Women In STEM Fields Essay

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Why are there so few women in STEM fields? STEM is short for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics and mostly known for being a male dominated field. STEM fields are exceedingly male dominated with women making up only twenty-four percent in the United States. (Bureau’s 2009 ACS) There are many reasons as to why men outnumber women in STEM fields in regards to stereotypes, gender bias, and sexual harassment.
Stereotypes that women do not belong in STEM fields start young and are often told by their parents and teachers that the STEM field is for men. They eventually start believing this lie and they become not interested anymore. Studies have shown that women generally perform better in math and science than boys, but girls are …show more content…

Pay gaps has been an issue between genders in stem fields. Young women in STEM fields earn up to one-third less than men. After women graduate with Ph.D.’s in STEM fields, they earn thirty-one percent less than men do. A study by PayScale, on the gender pay gap using salary data from more than 1.4 million full-time employees from pay scale, reveals that men are not just out earning women in male dominated fields, they make more money in every industry. (2015, Lydia Dishman) “Occupational segregation accounts for majority of the pay gap between men and women. But even with the same occupation, men tend to earn more than women. Although women still earn less than men do in STEM fields, women in science and technology tend to earn more than women earn in other fields.” (2011, Christianne Corbett) The pay gap between genders is not only in STEM fields its nearly in every industry. For example, the US men’s soccer team pay compared to the women’s soccer team, there is a huge difference even if the women’s team is ten times better or NBA player's salary compared to WNBA even if they play the same sport. An AAUW analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2013 American Community Survey data found that overall, women in computer science and mathematical occupations were paid eighty seven percent of what their male counterparts were paid, or about sixty-five thousand annually, compared to seventy-nine thousand for men. (2015, Renee Davidson) That …show more content…

One way is to pay everyone the same amount if it is the same job when they enter the job. Many women get paid one third less than men even if they are doing the same job. Also, many women do not get encouraged to continue with STEM fields from an early age, but men do, and that intimidates them because they might feel like they are not good enough for STEM fields jobs. Another way to fix these problems is by stopping all sexual harassment towards women. Men feel like they can take advantage of women because they are superior, but that is completely wrong. Men should treat women the same way they treat their mothers, with respect. Also, stereotypes and gender bias have driven women who are interested in STEM fields away because they assume that STEM fields are for men only because of the stereotypes. An article stated, “Women have been deemed poor leaders because they spoke about team achievements by saying “we did… rather than I led the team…” (2016, Athena Macrow) Some reasons that make me believe some women do not go into STEM fields even though they are very good in math and science is because they might not be passionate about working in STEM fields or because they are interested in a different field of

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