International Women's Day

Women in STEM careers have been heavily debated about in Silicon Valley and across the world at major technological centres. 

One argument for the low numbers of women in STEM careers suggest that the recruitment process starts off very biased by projecting an unwelcoming environment for women, through geeky references, sexist images and jokes and dearth of women engineers. Thus, women do not feel engaged and often leave these recruiting sessions with negative experiences. 

Another argument is the reinforcement of gender stereotypes. As pop-culture is heavily used to market and recruit. So scantily-clad women surrounding a male character or a sexy women character is used as appeal. The result is it attracts mainly guys. This lack of diversity negatively affects impressions and thus steer women away from the field. Perhaps a more gender-neutral process may be better. Another suggestion was to have the women engineers that do exist be more involved and engaging in the recruitment process.  

The other side of the coin is that men by their numbers make up the majority of the persons in the STEM field. As such, companies devote resources to attracting talent from that pool. Another point is that women negotiate differently from men resulting in a pay gap and thus, the appearance that women can’t be as successful. 

Furthermore, it is suggested that women have been admitted to high STEM positions on the basis of them being a woman. Meaning they didn’t deserve or earn their way there but are there to make up numbers. 

Regardless of the arguments raised by both sides, it is clear that a more detailed and holistic look into the gender gap is needed. 

Despite your gender, would you consider a career in a STEM field?