Thank you for your interest in being a participant in this article. This is clearly a topic which has meaning to you. Please share a bit about your background with emphasis on how and why you became interested in a career in a STEM focused field. Also share some of the insight you have gained working in a STEM field as it related to underrepresented groups such as young women.
As far back as I can remember I wanted to be a scientist. My Mom got me a science experiment kit for Christmas when I as only 6 or 7. I knew then I wanted to find a cure for cancer the road from there took many turns….so many doors where closed……I chose not to go to medical school because I didn’t want to spend my life with people I didn’t like. I was premed in college and the students and professors where not the people I wanted to spend the next 10 years with. I swore after helping my boyfriend with his computer homework all the time, that I would never have a career where I had to work with computers I got my BS in Social work and my Masters. I fought hard for maternal and child health for what seemed a lifetime. Then I worked on my first personal computer as we were writing a grant for a neighborhood health center. It was a CPM machine running Wordstar. OMG it changed my life! I saw the power and opportunity it brought. We were trying to connect the neighborhood heath centers to share data. Tech could solve so many of our healthcare and social issues. I lucked into an opportunity to become a trainer for one of the very first Businessland computer stores. I knew word processors and was good with people and that got me in the door. The PC industry was new to everyone……I got 6 weeks of training in San Jose on technology before we opened the store. I trained on everything from meet your computer to dbase. It was such a great way to enter the industry. I was drinking from a firehose everyday…..every time there was a new opportunity to learn I raised my hand…..I became one of the first systems engineers in the country for Businessland when networking began….yes there was a time when computers were not connected…..I never really chartered a path….I was more focused on taking advantage of every opportunity that presented itself. I did make a few opportunities for myself along the way…..created the idea of jobs that managers bought……I think it is good for us to share these kinds of stories with young girls..so they see that careers for some of us are very messy
“Go Science Girls” quotes the following statistics, “…in the United States, women make up only ¼ of the entire STEM workforce. Contrarily, women dominate men when it comes a STEM degree. Further statistics show that women constitute 15% of the engineering force and 25% of the computer and mathematical sciences. In Australia, women made up 27% of the STEM workforce in 2016. There are various reasons for such a meager constitution of women in STEM. The prime reason is the lack of practical experiences. Women have been quoted saying that they love STEM activities, but the lack of practical exercises discouraged them from building a career in the field.”
These are not new facts and figures but rather ones that have been heard time and again. What do you feel can be done to decrease the implication that women are not well suited to these careers while increasing the number of young women pursuing a career in these fields?
Women feel like they need all the skills before they go for a job. The request for practical exercises or opportunities is just a symptom of the bigger problem which is women lack confidence in their abilities. They want to prove they can do something before they apply.
I saw this all the time when I interviewed for open roles. Women who had more potential than the men applying for the job didn’t apply because they didn’t have 100% of the requirements listed. We do not teach girls that it is ok to fail…..that it is more about traits than the skills….lets teach our girls they can do anything……..any job…..not that they have to complete all the check boxes before they apply. Lets invest in building strong confident young women who support each other……who have access to STEM content that appeals to their interests and passions…..the rest will follow.
I had the opportunity to interview several young women who were developers at Microsoft about how they got started. All of them got started playing Neopets and learning to “control their pets with programming”. They had access to computers at an early age which is still a barrier for many young girls. I am hopeful that one good outcome of this time with COVID that the access barrier will fall for many. Neopets was a fun game that appealed to girls and controlling their pet was of interest to them so they learned how to do that. We need more early content that appeals to girls. Minecraft is a great way for kids to learn how to program, but it lacks appeal to many young girls. Where are the games that are more diverse? The other thing they talked about was that it was something they did with their friends. There was peer support for them to do this. Support by peers is incredibly important for girls especially as they get into junior and high school. This is where most of them quit STEM activities because it is not viewed as cool or feminine. When they engage in social media, there are very few STEM role models that interact with young girls vs the huge amount of other icons out there in the arts.
It goes beyond just products, it also affects things like research. I will give you a personal example to me. Heart disease is very prominent in my family affecting both women and men. There has been little to no research done on women’s heart issues specifically. We do know that women will likely present differently in the ER with heart issues. However no women specific education efforts have been done to educate the public about the differences. Drugs affect women differently but there are few if any gender studies done. If you look at sports nutrition or training, there are few studies done on the female athlete yet we know hormonal changes have an impact on both. There should be a whole industry about women specific nutrition and training methodologies. Until women make up 50% or more of teams it will be difficult for us to really make the progress we need to get not only current products more gender friendly but open up new areas of research and products that are for women only.
Until women make up 50% or more of teams, it will be difficult for us to really make the progress we need to develop current products that are more gender friendly and open up new areas of research and products that are for women only.
Many of us have worked for companies that require, value, and reward critical thinking, problem solving and collaborations. These skills, along with other skills, are key elements to all aspects of living and is especially required in areas such as technology, science, medicine to name a few areas. What are the positive ways to engage underrepresented groups in acquiring these skills?
The scientific method is one of my core skills……it is an anchor for me. Unfortunately, I don’t think there is one silver bullet. I think making that connection is very individual.. It requires someone to help make that first connection ….like when Anne Sullivan helped Helen Keller make the connection between sign language and water….Everyone needs a connection to real life, THEIR life. I think the more we look to one size fits all the less successful we will be.
Finding a good mentor in acareer is one key element to success. Each of you have been both mentee and mentor. As a mentee what was the most valuable advice or experience you have had thus far in your career? How can underrepresented individuals become adept at seeking mentorship? As successful individuals, how can we ensure we look to be more inclusive in tossing out our ‘mentorship net’?
I must admit I was never very good at being a mentee…..I have mentored 100s of women and men but for myself never really gained value from mentorship. I do, on the other hand, have a huge vibrant network of both women and men. I think focusing on how to connect with people and the value of a vibrant diverse network that supports you is where we should start first. Network vs mentorship vs sponsorship is a spectrum in my mind…it you don’t have a broad network base it becomes more challenging for mentors and sponsors.
When you think about giving advice or providing your input on issues facing young women entering into STEM field jobs, what would your biggest piece of advice be? As you respond to this question, think about the following: Why would you give this advice? What difference could your advice make in someone’s life? Did you have a similar experience and who helped you through it?
You can still be yourself and have a career in STEM. I think it feels like to many that to be successful in STEM, in particular Tech, you have to compromise who you are. To change these fields and make them more attractive to others we need to have more people who act differently, think differently, and look differently. Don’t lose sight of who you are…..celebrate who you are everyday.