Subtle Factors Driving Underrepresentation of Women in STEM Careers

UNDERSTANDING THE SUBTLE FACTORS DRIVING THE UNDERREPRESENTATION OF WOMEN IN STEM CAREERS
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1.0 Introduction
STEM careers remain at the core of global technological advancement and human development. They affect almost all spheres of life, including health, education, safety, food production, transport, communication, leisure, and security. STEM jobs are also the highest paying in the United States. According to the 2017 report by the Bureau of Labour Statistics (Fayer et al., 2017), 93% of STEM jobs pay significantly higher-than American national average salaries. The average STEM salary is $87,500 per year, two times the average of non-STEM income. Additionally, since 2000, the number of STEM jobs has surpassed non-STEM jobs by three times. In the future, computer and information technology jobs are projected to grow at 11% annually between 2019 and 2029, making it the fastest-growing occupation (BLS, 2020). Thus, STEM careers are not only the fastest growing and the highest paying but are also at the center of human development and technological advancement. Women, however, are underrepresented in these fields.
2.0 Problem Statement and Study Objectives
In the United States, there are over eight million STEM jobs (Fayer et al., 2017). However, women occupy only 25% of these positions, highlighting the gender disparity in STEM fields (CERE and Athena, 2020). More importantly, despite the global effort to promote women in STEM fields, the representation of women has only increased by 2% since 1990 (Martinez and Christnacht, 2021). In other words, women are missing out on better-paying jobs, career growth prospects, and opportunities to contribute fully to human development and technological advancement.
Therefore, the objective of the current study is to establish the inherent factors that lead to the underrepresentation of women in STEM fields. A straightforward explanation for this phenomenon is that men have historically dominated STEM fields, a trend that has been codified into cultures within homes and schools. However, given the efforts to promote STEM careers to women in the past 30 years, the persisting underrepresentation of women is a subject that requires attention. As it turns out, the media is an essential tool through which these cultural views persist (Makarova et al., 2019). The study objective will be achieved through a survey targeting girls and women pursuing STEM subjects (in high school), courses (colleges and universities), and careers (currently employed or graduated without employment).
3.0 Research Question
In his regard, the research question is: what are the barriers inhibiting the representation of women in STEM careers?
4.0 Literature Review
Gender stereotypes are among the significant subtle forces leading to the gender disparity in STEM. In a study to investigate this premise, Makarova et al. (2019) conducted the impact of the masculinity image of STEM subjects from a cross-sectional study data of 1364 Swiss secondary school students. The study results indicate that girls and boys rate physics, chemistry, and maths as masc...