Importing STEM: How the United States Can Get More Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math

By Leanna Chester

Currently in the United States, we still do not have as many women working in STEM fields as we would like. Meanwhile, there are other places in the world where women thrive in STEM. What are we doing wrong? How can we improve?

Importing STEM: How the United States can get more women in science, technology, engineering and

• Language: English
• Publisher: New Degree Press
• Release date: Jun 27, 2021
• ISBN: 9781641377768

Book preview

Importing_Stem_Amazon_Ebook_Cover.jpg

Importing STEM

Importing STEM

How the United States can get more women in science, technology, engineering and math

Leanna Chester

New Degree Press

Copyright © 2020 Leanna Chester

All rights reserved.

Importing STEM

How the United States can get more women in science, technology, engineering and math

ISBN

978-1-64137-956-4 Paperback

978-1-64137-775-1 Kindle Ebook

978-1-64137-776-8 Ebook

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1. Women’s Roots in Computing

Chapter 2. Where Do Women Dominate STEM?

Chapter 3. STEM Stereotyping in the US

Chapter 4. The Need to Import

Chapter 5. How We Raise Our Kids

Chapter 6. Challenging the Western Belief That Men Are More Capable

Chapter 7. Challenging the Belief That Girls Just Aren’t Interested

Chapter 8. The Powerof Role Models

Chapter 9. The Benefits of Early Exposure

Chapter 10. Going Forward

Appendix

Acknowledgments

A special thanks to all the people who supported me in my journey to writing my first book:

Bobson Wong

Brandon Sharma

Brenda Vital

Chris Allen

Geeta Chester

Ian Timothy Latchman

Jhymon Moodie

Joanne Park

Joel Chester

Jonathon Binda

Kevin Persaud

Lindsay Weir

Lorian Chester

Maya Singh

Megan Hacker

Nikolina Kosanovic

Pamela Jennings

Rebecca Gazze

Sarah Adel Bargal

Shreya Ramesh

Stephen Chester

Sukhdeo Budhram

Uma Paras

Victoria Rizo

Ziba Cranmer

Introduction

The summer before my sophomore year of college, I remember sitting at the back of my first computer science class and looking around. Something felt off. At first glance, everything seemed normal. It was a large classroom with over twenty-five students all around my age sitting at desktops on long tables and a male professor with graying hair standing at the front. Then it dawned on me; I was the only woman in the room. I quickly put my head down and fiddled with my jewelry, immediately feeling uncomfortable.

I was obviously the odd one out in the room. And if I realized it, chances are everyone else did too.

Currently in the United States, we still do not have as many women working in STEM fields as we would like. Universities in Western countries are struggling to recruit and retain women in these fields at higher levels, meaning there are fewer female professionals in science, medicine, engineering, and computing.

However, this is not the case in other parts of the world. In places like the Middle East and Arab countries, girls are outperforming boys in school and are highly interested in pursuing science, math, or technology in higher education. In fact, in some countries, the percentage of women in these fields is as high as 53 percent, according to a study done by UNESCO. This means they already have an equal amount of men and women getting STEM degrees.

I have experienced firsthand what it’s like to be a woman in a field considered to be men’s work. I have been the only woman in a meeting of all men. I have been the only girl in a class. I have been asked if I could even find a job in this exponentially growing field just because I am female. When I decided to switch my major to computer science, my parents were skeptical, and I soon realized they wouldn’t be the only ones.

Before going back to college, I went on a retreat with the young adult group at my parents’ church. Our group was diverse in age, some a year or two younger than me, some a few years older, and then some parents who accompanied the younger ones on the trip.

One morning, I sat with a group of about five campers at a picnic table for breakfast, including a boy who was a year younger than me, his mother, and a younger woman, about twenty-three years old who had recently finished college and was working in accounting. We started talking about college. As the boy was excitedly talking about starting NYIT in the fall, I naturally, I asked what his major would be.

I’m going to be studying computer science, he told me.

I lit up and my interest in the conversation piqued. That’s my major too! I smiled.

He and his mother gave me a nod of approval. The mother then asked what I was thinking about doing in computer science.

I’m not completely sure yet, I answered honestly. I really like the idea of working in software development or artificial intelligence though.

At this point, the young woman piped in. But do employers even trust women to do stuff like that?

I was taken aback by this question. I was surprised that someone not much older than me had such an outdated opinion. I’d expect it maybe from the older folks, sure, but she was a recent graduate! After hearing this question, I started thinking about others: Are we as women conditioned to believe that careers in technology fields are men’s jobs? What makes us think this? Why do we write ourselves off when it comes to fields that require more mathematical and analytical skills?

I then realized how important it is to show girls that they belong in STEM fields, even if we are conditioned to believe otherwise.

Here in the United States and in many Western countries, we tend to think we are always doing everything right in all aspects. However, even though we put in a lot of effort to recruit more female engineers, scientists, programmers, and doctors, we still are not getting the percentage of women in these fields as we would like. Meanwhile, women thrive in STEM in other places in the world. What are we doing wrong? How can we improve?

I have a few theories.

First, we raise girls to believe they are not smart or capable enough to do well in math and science. We tell them, whether implicitly or explicitly, that only boys are good at those things and only boys should pursue them. Look at the toys we give to kids—the toys we deem to be boys’ toys are construction toys, Legos, and video games. We give them toys that encourage creativity and thinking, logistical reasoning, and the development of spatial skills and hand-eye coordination. But what do we label as girls’ toys? We give little girls Barbie dolls and tell them to dress the dolls up in little outfits, or we give them a play kitchen and watch them mimic cooking, or, as they get older, we may encourage them to play with makeup. All of these toys tell girls from a young age that they should care about appearances and enjoy doing homey things such as cooking.

Second, we are overwhelmed with so many choices when deciding what to study in college and what career path to follow. Many people go into college undecided and are initially required to take many electives to help them decide what to study. Usually,