STEM. What is it? Why should you be interested in the future of STEM? How does the inclusion of women in STEM have the potential to impact lives?
STEM is the acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics and is used to reference these academic topics. STEM is frequently utilized and referenced in discussions pertaining to the education space as a way to address the existing curriculum. STEM is also used in career discussions in learning organizations.
STEM topics have a broad impact and are so intrinsic to our everyday life that we may not realize their true depth and value. STEM isn’t only about computer programming and petri dishes. STEM permeates our everyday lives. STEM is used in music, robotics (think about the future of artificial intelligence (AI))! The new Netflix Original ‘Over the Moon’ which was made in partnership with Microsoft is “inspiring young girls around the world with data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence” per Leigh Cresswell at Microsoft. STEM reaches into areas of law, requiring critical thinking as well scientific knowledge (depending on the type of law practiced). It would take pages to fully detail the scope of STEM.
As the world continues to grow more complex it stands to reason that we must be vigilant in ensuring we educate future generations in these core topics. STEM education creates critical thinkers, and our failure to engage students, inclusive of females, may potentially leave us incapable to make vital decisions and lacking in core capabilities. We must actively foster learning and work cultures that are supportive and inclusive to ensure women are engage in these key fields.
STEM roles have traditionally been dominated by males. When we lack women in these key areas, when we do not encourage their leadership, vision and participation, we may not be building solutions or products which represent and support the diverse tapestry of humans who make up our population. It’s been reported that women control more than 60% of all personal wealth in the US and that they have purchasing power in the range of $5 trillion to $15 trillion annually. They drive 70-80 percent of all consumer purchasing, via a combination of their buying power and influence. These are significant numbers to consider when building solutions and products.
STEM begins at home. The way in which we introduce and build bridges to education should start at home. As young girls discuss their favorite things caregivers, can have a meaningful discussion as to the many ways those ‘favorites’ may transition into learning. For example, if a child expresses an interest in the many aspects of snow (falling snow, icy snow, melting snow), that’s an entry to discuss the science behind temperature. Additionally, as we provide an allowance for our children and encourage them to start a saving account, we begin to teach them the elementary elements of math. Discussions like this are amazing opportunities to ignite the the seed of passion in our children. When children engage with caregivers in this manner, they are far more likely to engage and be encouraged to pursue these topics in their school offerings.
There is not a right or wrong answer to the question of how to interest, engage and ensure young women pursue careers in STEM. This article is intended to pique your interest in becoming part of the solution. In future articles, we will dive much deeper into this topic and continue to invite a broad range of well-respected authors to share their experience and advice.
It’s very gratifying to have the following individuals providing their insight and opinions for contributions to this inaugural article.
- Rosalyn Arntzen, President and CEO, Amaxra
- Andrea Harrison, Senior Director, Global Product Innovation & Customer Obsession at Microsoft
- Bev Hess, Transformational leader
- Nadine Kano, Business choreographer, executive communications manager, and award-winning technical writer
- Dana Manciagli, Global Career Expert, Job Search Master Class®, Military Veteran Expert, Job Search Coach, Speaker, Blogger, Trainer
- Sara Nagy, Principal Program Manager – Industry Engineering
- Tanya Blair Riebeling, Business Development, Marketing & Program Management
- Michele Tee, Project Manager
- Dee Dee Walsh – Modernization | Client-Server Legacy | Automated Migration | Visual Basic, VB6, PowerBuilder, ASP.NET, C# Winforms, Silverlight
These nine women were invited to share their input on a number of elements specific to STEM. It would make for a VERY long article to include each person’s complete response to every question; therefore their answers have been parsed out of the full responses they provided.
Question 1.
“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?
Response
Andrea
When I started doing work with STEM students across middle school, high school and college levels, it became clear that girls need to be able to see themselves in a profession or there is a lack of believing excelling in those roles is possible. Additionally, the schools making sure that their STEM classes were diverse and highly encouraging for girls and underserved populations were more likely to graduate students in STEM careers and see them off to college on a STEM track. In college, professors are a critical piece to the puzzle to engage and make sure women and underserved populations continue pursuing STEM degrees. What this points to is the ability both within the classroom environment and outside of the classroom (e.g., clubs, study groups, tutoring, etc.) are critical to helping women and underserved populations believe they can make it through what typically leans to a male dominated degree. Women have told me outright the belief and support from those around them is critical.
