Opportunities for Women

According to a new education report (2012), today women hold 62% of all bachelor's degrees in the U.S. as more women are enrolling in college than men. However women only hold about 19% of degrees in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). It means the majority of women are still pursuing traditional fields such as Education, Business, Economics, Literature, Arts, or Social services. Without proper guidance, women are missing many good opportunities by NOT studying in the STEM fields where there are high demand and high paying positions.

According to the report, the problem is caused by the lack of information about STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) among parents who are often do not follow market trends; detached from the reality of these professions or may have different views about these fields. The authors interviewed thousands of women and found that these misconceptions have deep roots in the tradition roles of women in society. A mother admitted: “I told my daughters to study education because when I grew up, teaching was the best job for women. No women ever work in science or technology unless they are secretary.” Another woman regretted: “My family told me that as a woman I may not have to work because my husband will take care of that. My role was to get married and took care of the children. I studied economics in college and got married but we could not live with my husband's income. Today I sell thing in the market because there is no job for people with a bachelors' degree in economics.” Another woman explained: “My sister had a degree in Business and worked for a large company but she was not respected for her education or her skills. She was hired because of her look and she was treated badly so she often went home and cried. I do not want to be like her but what can I do? I cannot study science or engineering; those are for men, not women.”

Although cultural misconceptions has been around for a long time, but today with so much information available on the Internet, social networks, and news media, the question is why women are still NOT enrolling in STEM fields? Although today data do show that the numbers of women studying health sciences have increased and a third of students study in medicine are women but there are many choices than just medicine. For example, today Information Technology (IT) and engineering are the best careers for both men and women. A graduate with a Bachelor's degree in these fields could easily get a good paying job in just four years and there is a shortage of IT skilled people in every country. My questions are: How many women receiving this information? How many parents know about this information? And how many high school counselors would advice their students to study STEM fields? Unless information about these careers and opportunities are known, many women will still be missing on this opportunity. Today, many governments are taking steps to encourage women to enroll in STEM fields. Several industries executives have joined in. Google Vice President Susan Vijcicki sends an open letter to ask women to study Information technology and encourage them to be “software creators, not just users."

Although it may take time for change to happen and overtime we may see more women go into engineering and technology BUT are waiting for “something to happen” the right thing? Today the world needs more scientists and engineers to meet the high demand. Should we just wait? I think women need more information about these opportunities for them to make decision, and they will make the RIGHT decision. Today every family needs two incomes to survive and we need more women to have professional careers than just work in supporting roles. What we need is to promote more science and technology in every school to encourage students to focus on these areas. Students must be taught early that these are areas that have good future and are highly respected as the world needs scientists and technologist. We are entering the Information for more than ten years and we should NOT wait.

Sources

  • Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University