By Josie Prosser, Live Science Host
Techniquest live science host Josie explores the marginalisation of women in STEM, and why it’s important to even the odds:
In university and industry, women have been underrepresented in the STEM fields for far too long, and — as a woman working in STEM — I think it’s time to change that.
Firstly, let’s look at the facts. In the UK, women or non-binary people only make up 31% of those studying core STEM subjects in higher education, such as physics, computer science or chemistry.
For engineering and technology courses, the figure is even lower. Despite seeing a small increase in the past five years, just 23% of students identified as female or non-binary in the 2022/23 academic year — up from 21% in 2017/18.
What happens to these students after they graduate? According to government figures published in 2023, of the 9.4 million workers in STEM related industries in the UK, only 25% are female.
In 2022, the amount of engineering professionals that identify as female or non-binary only made up 12% of the workforce, which is no surprise after investigating the academic figures!
So, why is it important that we get these numbers equal? Well, put simply, the more people of different demographics we can get thinking about a problem, the more ideas we will get on how to solve it. For example, when seatbelts were first invented, they were designed with the male body in mind, which increased the risk of harm for women and children whose bodies didn’t fit the seatbelt properly. Diversity in the workforce can boost creativity and lead to improved problem-solving that would lower the risk of issues like this arising.
Women in scientific disciplines have already made great strides in their respective fields: in 1965, American chemist Stephanie Kwolek discovered a solid but lightweight material while researching chains of long molecules at low temperatures. This discovery then led to the creation of many materials including Kevlar, that is today used to protect and save lives in the form of bulletproof vests, spacecrafts, tyres, protective gloves and many more.
Another example is German mathematician Emmy Noether, who earned her Ph.D in 1907 at her hometown university of Erlangen, at a time when many universities didn’t allow women to be full students. She worked at the school’s Mathematical Institute for seven years without pay, and during her career proved two major theorems — Noether’s first and second theorems — with the first dubbed a ‘guiding star’ for 20th and 21st century physicists.
So, what is being done to encourage girls to follow a STEM career path? Firstly, we need to think about the way these careers are perceived by removing any unconscious biases and stereotypes held in the fields.
One of the things we’re doing at Techniquest is offering outreach programmes in the local community to help encourage the next generation of women and non-binary people into STEM careers.
Promoting female role models in the scientific world, like Stephanie Kwolek, Emmy Noether, Mae Jemison and many more women — from the history of scientific discovery to the modern day — also spreads awareness of the opportunities that women have for their careers.
Teaching young people about the achievements of these women will show girls that they can pursue science too — and not allow anything to stop them following their dreams!