Sara
The following are a few key reasons.
Gender stereotypes – girls are encouraged and marketed to from a young age with dolls, frilly dresses, hair accessories and make up, etc. When I was a kid the toys for girls were all focused on females being a mom; Easy bake oven, Baby-That-a-Way, and so on. It wasn’t encouraged to explore more “masculine” careers such as technology. When I got to high school only “nerds” pursued interests in science and math, girls were supposed to be cheer leaders and drive the pep rallies and focus on more feminine types of activities and were discouraged from being what was deemed a nerd. I was a tomboy throughout my childhood, climbed trees, rode horses, could operate a tractor at a young age, rode a motorcycle from age 5, could change the oil in my car, etc., and was often chastised by my parents and other family members to be more “feminine”.
Hiring practices – There are more males in leadership roles at tech companies and they are more prone to hire in their own image. This is human nature, not a male trait, and most people gravitate towards others that look like themselves, act more like them, have the same hobbies and so on. So, males recruit other males when, for example, expanding a startup tech company and they think others like them will ultimately make it easier to get things done day to day.
Equality in pay – until recently many women were paid less for the same job as men and this was an acceptable practice. Women are often afraid to ask for what they deserve .
So, what can be done? We have to work to shift the marketing and approach to girls at a young age to ensure they do not feel it is discouraged to pursue a career in STEM. We also have to regularly challenge the negative stereotypes and ensure we have more role models girls can look to in this field. We need more female mentors for girls so they can see that if you want to, you can don a pair of heels, put on a beautiful dress, and still kick ass in the field of tech. I mentor a lot of women as this is one of the ways I want to give back; by encouraging girls and women to engage in STEM careers.
Dana
I’m an optimist. Yes, the technology industry needs more women employed and rising in the ranks. However, the industry is not just defined by technical jobs such as developers, testers, and program managers. Women need to have confidence in their skills, passions, and strengths and pursue a career in the technology industry.
An additional strategy is for young women to enter a tech company in one role, then explore others once employed. Technical positions will always be open!
Tanya
Thankfully the number of girls and women studying and entering STEM related fields is increasing all the time. There are good programs in place in many parts of the country and growing in numbers. Practical experience offered to women will continue to increase because of the spotlight on the need and schools/companies taking that need more seriously. More successful women leading in STEM related fields is increasing. The more these accomplishments get highlighted, it helps change the gender bias that has been pervasive in tech related fields. Seeing more women role models helps inspire young women to enter the field. However, making sure they are set up for success once they start working is a bigger issue. Women are more likely to leave STEM fields than men because the work environment can feel isolating or hostile. Women I have mentored over the years talked about finding themselves isolated at best and deliberately shut out at worst. Deprived of true collaboration and inclusion results in missed opportunities to learn, lack of information required to perform well in their role, and the camaraderie being part of a team should provide. It takes more women (and enlightened men), in senior roles to advocate and ensure that women are fully included to break this cycle. Success breeds confidence which breeds more success clearing the path for more women.
Question 2
If women continue to remain underrepresented in these critical areas their input may not be translated and included into products developed for future use. How may this lack of inclusion impact the future development of products? (This includes retail, medical, sports, the arts etc.)
Response
Michele Tee
This is an issue. I think offering part-time/flexible STEM roles to women who wish to focus on their family but still want to contribute their passion/expertise in the STEM field will provide expanded resources for organizations.
Bev Hess
It goes beyond just products it also affects things like research. I will give you a personal example. 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.
DeeDee
Since women make up half the population, it’s crazy to even think it’s ok to build ANY product without significant representation. I don’t even think that’s up for debate; the problem is hiring and retaining women. And because they’re often heavily recruited, if you treat women like crap you will lose them.
Question 3
Many of us have worked for companies that require, value, and reward critical thinking, problem solving and collaboration. 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?
