Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics.

Together they make up STEM.

Of course, those who study STEM subjects in college and go on to take

jobs in STEM related fields are the ones who end up researching,

developing, and creating things that change lives.

One example that easily comes to mind is the double helix model of DNA.

Francis Crick and James Watson won Nobel prizes for their work for

developing a better model of DNA. From this research we now have the

knowledge that DNA is set up as a double helix. Though this seems

unimpressive today, without understanding the concept of how DNA is set

up then further research into how DNA is replicated and arranged would not

be possible. Nor could there be research into how genetic diseases are

caused or passed on, or possible treatments for such ailments.

Though scientists have barely scraped the surface of such a vast ocean of

knowledge, they have still come a long way from the beginning.

And Watson and Crick deserve the credit for getting that started.

…well, not entirely.

Watson and Crick did have a model of which they thought DNA was

supposed to look like. Yet, by chance, Watson got a look at research done by

another scientist, Rosalind Franklin. It was her work that initiated an idea in

Watson who would then rework his findings to come up with the current

model of DNA that is accepted today, the double helix.

Rosalind Franklin would not receive any credit for her work until after her

death in 1958.

While this may seem to be just a footnote in the volumes of history, it still

bears noting; at the time that Crick and Watson were about to publish their

findings, Franklin had also finished her work and was closer to publishing.

It should also be mentioned that at this time in Franklin’s life she was

working on transferring from King’s College where she had found herself at

odds with the staff, to Birkbeck College. It may have been she was the only

women working there, it have been her cold demeanor, or some of both?

Either way Franklin was not satisfied with her standing there and had

decided to leave.

What could have been?

Rosalind Franklin is one of the most prominent role models for women in

STEM majors and related career paths.

Yet, what if her colleagues had chosen not to look upon her as a lab

technician, but as an equal?

What if she’d been in an environment where she did not feel threatened?

What if her own father had not been against her going to college,

something he was opposed to all women doing?

What other innovations and discoveries could Rosalind Franklin

accomplished in her life?

While she is one of the most prominent role models for women in STEM

majors and related career paths, she is also a haunting example of the

difficulties that women face when they choose to pursue a STEM related

major in college, or a career path.

Even today, nearly seventy years later, women occupy only 24% of the

STEM careers and related jobs, while men take up the other roughly 75%.

What innovations could we be missing out on?

Why is it so hard?

STEM fields and their related careers, as one could easily assume, are not

for the faint of heart. Persistence, determination, relentlessness would be

required, though no one will put that on a job description. This is due, in

large part, to the higher amount of mental preparation needed before one can

even begin a bachelor’s degree in college.

Careers in this field deal with hefty amounts of research, development,

preparation, disappointment, and analysis. High levels of math, a firm grasp

of spatial relations, and advanced problem solving skills are just the

beginning of the requirements that one would need to succeed.

One possible culprit for this? Maybe it’s the ‘M’ in STEM?

Mathematics.

Obviously, math is a difficult subject. If at first adding one to two doesn’t

come easily, then just wait until negative numbers, fractions, decimals, and

for reasons unbeknownst to sane people, there are imaginary numbers out

there as well.

And that’s just the beginning…

Because men occupy over 75% of the STEM jobs out there, then it’s easy

to assume that men, for some genetic reason, are just better at math.

Really?

In an experiment, conducted within the psychology department of the

University of Michigan, 30 female students and 24 male students, all in their

freshman year, took a section of the GRE in math. All the students involved

strongly identified with math. Yet, when the group was split in two, one

group was told that, generally, male students had performed better on this

section of the GRE than female students.

The results?

On a test of 30 questions, when corrected for guessing, the male students,

on average, scored 25 out of 30.

The female students?

On average, they scored five out of 30.

What about that second group?

The second group of test-takers were told that both genders had scored

well on the test. Men didn’t do better than women, and women didn’t do

better than men.

The scores came back that the women in the group, on average and after

correcting for guesses, had results of 17 out of 30. The men? 19 out of 30.

So while it may still show that men have an advantage, maybe genetically,

maybe arbitrarily, that when the gender bias is taken out of the equation,

women perform substantially higher.

Then why aren’t more women in STEM Careers?

While there are those who do exit college and enter the STEM careers,

there is attrition happening, and at an even higher rate among women.

This may be in part to the gender bias that STEM Careers are a ‘man’s’

job. It may also have to do with women needing to take time off to start and

raise a family, something men generally don’t do. This could end up hurting

women in careers that are tenure track, or being seen as ‘less committed’ in

their work than their male counterparts. The results being women are given

less fulfilling tasks, or end up not coming back to their jobs. It may also have

to do with women marrying outside of their job field.

