Every second Tuesday of October is home to Ada Lovelace Day (ALD), which is the international celebration of achievements by women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The role models created through ALD encourage young girls to choose STEM careers, which in turn helps combat gender inequality in those fields.
The STEM gender gap has narrowed in all fields by between 1% and 2%, but statistics from Women in STEM show there is still more work to be done.
For example only 35% of students studying STEM degrees are female, while the number of women working in STEM is lower still, at 30%. Mathematics and Computer Science have two of the lowest number of female students, and have had since 2018.
Female students – as well as those already working in the field – are still dropping out of STEM careers. Why? One reason often given is that they are criticised and judged more harshly than men, which can result in an overwhelming pressure to excel so as to prove people wrong.
So we sat down with women either studying or working in STEM to ask about their own experiences.
Izzy Bromfield, 21, is a third year mathematics student at the University of Bristol. Bromfield said she noticed female students being “overlooked” and “ignored”, and has experienced it herself. She said: “For maths it’s more that there aren’t enough women…every time a female lecturer walks into the room I’m like this is amazing that I get to be taught something by her”.
Luana Nunes, a 29-year-old software engineer, has been in STEM for 11 years. Nunes said she was the only female student in her year at university. “The way that the guys would treat me, and just ridiculous things like making up rumours about me just because I was the only women in my year…and I think obviously when you are 18 it affects you a lot more”.
Luana said that over the years discrimination and sexism became normalised, “…because you experience it so much and I guess when you get older you stop caring so much about what other people think, so I would say it gets easier but not in a good way just because it becomes common”.
Connie Dudfield, a 19-year-old Diagnostic Radiography student at the University of Liverpool said: “There’s a big issue with how you are supposed to present yourself as well in STEM. I’m more nervous of the way I dress because I want to be taken seriously, but I feel men don’t have that issue”.
Another issue is that women who want to both have a family and work in STEM jobs have to balance being a mother with entering what is a very competitive field. Megan Hart, a 20-year-old marine Biology student at the University of Exeter said: “Job inequality is already a big thing for women anyway with maternity leave. I think it’s definitely something I do think about and think is it going to be viable for me?”
Bromfield seemed optimistic about the future for women in STEM, saying: “Hopefully encouraging women to get into STEM now will mean we don’t need to use positive discrimination in 20 years from now because there will be enough women in the field”.
Positive discrimination to help bridge the gender gap comes in the form of special grants, bursaries, scholarships and internships.
To find out more about scholarships for women in STEM, visit https://www.thescholarshiphub.org.uk/scholarships-women-stem-subjects/