DeeDee Walsh
When I was a kid my mom signed me up for a nerdy science club – this was back in the late 60’s – and I was too young to know that it wasn’t a girls’ thing. Being part of that club and learning about radios and transistors and science set me up to love all of that stuff. For this generation of kids, we need to expose them to programming and robotics. FIRST is a great program and I wish every kid in the world could be part of it. Not only does it teach kids about robotics and STEM, but it also builds teamwork and leadership skills. We keep hearing the future is automated – let’s teach our kids how to program and run the automation.
Dana Manciagli
This is a tough one. We need a decade to evaluate the inadequacies of our national education system. It is easy to say these skills should be taught at the high school level and mastered with the bachelor’s degree level. However, the barriers are too many to list here: curriculum design, funding, lack of funding in unrepresented geographies, teacher re-skilling, etc.
Additionally, all industries need these skills and so many more soft skills. Not just tech!
Nadine Kano
Two words: Economic Darwinism. Products that incorporate input from diverse people will be more successful. Remember when a tampon came out designed by a female OB-GYN? It was such a novel notion at the time. Today, any company that creates products for women with no women on the team is just being stupid.
Ros
There is a common theme here – opportunities have to exist and a clear path on how to get there. For those in positions of leadership they need to demonstrate a clear path on how schools/colleges can demonstrate the opportunities for women in technology and science disciplines.
Sara Nagy
I believe this all starts at a young age, the younger the better, and getting young kids used to and engaged with various forms of math, science and different forms of technology and making it fun. We started with various forms of math and science with my daughter at a very young age, from doing fun and easy science experiments, to learning math with flash cards and thinking through math problems all the way to starting her on computer programs designed to help teach kids from about the age of 3. She is now 14 and has been surrounded by STEM-like learning her entire life; we are fortunate to have the knowledge and ability to provide this for her. We initially taught her many things, but kids are a sponge and she has surpassed our skill level in many cases especially related to computer programs. My husband just the other day asked her to design a 3D image for him because she understood the program much better than he did. She did the work in a matter of minutes – it would have taken us hours.
Our daughter has friends who did not grow up the same way and there is a distinct difference you can see in both problem-solving skills as well as grades and learning in school. I believe we have to equip teachers, parents, schools, libraries, community centers, etc. with the ability to expose children at a young age to science, math and technology to give these kids the chance to even the playing field when they may not have this readily available to them. Getting parents involved when kids are young can make all the difference in the world.
For older kids I believe mentoring programs can also help. I’m part of a girls mentoring program where we visit middle schools and high schools in low income neighborhoods and we talk about our career paths and how girls can get involved.
Question 4
What is the most positive experience/job you have personally had relating to your knowledge of or engagement with STEM field topics? How did you acquire the skills needed to arrive at a state of accomplishment?
Andrea Harrison
I have been really fortunate to work on cutting edge STEM product areas several times while here at Microsoft. I think one of the more recent was in entering the realm of Artificial Intelligence for which the technology innovations have been recent and developing in a rapid pace. In coaching product teams using AI I’ve had to interview experts, read a lot, take courses, attend conferences, and host discussions about AI tech and the implications of its use with customers. While I’m not coding AI products, the impact of the technology as to how it’s created, implemented, measured and supported has been critical to my role. The lesson here is that it really takes both utilizing many forms of knowledge/skills acquisition with collaboration with others.
Tanya
My career in technology industry has spanned 30 years at this point. Having the opportunity to build a broad base of experiences including Marketing, Sales, Business Development and Program Management, is a highlight. It provided opportunities for me in high impact programs involving new business model development and incubation. Each of these experiences led to bigger and more impactful opportunities. The leaders I worked for in these roles were strong leaders and highly supportive of women. If not for their investment in me, I would not have reached those levels of success and recognition. They believed in the work that I was doing, coached me through political pitfalls, ensured I had the information required, and the air cover. I also accumulated the skills I needed at each stage of my career through a few tremendous mentors and sponsors that took a personal interest in my success.
