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As a woman, can I succeed in STEM?

Objectives

  • Increase awareness of the issues and stereotypes within STEM industries

  • To explore the stereotypical managerial characteristics

  • To analyse key theories to support our understanding about diversity and stereotypes within the workplace

.

Presentation Introduction

What is STEM

  • Science, technology, engineering and maths

  • STEM subjects include a vast range including :

- Maths

- Statistics

- Computer science

- Engineering

(GOV.UK, 2016)

What is STEM

Why are we looking at STEM?

Organisations like Girls Who Code exist to help tackle STEM gender inequalities

Why are we looking at STEM

  • Importance of subject

- Provides key skills -logical thinking and numerical reasoning

(Bell-Young, 2020)

  • Gender inequalities exist within STEM

- Gender pay gap exists (O, 2017)

- Women are published, paid and promoted less (York, n.d.)

  • Stereotypes exist within STEM

- 'Nerd genius' stereotypes don't motivate women to partake in STEM industries

- Being seen as stereotypically antisocial and unnattractive isn't suited with other goals

(Starr, 2018)

Relevance to the University of York

STEM and York

In our research of STEM university students we found :

  • 69.2% of students we asked believe their course to be male dominated

  • 61.5% of students perceive their university staff to be mainly male

  • 38.5% of students perceive their university staff to be an even mix of male and female

Charlotte (Computer science at UOY)

"People are already doubting my ability to code ... if I struggle ... it will reconfirm it ”

(Veale, 2021)

56%

48%

Department managers

Entry-level workers

14%

IT

35%

District managers

Store managers

The Glass Ceiling

100%

- Vertical discrimination

- Discriminatory barriers that prevent women from rising to position of power or responsibility (Babic and Hansez, 2021)

----- Cannot see the effects of a glass --- ceiling

- Some women create their own glass ceiling as they find it hard to balance work with non-work responsibilities (Lup, 2017)

-------- Avoid managerial career paths due t----- to high work-life interference

The Glass Ceiling

80%

Software engineer

"Because I have young children, I want to spend as much time as possible with them".

Heilman's Lack of Fit model

Heilman's Lack of Fit model (1983)

- Men are more likely to be selected than women for male sex-typed jobs (Lyness and Judiesch, 1997)

- Women's successful performance is discounted by attributing it to luck or effort rather than ability

- Discriminatory actions stem from a mismatch between the attributes a woman are thought to possess and the attributes seen as necessary

Kanter's strucutural theory

Kanter's structural theory

- Staffing decisions are biased in favour of dominant groups (Lypess and Judiesch, 1997)

- Management characteristics are stereotypically associated with male leaders

- Leadership succession decisions show a preference for promoting others who share similar traits and characteristics

Personal branding and network building

Personal branding and network building

- Use personal branding and build their network in order to prove themselves and achieve good work relationships

- From research, we have found that some women believe personal branding is a negative thing

- Arianna Botti from L'Oreal supprots the idea of "walk to talk" - continual improvement and support allowing women to get roles they aspire to

Gender Schema Theory

- Sandra Bem's Gender Schema Theory (Bem, 1981)

- Children are expected to learn about society's perceptions of gender and incorporate into their development (Vinney, 2019)

- Traditional society men were presumed to be leaders and women would undertake more nurturing roles (Blackstone, 2003).

Sandra Bem

NHS

"processes information in terms of and conforming to whatever definitions of masculinity and femininity the culture happens to provide"

Research

Statistics

1.2m

- Primary and Secondary Research in the NHS

- Full time staff employed in England employed in September 2020 (Department of Health,2020)

- Respondents to my Google Forms

- Jobs included Consultant Surgeons, Anesthetists, Physiotherapists etc

Research

53

Gender Stereotypes

31

- People believed there are gender stereotypes within their field of work

Nurses

Surgeons

Gender Stereotypes

Tend to be female

alpha-male stereotypes

Men

Seek more managerial roles

Public

School Boy's job

Management Roles

17

Management Roles

- People had applied for a managerial role within the NHS

- Responses were very different based on their gender

- Males - make a difference, take part in important decisions, lead

- Females - improve patient care, create more inclusive environment

- Clear division to why different genders applied to be managers

Diversity within the NHS

- Found there was a varied number of males and females in leadership roles

- Mandatory training for staff on equality and diversity

- However, still common stereotypes which are prominent within the hospital

Diversity within the NHS

Consultant Anesthetist

"This is a difficult one to answer as I have never felt my gender has held me back, other than restrictions I have imposed on myself"

Engineering

After conducting both primary and secondary research.

- Higher concentration of men within the managerial roles.

- Gender gap grows the further into education

- Women lack no academic capability

Chartered Engineer

Engineering

"There are no overt stereotypes as people are valued on their intelligence and competence over gender"

Statistics

79.8%

achieved a 2:1 or higher

14.5%

of women

Statistics

25.4%

aged 16-18

Gender Disparity

Lack of representation (Kearney and Levine, 2020).

Stereotypes and sexism (Hill, Corbett and St. Rose, 2010)

Gender Disparity

COACHE Research Director

"If you feel like you don't fit or belong - for whatever reasons - your satisfaction is bound to be lower"

Cathy Trower

Gender Essentialism

A person possess different qualities as a result of their gender (England, 2010)

Outdated and Flawed Theory

Gender Essentialism

Lacks inclusivity

Reinforces stereotypes

The integration of women

'Women into Construction' partners with HS2 Ltd and Constuctor Wates.

Role models for young women

Universities offering programmes targeted toward women (Clark, 2022).

The integration of women

Conclusion

Conclusion

- Over the past 50 years, there has been considerable progress for women in the workplace

- Female leaders can act as change agents (Rink et al., 2019)

- Organisations appear motivated to combat gender discrimination and equality

- Interventions have been designed to take into account the factors that drive gender discrimination and target them directly

Primary research within the STEM industries

Our primary research

- We have found that there are still gender stereotypes within these industries

- These industries tend to be male dominate due to stereotypical managerial characteristics

- However, organisations are trying to combat these issues by creating diversity awareness training

Are women able to succeed in STEM?

Are women able to succeed in STEM?

- The answer is YES

- It is evident that women possess the academic capability to succeed within the different sectors

- Acknowledging the importance of diversity allows opportunities to arise for women looking to pursue a career in STEM

- Thank you for listening, do you have any questions?

Reference List

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Reference List

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