Women in STEM: Why is there prejudice?

As recently discussed by HR Leader, women have to deal with challenges in the science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) industries.

Dr Debbie Devis joined HR Leader to discuss these issues and why they’re so prevalent.

HR Leader: “Why is this prejudice so common in STEM?”

Dr Devis: “Some of it comes from these historical societal norms of STEM being this highly logical workspace that is associated with men’s logic and technical skills. In reality, you can’t practice STEM without things like really good communication, being able to write, being able to organise, navigate and be creative. But just because of this historical idea that it’s all about logical thinking, a lot of those skills got forgotten as being really important.”

“We’re carrying this burden of this inaccurate portrayal of what STEM is, and then that bleeds into the cultures within STEM, because it means that we prioritise things differently within the STEM workplaces that didn’t reflect society in the first place. It no longer gets us to the point where we’re being innovative; it’s actually holding us back,” said Dr Devis.

“There’s a bit of a trend when you’re looking at workplaces and workplace prestige, particularly where the more women that go into a specific industry, or on the opposite side, when the gender balance goes the opposite way and more men come into it, the prestige of that job changes.”

“A really good example of this is programming. Programming was considered plebeian work when it was done predominantly by women. And then, as more men came into it, the prestige changed. And it was suddenly seen as this more prestigious, more logical, higher-thinking type of job. And that is a really direct manifestation of the weight of the history of men being touted as more inquiring or at a higher level of thinking,” she explained.

“STEM is still really male-dominated, so those kinds of ideas remain, and they perpetuate. And then when women try and break into the sphere, they try and engage in these STEM industries that are really highly male-dominated, they’re then faced with these really hostile work cultures, and they leave, and so the gender balance doesn’t rebalance.”

HR Leader: “Are these mindsets changing?”

Dr Devis: “They’re definitely changing. When we spoke to the people that were in our think tank … some of these people had been in STEM industries for 20 years. And they could say, within their own lifetime, they could already see the change in attitudes, even if we’re not there yet. The really clear thing was that they change very, very slowly and often generationally.”

“So within one person’s lifetime, the change might be quite small, which is quite sad. But then over generations, if we’re looking at four or five decades ago, obviously, there’s a very big difference in how women are participating in STEM now than all of those decades ago.”

HR Leader: “What can employers do to break down these barriers?”

Dr Devis: “That’s the big question. Employers need to really focus down on that workplace culture. And this is something that can feel really intangible if you’re not looking for it, because it goes unnoticed. These social norms feel normal. So, I think they really need to target culture by increasing things like training and mentorship.”

“Mentorship is a great way of, first of all, building relationships and networking. In today’s age, networking is how you get and stay in most jobs. But it allows an opportunity for people to start empathising with other people’s experiences, because the questions that you talk about with your mentor, they’re not generic, they’re really specific to you, and your career trajectory.”

Dr Devis continued: “We do see a really big difference when men participate in these mentoring courses, not just in the sense of a gender equity perspective, like any mentoring that people have access to is beneficial to everyone’s careers. So, men benefit a lot from mentoring, even though it’s still kind of seen as a woman’s thing, which is really sad, considering it’s benefiting them.”

“But it also means men who mentor young women or are mentored by a woman, when they’re early in their career, have a much greater empathy for what women are facing, and also a greater appreciation of the innovation and creativity that women bring. And that changes culture because now they believe women should be welcomed there because they see the benefit of it.”