Gap between women and men in STEM starting to narrow but challenges remain

North Carolina State University graduate Christina Koch blasted off into space on the first ever all female spacewalk on Thursday.

She’s just one of the many women who are paving the way for females entering STEM fields, which include working in and the study of science, technology, engineering and math.

While women make up more than half of the American workforce their likelihood for pursuing careers in STEM isn’t nearly as high, with only about 22 percent of them in the STEM workforce, according to a recent study by the Brookings Institute.

According to the Brown Center on Education Policy, women only account for 18.1-31.1 percent of faculty in STEM fields, but as much as 47.1-53.2 percent of faculty in non-STEM fields.

Sarah Straud, a biology professor at Saint Augustine’s University, said the solution begins long before girls enter college.

“I do think that if more girls were exposed to STEM at younger ages and it was encouraged with girls at younger ages, then more girls would go into STEM fields,” she said.

She says there are several reasons behind the gap between women and men in STEM, but the lack of educational opportunities is just one factor that contributes to the overall disparity.

“I think it’s a lot of our culture too, like what we perceive a woman as being what we perceive a man as being,” she says.

She says these perceptions are part of the problem.

“I don’t feel like women should need to compromise their morals and ethics to get somewhere,” she says. “I think that they should be able to get somewhere on their own right and they should be given a fair chance.”

Straud says that while we’re progressing as a society, the more limiting gender roles are still alive and rampant.

“Girls are encouraged to play with dolls and boys are encouraged to play with Legos,” she says.

Rana Asfour is studying to be a physician assistant at Wake Forest University.

She says sometimes the perception of STEM as being competitive and male dominated, has the ability to discourage women from pursuing careers in STEM.

She says that prior to becoming a PA student, she initially intended to pursue medicine but was discouraged.

“I switched to PA because I didn’t want to be in school for eight years, but back when I was pre-med people always encouraged me to do PA because it’s considered a more female friendly career,” she says. “Comments like that really bothered me.”

While Asfour has experienced some pushback about being a woman in STEM, she says she doesn’t let it bring her down and uses it as an opportunity to showcase what she’s capable of.

“I just keep my eyes on my prize,” she said.