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Mentorship November 6, 2016
Although STEM fields are typically male-dominated, when it comes to technology and engineering, new research shows that young women are more literate than their male peers.
The National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) administered a test to over 20,000 eighth-grade students in 2014 and found surprising results. In this study, students were asked to solve problems about real-world scenarios using an interactive, multimedia format that dealt with three different areas of focus: technology and society, design and systems and information and communication technology.
Of the students who took the test, 45 percent of girls and 42 percent of boys proved to be proficient.
“We did not expect this pattern, and the pattern does seem to be pretty clear from the data overall,” Peggy Carr, the acting commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, said. “It looks like girls have the ability and critical thinking skills to succeed in fields of technology and engineering, and that is worth noting.”
The divide between gender, race and family income status made a difference in the proficiency level of students. For wealthier kids, 59 percent were at or above the proficient level as compared to 25 percent for poorer students. For Asian-American and white students, 56 percent tested proficient, while only 18 percent of blacks and 28 percent of Hispanic students performed as proficiently.
Based on current trends, the tech industry could really use a woman’s help.
Currently, CNET reports that the average percentage of women working in the tech industry is only 30 percent, which is low considering women make up 59 percent percent of the total labor force. For example, at Microsoft, out of the 29.1 percent of females making up their workforce, only 16.6 percent actually work in technical positions. Additionally, women-owned companies in New York City today only get 17 percent of venture funding and of the 41 Fortune 500 companies in the technology sector, only five of them have a female CEO.
STEM fields are clearly dominated by men. However, this study shows that girls today are rising to challenge these male-saturated jobs. Will this generation of children change the face of women in the tech industry?
Only time will tell. But in the meantime, companies can continue to push initiatives to increase gender diversity.
According to leading women in the New York tech industry, gender disparity will end once companies make a conscious effort to fight it.
“It is incredibly important to help women, and men, understand that this is structural, and it is broad-based, and it is not specific to a single person or a single situation,” Lindsay Ullman, a senior director at Sidewalk Labs, said at a panel discussion by the tech firm Axial.
Some women in that panel, however, also argued that the lack of women in the tech industry can be attributed to a lack of confidence. Women not only tend to over-think decisions or hesitate to take risks, their discouraging experiences in the workplace also erode at their confidence. “When you’re 21, 22 or 23, you think you are even more likely to be the CEO of your company than the guy sitting next to you,” Ullman said. “But then, within five years, that confidence drops by 60 percent.” This process happens when women are ignored for a promotion, for instance.
But although this issue has proven difficult to solve in the workplace, schools (not just those researching eight-grade tech talent) are trying to take initiative. In 2007, the National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT) created a program called “Aspirations in Computing.” This program recognizes and creates talent-development programs for high school women who are interested in the technology industry.
Award recipients, according to The Atlantic, get to join an exclusive online network that provides long-term mentoring, encouragement and connections for the future. They also have internships and job opportunities available for interested participants.
“Instead of knowing just a few other women in tech, these girls are connected to thousands,” said Ruthe Farmer, director of strategic initiatives at NCWIT. “This connectedness not only helps them persist in the field, it makes them a great asset for employers. If you want to hire more technical women, hire one of these girls.”
