurriculars, and representation in the greater STEM community. Ways to improve the college experience of female STEM students include more presentations from and publicity for successful women in STEM, encouraging more women to pursue STEM degrees and diversity training to help faculty and staff understand the impact of microaggressions. Fasy recommends increasing student and faculty interaction at events and hosting more events to meet new people in the field. She also advises mentor workshops and panels with hosts from different backgrounds.

As Murray said, being a woman in STEM means “being part of a really awesome movement of young women trying to make a difference, both in their fields and in the world.” Let’s help these amazing women change the world.