Women in STEM: How Universities Can Fill The Gender Gap

Sponsored by Concordia University

Despite widespread concerns about the number of women working in STEM fields, recruiting women to STEM programs at university isn’t as much of a struggle as you might assume. In Canada, for instance, the number of women enrolling to STEM courses is growing, with press releases published by the University of British Columbia and the University of Toronto last year revealing record-high numbers of up to 30 percent.

While there are more and more women studying STEM subjects at university, very few of them end up working in STEM-related careers. Indeed, even though the number of women filling in university-level posts has risen to 65 percent since 1991, the proportion of women in scientific jobs requiring a college degree is still at 23 percent, according to official 2016 data. Only 12 percent of Canada’s engineers are women.

In light of these facts, what are the challenges women face when they decide to pursue a STEM education? And what can universities do to encourage more women to remain and thrive in STEM fields? 

We asked PhD student Bettina Forget and assistant professor Layial El-Hadi to weigh in on these questions.

Gender bias is pervasive in STEM fields. Women who embark on careers in science often feel isolated, that they need to constantly prove themselves, and are required to fill traditionally female roles in labs and offices. Studies consistently show that these prejudices exist and are even more common for women of color.  

For instance, in a 2014 study endorsed by the University of California, Columbia University and Emory University, all of the sixty female scientists of color they interviewed reported encountering one or more pattern of gender bias at work, including “having to provide more evidence of competence than men in order to be seen as equally competent”, “walking a tightrope between being seen as too feminine to be competent—or too masculine to be likable” and “gender bias triggered by motherhood”.

Layial El-Hadi, an assistant professor at the Centre for Engineering in Society at Concordia University and Program Director of the Graduate Certificate in Innovation Technology and Society, recognizes the issue. She notes that even if there are more women pursuing STEM degrees, they often leave their fields after graduation.

“There seems to be a disconnect. Women students might often be first of their class, but they remain hard to find when we look at the workforce.”

One recent survey found only 12 percent of full professors in STEM in Canada are female, providing students with few female mentors.

Forget, who just started her PhD in art education at Concordia University in Montreal, echoes the experience. She developed an interest in astronomy around 15 years ago, while she was working abroad. “I was struck at how male-dominated the amateur astronomy clubs were,” she recalls. “Parents would often push their daughters my way to talk to me.”

This underrepresentation is quite common in the scientific community. The doctoral student sees this as a fundamental problem. “It’s hard to become interested in a subject when you don’t have any role models to associate with.”