Democratization of Women in STEM Initiative
article by Prakriti Karki
Science and culture have more than an interrelation; they have a bidirectional relationship in which one promotes the other and vice versa.
Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) have been dominated by males since the origins of these fields in the 18th century during the Age of Enlightenment. According to a report by UNESCO1 in 2019, only 35% of all higher education students in STEM around the world are female, which helps denote the wide gender gap in the fastest-growing careers in the job market.
This difference in representation is alarming as STEM careers drive innovation, social well-being, inclusive growth, and sustainable development. Several factors, from family expectations to workplace demands, might be contributing to driving such a gap. In response, several policies and strategies along with different women in STEM initiatives - like Girls Who Code, Women in Data Science Initiative, Pinays Can Stem, Women in STEM initiative etc. - have been established throughout the world in order to minimize this gap.2
Women in STEM (WiSTEM) is an initiative of After iGEM that was launched in August 2020 to inspire more women in STEM and SynBio, increase awareness of their underrepresenta-tion in science, and function as a platform to get inspired, network, and develop through the organization of various events and opportunities for education and mentoring.
Differently from the many of the women in STEM initiatives, After iGEM's WiSTEM is spreading slowly to many countries to make a more uniform impact through the vast After iGEM's WiSTEM is spreading slowly to many countries to make a more uniform impact through the vast After iGEM community. Although it prioritizes synthetic biology, it aims to include all of STEM. In addition, because iGEM has a high school division,it is also able to target people at this young age and we thus hope it may have a more assertive impact.
Our initiative also aims to provide resources to underrepresented people in order to ease their entrance and permanence in STEM careers
The WiSTEM initiative 2021 has been organized into three subcommittees that work synergistically: Events Team, Data Analysis Team, and Awareness Team. This organization aims to make the initiative more effective: the Data Analysis Team analyzes data based on specific campaign requests, the Awareness Team organizes workshops, (most recently the Indian High School Workshop), publishes our magazine, and collaborates with other organizations, and the Events Team organizes events broadcasted to a wide audience through social media platforms, such as panel discussions and live interviews.
In order to approach the problems via numbers and statistics and make the initiative more effective, we are also working on the collection and analysis of data related to women's representation in STEM and SynBio. According to UNESCO,3 there are several issues that prevent women's involvement in STEM. Problems may differ country or region-wise. For instance, developed countries have higher representation compared to developing and underdeveloped countries. Lack of awareness, family financial conditions, and, most importantly, the traditional perception of women’s roles, have been named as the dominant factors driving the underrepresentation of women.4 For instance, in many South Asian countries girls face pressure to marry young, and are thus forced to drop out of school earlier which contributes to their underrepresentation. On the other hand, some studies have suggested that in the USA girls begin to lose self-confidence in their ability to do good in STEM5.
as early as middle school. These examples help to illustrate that numerous factors seem to come into play, making this a complex and multifaceted issue that targets women all over the world in many different ways.
Moreover, the question that should arise is whether we are encouraging women already in science to continue their careers and whether or not we are enabling them into becoming the role models that will inspire the new generations of women. According to Thomas Dee's research,6 the decline in women's interest in science and technology starts as early as the third grade.
Encouraging and empowering young girls and high school girls who are in the early phase of their formal education could help ease their path into careers in science and technology that could lead to more lucrative and stable jobs. STEM Initiatives should therefore prioritize the encouragement of women already in science and, especially, aim to include local female scientists who could potentially inspire young girls through their achievement or participation in science by getting involved and using storytelling techniques at local schools.
Uniform outreach, awareness, inspiration, and impact can be grouped and termed together as “democratization”. The action is not free of obstacles: finances, the educational system, gender expectations, and traditions. To break through these difficulties we believe that a single woman could be an inspiration for thousands of women. The most effective strategy could be to identify such women, encourage them and publicize their works as an inspiration for young girls dreaming to pursue a career in STEM.
In 2020 alone, four women were awarded Nobel prizes7 which is in itself an inspiring moment for all the women in science. Women in academia, entrepreneurship, or policy-making related to STEM should be prioritized equally while portraying them as inspirations. All STEM initiatives could collaboratively work together for a shared goal of increasing the participation of young girls in STEM from every part of the world. And for low-income countries we suggest that teacher training, improved educational content, and pedagogy can play a very important role.
At WiSTEM we intend to set an example as an impact-making initiative in the lives of young female and other gender minority dreamers from all parts of the world by continuously motivating women and other underrepresented groups. We aim at democratizing our initiative in the short term by continuously focusing on events, awareness, inspiration, and data collection and analysis through the involvement of more women from different parts of the world.
We have built a very strong team of 21 dedicated volunteers, but we believe that outside collaborations can help us to reach our goals faster, and we are also looking for possible collaborations with different organizations, including biotech companies and other women in STEM initiatives. With the suggestions and feedback from many like-minded people, we expect to contribute to an increased participation and achievement of women and gender minorities in STEM and to support their continued education and career development throughout their lives, so that they can serve to inspire the generations to come.
References
1: Girls' and women's education in Science, Technology, Engineering and mathematics (STEM). UNESCO. (2020, January 14). Retrieved October 31, 2021, from https://en.unesco.org/stemed.
2: 15 initiatives bringing women into stem. World Wide Learn. (2021, June 18). Retrieved October 31, 2021, from https://www.worldwidelearn.com/articles/15-innovative-initiatives-bringing-women-into-stem/.
3: Girls' and women's education in Science, Technology, Engineering and mathematics (STEM). UNESCO. (2020, January 14). Retrieved October 31, 2021, from https://en.unesco.org/stemed.
4: Burke, A., Sobey, M., & Brandon, J. J. (2020, January 21). It's time for large-scale investment in girls' education across Asia. The Asia Foundation. Retrieved October 31, 2021, from https://asiafoundation.org/2019/11/20/its-time-for-large-scale-investment-in-girls-education-across-asia/.
5: The importance of maintaining girls' confidence in Stem. NIHF. (n.d.). Retrieved October 31, 2021, from https://www.invent.org/blog/diversity/maintaining-girls-confidence-stem.
6: Dee, T. S. (2007). Teachers and the Gender Gaps in Student Achievement. The Journal of Human Resources, 42(3), 528–554. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40057317
7: Sanchez, C. (2020, October 9). Meet the women who won Nobel prizes this year. Harper's BAZAAR. Retrieved October 31, 2021, from https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/art-books-music/a34328866/nobel-prizes-2020-women/.