#BTColumn – Women and STEM

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados Today.

by Donna Every

I thought it would be a great opportunity to talk about STEM this week especially as yesterday was proclaimed by the United Nations as International Day for Women and Girls in Science.

STEM is the acronym for science, technology, engineering and mathematics. One might wonder why there is a day set apart to recognize and celebrate women and girls in science.

That is because there is cause for celebration when women and girls choose to study and pursue careers in these fields. An article on the World Economic Forum’s website states: When it comes to the world of science, women are in the minority.

Less than 30 per cent of the world’s researchers are women and this under-representation occurs in every region in the world. In the Caribbean our numbers are, surprisingly, about 40 per cent while in some countries it is as low as 8 per cent.

According to UNESCO data (2014 – 2016), only around 30 per cent of all female students select STEM-related fields in higher education. Only 3 per cent of students joining information and communication technology (ICT) courses across the globe are women. That increases slightly to 5 per cent for mathematics and statistics courses and it increases to 8 per cent for engineering, manufacturing and construction courses.

I was a STEM student myself, studying Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics at UWI, but eventually I dropped the lab-intensive subjects and finished with a degree in Mathematics. However, I did not go on to pursue a career in a STEM-related field.

Unfortunately, this is the story of many women who pursue studies in STEM subjects at the secondary and tertiary levels but end up in traditional careers. Whether this is by choice or by gender bias needs further investigation.

The study Gender Bias Without Borders, carried out by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, shows how women’s roles in movies reinforce gender stereotypes and downplay the role of women in STEM fields.

The study shows that on screen, engineers, scientists and mathematicians are largely played by men (one of the few exceptions was Abby in NCIS). Of those characters with a STEM job, 88.4 per cent were men and 11.6 per cent were women.

This calculates into a gender ratio of 7.6 STEM males to every 1 STEM female. One has to wonder to what extent these images consciously or unconsciously influence women in their selection of STEM careers and also the effect it has on those who hire for STEM positions.

The fact that girls and women comprise about 50 per cent of the world’s population but are under-represented in STEM fields is of concern and merits consideration, especially since STEM occupations are expected to experience rapid growth in the next ten years.

Technology and engineering are currently among the most sought-after skills by companies, however fewer women will have the ability to capitalize on these trends if they are not encouraged to pursue STEM careers.

Unfortunately, of those women who decide to pursue careers in STEM fields, research shows that they are likely to receive unequal pay and restricted career progression, something that organizations like UN Women is working hard to address.

Just over a year ago, the Barbados Chapter of the International Women’s Forum set up three working groups to address some of the issues faced by women and girls in Barbados.

With the concern about the lack of women in STEM careers, one of the groups was created with the aim of bridging a path for women to pursue non-traditional areas of expertise/work i.e. in STEM-related fields.

The mission of the group is: To ensure STEM paths are more open and inviting to women today and in the future.  Their approach is to influence from early socialisation, in education and then provide appropriate networking and mentoring.

This group is led by Susan Boyea, Vice-President – Group Insurance|Group Life & Health at Sagicor Life Inc. Susan was herself a student of Mathematics and Computer Science.

For most of her working life she was a computer science professional at both operational and strategic levels and she is still passionate about the impact it has made on her career.

One of the exciting projects carried out by the STEM group to kick off their work was to produce a series of vlogs of women in Barbados who are in STEM-related careers.

These vlogs were launched on the IWF Barbados Chapter Facebook page yesterday https://www.faceboook.com/iwfbarbados and on Instagram (iwfbarbados) to celebrate International Day for Women and Girls in Science.

These vlogs have been created to build awareness that STEM careers are open and available to young women and to expose young women to female role models in senior roles in a variety of STEM fields.

The group also has a number of initiatives that they plan to roll out over the next year or two including:

• Hosting a series of “Connectors” at which they can network with young women in various age groups to discuss and share experiences of women in STEM

• Hosting a program over the ‘summer’ school holidays for children to create awareness of STEM careers.

• Creating a start-up connector aimed specifically at women who would like to kick off businesses in STEM.

Given the fact that Barbados’ reliance on its traditional revenue producing sectors is currently being challenged on various levels, this is an ideal time for  us as a nation to focus on developing new revenue streams from STEM-related businesses.

Girls and women in particular, need to be encouraged to pursue careers in these areas and IWF Barbados is doing its part to lead the change.

Donna Every is an author, trainer and international speaker. She is also a member of the board of the Barbados Chapter of the International Women’s Forum. Contact her at donna@donnaevery.com