While there is ongoing research as to why women are not sticking with

their STEM Career after college, there is a new movement taking place to

keep women in their current positions.

It’s been suggested that women who do find themselves in an environment

where they do not feel welcome can try to find a mentor. If one isn’t easy to

find then join a professional organization. It’s also been suggested that

women educate themselves on gender differences in communication.

While these suggestions are helpful and it can help shift the overall feel in

a work environment away from male-centric, it is still a short term solution

to the problem.

What if women are recruited more in higher education for STEM

related majors?

True, men do occupy more of the STEM field than women do. But

wouldn’t a simple fix be to initiate greater recruitment of women into STEM

majors?

That could work.

However, one must also take into account that not all those who graduate

with a STEM degree, both women and men, will go on to get a job in the

STEM fields.

For instance;

Men earn 82% of bachelor degrees in Engineering,

Women only earn 18%

Men earn 82% of bachelor degrees in Computer Sciences,

Women only earn 18%

Men earn 81% of bachelor degrees in Physics,

Women only earn 19%

When it comes to graduation, of the STEM degrees as a whole, only 30.7%

of those degrees earned are by women. Since not all of those who graduate

with a STEM degree enter a STEM field, this possibly leads to the 24% of

women in STEM careers.

Going the Distance.

The lack of women represented in STEM careers can be attributed to the

low number of women seeking STEM majors when they enter college. As

with those who enter the job field and then decide to leave, the number of

women who end up graduating with a degree in a STEM related major are

significantly lower than those who start them.

Could it possibly be the difficulty of their chosen major?

As mentioned before, these career paths and their preceding educational

requirements are daunting. If there is a lack of ability to begin with, then

there is a higher likelihood that a student will bow out before completion.

Part of the reason, as with anyone who’s gone through college can attest, a

student may have started one degree, found out it wasn’t for them, and

switched majors to find something more to their liking. Something with less

math involved.

What if said student, especially a woman, wasn’t lacking in mathematical

ability at all?

They simply thought they were lacking?

In a male-dominated field, when those surrounding a female student are

doing better when it comes to the large amount of analytical work involved,

then it’s easy for that struggling student to think of herself as inadequate.

And while students will change majors throughout their undergraduate

careers, if it were possible to instill in them, from an early age, especially

women, that they were not ‘just not good at this,’ could it lead to lower

attrition rates in STEM majors?

What if it could have the opposite effect; a rise in women entering into

such degrees, and then onto a career path in science, technology,

engineering, and mathematics?

Or to ask the question in another way; what innovations are we missing out

on if women continue to be underrepresented in STEM careers?

Perception is Key

As mentioned before, men make up over 75% of the STEM fields. This

leads to the unconscious assumption that men are just better at it. This is in

no way meant to take away from the men who have made discoveries that

have changed the course of history.

But if men are the only ones seen doing it, what does that say to girls in

school?

While elevating female role models into the collective consciousness will

help foster a better environment for girls and young women to enter the

sciences, there is more that can be done.

But first, perception has to change.

Carol Dweck, a social and developmental psychologist at Stanford

University, has spoken about the need for students to stop seeing themselves

as ‘smart.’ They instead need to switch from a way of thinking where if one

doesn’t ‘get it’ immediately, then they must not be good at it all. This kind

of thinking drives students away from struggle. And struggle is key in

STEM degrees and careers.

“We talk about [struggle] as an unfortunate thing, but when

you think about a career in science or math or anything, of

course you struggle. That’s the name of the game! If you’re

going to discover something new or invent something new, it’s

a struggle.” – Carol Dweck, Why so Few?

Many a student today, while not intentionally, has been taught that if they

understand something right away, they’re smart. If they struggle with

something, that’s not wrong, the student just needs to work harder to get it.

They’re not smart at it, thus, they have to work harder for it. Thus students

become skilled at avoiding subjects they struggle with.

This leads to the unconscious ‘knowledge’ that intelligence is fixed. There

are those that are born with the talent for solving mathematical equations.

And generally, those are boys.

Girls are the ones who have to work harder at math, and thus, they just

aren’t ‘smart’ enough for a STEM job.

They would have to struggle in order to succeed.

According to Dweck, what if that perception was changed?

Fixed v. Growth

The type of thinking outlined previously is what Dweck refers to as ‘a

fixed mindset.’ Intelligence is an inborn, uncontrolled trait. If one is good at

something, then they’re born to be good at that, while if they struggle with

something, then they weren’t born to do that, and thus, should avoid it.

