Most employers would agree that STEM careers—jobs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—are on the upswing in both numbers and importance. Most also would agree that there are far more men than women in STEM jobs.
A 2011 report from the U.S. Department of Commerce, “Women in STEM: A Gender Gap to Innovation,” signals a promising future for women in STEM careers since statistics show they earn an average of 33 percent more than their non-STEM colleagues. The problem, though, is a lack of women in those lucrative jobs. The report shows that the percentage of STEM jobs held by women stood at just 24 percent in 2009. An October 2011 report from Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce in puts the figure at 23 percent.
So the fact that women seem to have some catching up to do is a wake-up call for employers interested in cultivating and retaining women for STEM jobs.
Fighting attrition
Karen Purcell is an electrical engineer in Reno, Nevada, who started her own firm, PK Electrical, Inc. She also is the author of Unlocking Your Brilliance: Smart Strategies for Women to Thrive in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math
“The problem really is that there’s a huge attrition rate,” Purcell says. “The field has been male-dominated for so long.” That unwelcoming culture can be intimidating for women, and employers need to be aware of the problem.
A young woman just entering her profession is likely to wonder if she’ll harm her career if she decides to have children. Purcell says employers need to find ways to reassure those women that they won’t lose their position for taking time off to have a baby.
“If you’re in a field more gender-balanced or even predominately women, it’s like ‘who’s taking off this week to have a baby?’ But if that’s not commonplace, it definitely becomes a struggle,” Purcell says. Since STEM fields are likely to be male-dominated, women worry about how they’ll be treated when they come back to work, and she says a lot of women end up not returning after having children.
When she had her first daughter 19 years ago, Purcell says she was “terrified” to tell her boss. He had a positive reaction, but she was worried about taking time off anyway. By the time she had her second daughter 13 years ago, she was a business owner and in a way had more freedom although she felt the need to be “very involved in the daily grind.”
Importance of mentors
Many of the problems women encounter as they enter STEM fields can be eased through the use of mentors, Purcell says. “I think mentorship is a huge factor in the training of both men and women,” she says, and having a mentor can help with attrition. It doesn’t matter if the mentor is a man or a woman, she says. She had two male mentors.
By having a mentor in her first job out of college, she was able to “really watch and observe and ask questions.” She still had her “frustrating, tearful moments,” but she was able to become what she is today because of his mentorship.
“Having a mentorship program is a huge benefit that can not only help the individual but also help the company grow as a whole,” Purcell says. Mentors can be internal or external, but she thinks having a senior person paired with a less experienced person in the same workplace can be the most successful arrangement.
But having a mentor outside the company also can work, she says. For example, a new female engineer may want to seek a mentor through the Society of Women Engineers or some other organization.
What employers are doing right
Many employers are taking steps to foster an inviting climate for women in STEM professions. Purcell says HR policies and a workplace culture that outline acceptable behavior and reprimand negative behavior are making a difference.
Also, a culture that leads to promotions based strictly on a person’s work instead of gender makes a difference, Purcell says. Work-at-home arrangements are another way to help women in STEM fields.
Purcell sees progress but still hears of situations in which a woman with a Ph.D in physics or a master’s in engineering is treated as an assistant. She says she was at a jobsite recently with one of her male employees and “the contractor assumed that my male employee was the person who was the engineer.” It took a while for him to realize she wasn’t there to get coffee. “That’s a minor incident but it’s just a reminder that the bias is still out there.” Purcell says. “The more women that we get into the field, the less that will happen.”