Are women partly to blame for the gender gap in STEM fields? This was the title of Diane Auer Jones’ opinion piece in The Chronicle of Higher Education. Jones critiques a report recently released by the American Association of University Women (AAUW) titled Why So Few?, a publication addressing the achievement disparity between men and women in STEM fields. The report states that social and environmental factors are to blame for the persistent gender gap. Although Jones appears to agree with this claim, she asserts that the report serves to “regurgitate age-old accusation and assumptions” and makes “age-old recommendations” that have not been effective in closing the gap. Jones continues in her piece to claim that there is inherent bias in the report, specifically noting the narrow focus in only covering the academic sector and the non-inclusion of men in the report.
Although I can appreciate Jones’ assessment of the AAUW document, I am troubled with the overall sentiment of her article. Sure, I agree with her on some points—for example, the research methodology has some limitations and some facts may be too generalized towards women. But those weren’t the most salient points I took away from the piece as I read through it. Instead, I was left wondering why someone was spending so much time critiquing a document that was created to address an extremely important current issue in American higher education rather than providing possible solutions. Also, I think this article raises another issue—does Jones ask the right question in the title of her piece? That is, what are the important and salient questions we should ask in order to narrow the gender gap that in STEM fields?
The overarching issue beyond Jones’ opinion piece is the fact that there are pervasive and persistent problems facing women and their access (educational and professional) to STEM fields. It is well documented that women are less likely to persist than men through the STEM academic pipeline. According to the National Science Foundation (NSF), women’s participation in STEM doctoral programs has increased in the past 40 years; however, women are still leaking through the educational pipeline at a higher attrition rate than men. Several factors are attributed to women leaking through the pipeline, including the lack of female role models and the presence of a chilly climate. These barriers can cause feelings of intimidation and isolation, often unsurprisingly leading to leaking through the STEM pipeline.
So are women partly to blame for the gender gap in STEM fields? Possible and probable. At the end of her piece, Jones calls for women to “look within their own clubhouse for at least some of the answers to the enrollment and gender gap problem.” I agree with this call to action because it is important to identify all barriers when attempting to close the gender gap. But again, what are the real questions beyond who is to blame for the gender gap?
After examining women’s “own clubhouse,” what are the next steps? How do we work together (men and women, industry and academe) to come up with innovative solutions? What are the answers to the problems for women in STEM? More importantly, what are the questions we need to ask in order to advance the argument for narrowing the pervasive gender gap in STEM fields? I neither have the right questions to ask nor the answers to solve this problem, but I know the disparity between women and men in STEM is too alarming and immediate to waste time by asking the wrong questions.
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Christina-
ReplyDeleteGreat thoughts. Although I am not an expert in this subject, and I do not pretend to have all the answers, I’d like to throw out a question. Who is encouraging these women to pursue (and persist) in the STEM fields? If I put this issue into my own context, coming from an institution with a very chilly climate and very few, if any, women role models, this question is key. If you’re a woman with ambition (which I would assume to be the case with those in STEM fields), it is very difficult to persist in a climate in which you know you’ll never be treated in the same manner as your male counterparts and in which the reality is that you might never make it to the level you desire – not because you lack the ability, but because that’s just how things are. In meetings, your comments will always be given less weight, you’ll put up with sexist jokes, and you’ll always know that you’re really an “outsider.” The result: If you’re an intelligent woman with career goals, it’s tempting to take your knowledge and move to a sphere that offers more opportunity – and respect.
The bottom line is that persisting in a chilly environment with few role models requires thick skin, and the question is, where do you get it? I think a possible answer to this question is from other women. It comes from the camaraderie of knowing that you’re not the only one out there experiencing a tough climate. It comes from feeling that you’re not alone – that maybe you could be (or even are) part of something bigger than yourself by working together to make your field more welcoming to women. But those feelings don’t come easy – and they don’t come without other, more experienced women coming alongside younger women to encourage them to pursue and persist in this path. Women who have persisted in STEM fields are key players here, and they could help change the climate by banding together to encourage those who are coming behind them.