Ros
Currently I am assisting Microsoft’s Chief Medical Office in various responses to the Covid-19 pandemic. It was one of those things that my company was asked to provide; a senior level comms/PM resource for 3 weeks earlier this year (March when the world turned upside down). This was too short an engagement for us to assign one of our consultants and we were already told this engagement was going to be a bit like jumping on a moving train. Needless to say, the 3 weeks has now stretched to 7 months and is still going. While I’m mostly bringing disparate parts of Microsoft and their various external partners together we have worked on the CDC’s self-survey tool, attestation tools now used in various formats around the world and currently possible vaccine delivery platforms for when one or more vaccines are available. While I’ve had many rewarding experiences/opportunities throughout my career – this very strange year has certainly provided a completely unexpected one. I am lucky that my company, Amaxra, is very stable now in its 13th year with a fantastic business management team which allowed me to take on this engagement knowing Amaxra would still continue just fine and my team would reach out to me when my input/decision was needed. This engagement has been a culmination of many previous jobs I have undertaken enabling me to just cut through the obstacles and get the required end result. It was also nice to get my feet “wet” again (so to speak) after many years of running a business with day-to-day business issues.
Dana
My most positive experiences were facing a customer presentation or large event where I needed to get skilled in new technology. I enjoyed the process of asking the project manager to educate me. They sent me articles, drew pictures, and proofed my PowerPoint and script.
I knew my boundaries, knew what I didn’t know, and was fortunate to have technical support who had my back at the presentations. I built strong relationships internally as a result…a bonus!
Question 5
Finding a good mentor in a career 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’?
Andrea
Finding a good mentor is very important. My best mentors have been very honest about the hard work, networking, and speaking up for myself work that’s needed to advance my career. Even more important is finding a great Sponsor; someone who not only mentors but actually advocates, recommends, and/or hires you for your next opportunity. A Sponsor is key – and what’s been the best advice from mentors and sponsors has been to diligently allocate time in your weekly schedule to connect with new people at all levels as a regular habit and to really stretch my connection network well beyond those folks who I might naturally encounter. Of all the advice and executive mentorship/sponsorship I’ve made it a point to do for others what they have done for me; paying it forward is essential for women to do for other women.
Dana
The mentor topic is one I get a little snarky about. Why? Because nobody is entitled to have a mentor. Mentorship cannot be placed on someone, and it’s not given to them as a gift. The mentee needs to want one. Then, they need to research the gazillion opportunities to secure one. Finally, the mentee needs to show up. They need to share their goals or challenges, ask questions, and drive the next step.
Today, I’m signed up on mentor sites to help Veterans, Military Spouses, and job seekers of all types. Nothing has changed from decades ago. There is little demand, mentees don’t call the second meeting, and they don’t deliver on the commitments we agree on! I have a black cloud, I know. I’m just sayin!
Nadine
I think the best career advice I ever got was from a friend who listened to me wail about a colleague who I felt was messing up. He said, “You can criticize, but why don’t you ask how you can help? You may be surprised at how welcome your offer would be.” I don’t know that underrepresented individuals need to become adept at seeking mentorship. They just need to start by asking, even if the conversation feels awkward at first. I think everyone deserves to be mentored. If I mentor a white male (and I have had several white male mentees), I set an example for them.
Question 6
One of the most visible challenges women face today is patriarchy. As a general rule, the way women and men are taught to speak, and act is often very dissimilar. Men are taught to problem solve and speak with authority while women are taught to be demure and defer. This behavior is exhibited in the home, in school and extra-curricular activities as well as the workplace. How can we impact change to eliminate these stereotypical actions? What change do you believe would have the most impact on ensuring young women step more fully into leadership roles?
Bev Hess
As Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG) said, “sustained changes happen one step at a time”. Simply, we need to put women in leadership roles every chance we get. Take every seat we can. Don’t worry about having too many women on a team. Our male brethren never worry about having an all-male team; we should feel the same way. Women can lead men. We aspire to have teams that are equal. Why not be like RBG and aspire to a time when we are 9 for 9? Change will happen when women lead. At all levels.
Sara Nagy
Well I’m neither demure or quiet and I believe it has hindered me various times in my career as a woman. Women who speak their mind are often seen as “bitchy” and those who push hard passionately are seen as “emotional” or “combative”. I believe that for more women to move into leadership roles you must be smarter and more strategic about how you behave and how you are perceived. You have to appear that nothing ruffles your feathers, you have to watch the words that you use – no saying “I feel that” or “I believe this” – firmly state the facts and back it up with data. Lastly don’t be afraid to speak up, contribute in meetings, chime in to emails where it makes sense and if you did the work, make sure you get the credit.
