It’s no secret that women are underrepresented in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) I am a computer science major myself, and as the years passed and the class got harder, I noticed less and less females in my class. In one of my classes last quarter, I was the only female student. I reflected back and realized that I never had a female professor for any of my classes that were even remotely related to computer science. I agree that there are female STEM professors in my university, just not enough. So why does it matter? Why do we need more women in STEM?
Talent
Talent is a very important factor because there are many talented young women interested in the STEM fields in middle and high school. But as the years pass by, for some reason or another, when they start to drop out, we as a field are loosing so much talent. Talent that could help us create the next Google or cure cancer. We are essentially eliminating half of the population.
Diversity of Perspective
With a diverse group of people, we get different solutions, different ways to solve a problem. In STEM, that is a huge thing. We face a lot of issues and problems that needs out of the box thinking to be solved. Innovation is essential in the STEM field and a lot of research shows that diversity is the way to achieve this. This industry has a wide variety of consumers, everyone in the world, and in order to serve and include everyone, it is important to understand their perspective, and that’s where diversity is important.
Role Models For Young Women
Research shows that many young women who show interest in the STEM fields, tend to drop out after middle or high school. It is because they feel that they don’t fit the norm for an average STEM employee. We need more women in STEM to encourage the younger generation of women that they do fit the norm for an average software engineer, mechanical engineer or whatever they dream to be.
It is our responsibility as a society to encourage more women to pursue STEM careers. This article (link to the article) outlines 40 organizations that are built to encourage more women to pursue STEM careers. You can help by donating to the cause you support, or just by encouraging and supporting your fellow classmates to pursue their dreams.