But what if intelligence were viewed as a muscle?

Muscles can be trained, conditioned, improved upon through systematic

and intentional exercise.

A brain can be handled that way as well.

Brains can be trained, conditioned, and improved upon through systematic

and intentional exercise.

This is a growth mindset. “Intelligence is a changeable, malleable attribute

that can be developed through effort,” says Dweck in ‘Why so Few?’

A growth mindset leads students to believe that even if they don’t

understand something right away, that’s okay. Mastery takes time. Mastery

involves mistakes. Mistakes can be learned from. Mistakes challenge one to

grow, learn, acquire knowledge.

This type of thinking can lead students to not shy away from difficult

tasks. In some cases, students actually seek out struggles with the belief that

they’ll get better through the proper application of effort and determination.

They will get smarter that way and achieve more.

Though this mindset can have a positive effect on all academic ventures, as

well as personal endeavors, the results of a growth mindset have already

shown a positive response in women.

Take, for instance, several hundred women enrolled in a calculus class at

an elite university for a semester. These women, who opted to report their

feelings on the class’s general environment and how they reacted to it over

the course of the semester to a group of researchers, Carol Dweck among

them, proved the power of a growth mindset.

Of the women who identified their particular class as having a fixed

mindset, along with negative stereotypes towards women and math, at the

end of the semester they reported having less of a desire to continue taking

high level math courses. They simply felt like they didn’t belong.

Yet, the women who identified their classes as promoting a growth

mindset ended the semester with a greater chance of continuing on in higher

level math. Though negative stereotypes were still in attendance at these

classes, the women reported feeling less affected by them.

A growth mindset has been shown, as Dweck says, “…to maintain a spark

of interest.”

It can all start with a spark.

Anything worthwhile is not easy. Any pursuit of a STEM degree and

subsequent STEM career are even more so.

This is why persistence, determination, relentlessness are needed more

than a grasp of spatial relations, imaginary numbers, and analytical skills.

Those who adopt a growth mindset will come to see challenges as a good

thing. That mistakes aren’t bad things, but something to be learned from that

will get them closer to success.

Yet fostering this mindset is not a simple task, even at an early age. But it

is not an impossible one.

Even those who are well past their ‘school days’ can still change their

mindset, a little bit at a time with some effort and persistence.

According to Dweck, some key points to remember when working towards

instilling and honing a growth mindset.

Encourage passion, dedication, and self-improvement-

these lead to innovations and contributions.

Value the challenges, the mistakes, and the effort-

these lead to growth and learning.

Intellect can be gained- it’s not something someone has at

birth.

Focus on process over product- a student may not get the

right answer, but focusing on how the student works to solve

the problem in front of them so they worry less about ‘getting

it right,’ and instead aim for mastering a process.

The Right Mindset.

Fostering the right mindset, a growth mindset, can propel anyone towards

greatness, especially women. When faced with the challenges of a STEM

career, women can become discouraged if they believe they don’t ‘get it’

right away, or they started the job already lacking the fundamentals

necessary.

Instead, start identifying math as a ‘learned skill’ rather than something

innate in people. There may be some talent there to begin with, but it doesn’t

mean that’s all one has to work with.

By communicating a growth mindset, though it will take time, the effects

of negative stereotypes against women can be reduced, and eventually

become a thing of the past. Along the way more and more women can enter

colleges and universities with the intent to start and complete a STEM

degree, and move on into a STEM career.

Who knows what innovations are waiting for us?

“Energy and persistence conquer all things.”- Benjamin Franklin

Bibliography

Brenda Maddox. Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA. New York City:

HarperCollins. 2002. 416pp.

Anne Sayre. Rosalind Franklin and DNA. New York City: W. W. Norton. 1975. 221pp.

National Girls Collaborative Project- “The State of Girls and Women in STEM,” fact

sheet. Copyright 2014.

Catherine Hill, Ph.D., Christianne Corbett, Andresse St. Rose, Ed.D.: Why so Few?

Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. AAUW, Copyright

2010.

David Beede, Tiffany Julian, David Langdon, George McKittrick, Beethika Khan, and

Mark Doms: Women in STEM: A Gender Gap to Innovation. U.S. Department of

Commerce; Economics and Statistics Administration, ESA Issue Brief #4-11, August

2011.

Ryan Munce, Edie Fraser: Where are the STEM Students? What are their Career

Interests? Where are the STEM Jobs? 2012-2013. My College Options® &

STEMconnector® Copyright 2012

iSeekCareers.org Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). 2015