Michele
This is a difficult issue to address because I believe such changes need to start at home and early in life. Having a good education system with good role models to instill confidence in girls while they are young will go a long way. Having a family (especially parents) that don’t coddle the girls and shape them into a “damsel in distress” mindset is very important.
Re-education programs for parents might be a good start. Stop encouraging or rewarding mediocrity. Stop treating girls like they are fragile and need to be saved by a prince. Instead, teach parents to encourage their girls to have the courage to try new things and embrace each failure as a lesson. It needs to start early at home.
Tanya
Traditional role dynamics are changing as new generations coming into the work force are more likely to have been raised to value women as equals or had a mother that worked in a senior role in her field. That is the good news. In 30 years of working, I have seen a big change in the mindset of younger men coming into the workforce. That said, there are still situations where patriarchic behavior does still exist in male dominated professions.
The change that needs to take place is not tolerating bias when you see it. If someone is being excluded or silenced, invite them to speak, ensure they have a voice in the room or situation and are treated respectfully. If you have a mentee that is having this issue, you can help by making sure they are prepared for meetings or situations where this may happen. Prepared by knowing their business and content inside and out and that they have tools to help them stand up for themselves if they are being shut down.
Women stepping more fully into leadership roles requires organizations to help prepare women more fully, including sponsorship. Sponsorship will ensure that women are building the experiences and capabilities that organizations are looking for so that when succession planning is occurring women will not be left out because there is a perceived mismatch between capabilities of a women candidate and the qualifications an organization is looking for.
Andrea Harrison
This is a great and hard question to answer. I think it’s going to take a very conscious effort on the part of existing senior men and women leaders to give women early-in-career opportunities to come forward and lead projects, teams, and have the opportunity to be seen. I think there are also opportunities for skill building all the time. One of the most memorable moments for me early in career is that a female CVP signed me up for a communications/presentation class where the teacher focuses in on female communication style. We had to create and present to the class and be recorded and then we’d watch the tape back and analyze what was working well and not well. Communication differences between how a man presents and speaks and how a women does it (e.g., voice inflection, projecting confidence, engaging an audience, etc.) can make or break effectiveness. Those type of experiences are crucial to helping early-in-career females time and time again.
Question 7
I always think of the example I have seen in play many times when someone of one country is speaking to a non-native language speaker and the speaker increases their volume in hopes that translation will instantly occur based on a louder volume on their part. In retrospect, have you found you may have responded oddly to someone who is different than yourself? (age, country of origin, sex, race, etc.) How did your response help/hurt your business needs? What would you do differently today? How does this apply to being more inclusive in our thinking with regard to women as underrepresented individuals?
Tanya
Everyone brings different experiences to any situation. It does not matter if it is an underrepresented person or other. Differences can be education, socio economic, religion, country of origin, age, communication style or just a different approach. It does not matter what the difference is, you should remain open and listen. Do not listen to respond, truly listen to what the other person is saying and help them by asking productive/clarifying questions. Do not dismiss people out of hand, because they are not communicating the way you want or need them too. Help them understand how the conversation could have gone better, so they can learn. Check yourself in the process, are you just being critical unnecessarily? Is there something you can change in your mindset to be more open?
I have had a broad set of people as mentees over the years. Women and Men, all from a variety of countries, disciplines and varying career goals. I was usually asked to mentor them by their manager, or they came to me directly. Taking on a variety of different types of people help you grow as a mentor and a leader.
Michele
I experienced this as a regional lead overseeing Korea. It’s a patriarchal society & having a tiny female regional lead arrive in the Korean subsidiary to scrub their business plans & provide regional direction was not welcome. The team would speak in Korean in front of me (no doubt calling me names) but at the end of 2 years, the Korean team was my most devoted team in the region. They would come through for me if I needed them to pull in extra revenue for APAC. They were extremely sad when I left the role & told their GM I was the best regional lead they’ve ever had. I still consider that my biggest achievement in that role
My response to their hostility was measured. Instead of telling them what to do or pulling rank to demand their respect, I told them I was there to work hard for them & to make them successful. I didn’t waste energy feeling slighted or angry about how they had treated me with less respect because of gender, so I focused my energy in proving their cultural assumptions wrong. I proved to them through my actions, so I battled with RHQ for their resources, blocked unnecessary distractions from Corp & absorbed any blow backs from any of their mistakes. I made sure they shine in their subsidiary/in the region & became their “warrior” when they need anything. I wouldn’t do anything differently today.
