Communications of the ACM
Fostering Women in STEM
Georgetown University researchers are looking for creative ways to encourage women to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields.
Although women account for about 50 percent of the workforce, they only hold 25 percent of jobs in STEM fields, according to a 2012 White House Council on Women and Girls study. Some researchers feel that this lack of female participation, and thus the lack of female role models in the sciences, discourages younger generations of women from entering the field. Moreover, women who possess careers in STEM fields may neglect to reach out to the next generation of girls because of the competitiveness of the field, according to Georgetown University professor Lisa Singh. "Once women decide to come into computer science [in Georgetown], we seem to be retaining them," Singh says. "That's huge."
However, while about 40 percent of men with STEM college degrees go on to work in STEM-related fields, only 26 percent of women with such degrees pursue STEM careers, according to a 2011 U.S. Department of Commerce study. The Georgetown researchers are trying to reverse this trend for the next generation by reaching out to girls and introducing them to STEM at a young age.
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