Sara
I have worked with various different cultures for many years and there are two key thing I do prior to an engagement 1) I try to research a bit about their company, their location and any cultural details I can find prior to meeting with them and 2) during the meeting I listen and watch for clues of behavior that may or may not show they feel inclusivity. One great thing today is that we have amazing AI technologies which allow for real time translation during a meeting, or providing closed captions in another language within a presentation/recording of a meeting and this has helped bridge the gap quite a bit. I do not think this is an issue related to women by the way, I think everyone struggles a bit to better understand other cultures and how best to engage with them.
Rosalyn
As a non-American initially (now citizen) who grew up in Australia and then lived in the UK before moving to the US, I think I’m more conscious of this than most. Even sometimes saying something from my childhood can draw completely blank stares. I’ve learned to diffuse this by saying “I guess I’m speaking non-American again” or “I speak 3 different dialects of English” although usually intended to be amusing there is an underlying point here. Another example I was given early on during my time in the UK was when a business colleague gave me some great advice the first time I was going to France when he told me ask in French (I don’t speak French) “parlez-vous Anglais?” to anybody I needed to speak to. Mostly the person asked would answer in English or at least be OK to try whereas just launching into English and assuming the other party spoke it is arrogant and deserves to be met with disdain. This example always showed me to try and look from the other side or think about what and how you are saying may be received. As women – we need to do this also and not be afraid to say what we are thinking and ensure we say what we want to say with confidence and courage.
Question 8
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?
Andrea
I would advise women entering STEM jobs to be really proactive about building a network of connections, mentors and sponsors across all levels of experience. The more you have people advocating for you and learning the various pathways to experience the more apt you will be to be able to make choices that work for you.
DeeDee
Performance proves value. If you bring it every day – that effort adds up to contribution and that’s something you can point to and show your value with concrete examples.
Bev
I think it feels like to many that to be successful in STEM and 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 look differently. Don’t lose sight of who you are….celebrate who you are every day.
Nadiine
I tell young women in engineering what my dad told me before I went to college:
- He said, “Never be dependent on a man.”
- He told me that I had every right to be at Princeton, and that if anyone ever looked down their nose at me, to ask myself, “What are they afraid of?”
- He told me I should never worry about having a job, but that I should worry about how many jobs I’m creating for others
Michele
My advice would be the same as Rene Brown’s ”Dare to do everything greatly”. As my daughter starts high school this year, my advice for her is to pursue whichever field that you are interested in or that makes you happy – we are often our own obstacle thinking we can’t do this or do that. For young women pursuing STEM, I would say, the biggest obstacle you have in achieving what you set out to achieve is your fear of failure. So, embrace failure as opportunities to gain experience and welcome them as lessons in life. Look forward to the fears in life to overcome & don’t waste your energy being the victim. If a company doesn’t value your passion/talent & puts incompetent males into roles which should be yours, move to another team or company that will value you. Do not waste time & valuate energy complaining about being discriminated against – instead, prove to them that you know your worth then bring it to another organization that deserves you. No person or company can tell you what you are worth. Only you can.
Dana
I would advise young men, not just young women. Men don’t “get” gender inequality, and they need to. Great article here.
Until men get it, gender equality will crawl along at a snail’s pace. Numerically, men are in control of the majority of actions, behavior changes, and professional decisions.
Think about this fact (from the article): divided by gender, 21% of U.S. women think there is workplace equality compared with 42% of men.
That’s the problem statement.
Tanya
Do not be afraid to try new things. Whether it is a new discipline, new tech or new career altogether, take risks. Take on new challenges you do not think you’re ready for quite yet, it’s how you grow. It’s OK to be uncomfortable while you master new skills or technology. That’s how you demonstrate your willingness to take risks and the ability to adapt and respond to ever changing environments. It’s important that you expand your mentor or coaching ring to include someone who is successful in the new area. When you are learning a new skill or discipline do not be afraid to ask for help. It is a strength, not a weakness.
NOTE: Each contributors full response is linked below.