"Historically, researchers and policymakers paid attention to increasing women in STEM for gender equity," says Dr. Hyun Kyoung Ro, co-editor of Gender Equity in STEM in Higher Education and Associate Professor of Counseling and Higher Education at the University of North Texas.

"STEM professions often pay better than other professional sectors, thus having more women in STEM can decrease the gender gap in earnings."

But a diversified workforce is more than just about equity. Attracting and retaining more women in STEM benefits the sector – and society – too.

"STEM disciplines have been known as white, middle-income, heterosexual, able-bodied, and men-dominated fields," adds Dr. Ro.

"Technology designed by engineers and scientists with diverse backgrounds can advance products and services for consumers who have diverse needs. That’s why we need more women in STEM – particularly women of color and women scientists who have diverse social identities and backgrounds."

This ultimately boosts innovation, creativity, and competitiveness.

"We are excluding some smart, talented, and curious women from the field," adds Maryann Stimmer, Senior Technical Advisor for STEM Programs at FHI 360, a non-profit that partners with governments and organizations to bring about positive social change and provide quality education.

"All of their potential work, discoveries, and intellectual gifts to the field are lost. What if Barbara McClintock hadn’t been so persistent about a STEM career? All of Watson and Crick’s work [on DNA] grew from hers.

"What if Adriana Ocampo hadn’t defied the odds of becoming a planetary geologist? How far behind in planetary analysis would we be?"

Effect on retention

More women in STEM can also help tackle the "masculine default" in organizations that leads to women leaving STEM or not starting a STEM career in the first place:

"I have experience of female engineers quitting engineering jobs for teaching positions," says Dr. Doras Sibanda, Senior Lecturer in Chemistry Education at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and regular contributor to journals including the African Journal of Research in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education and Education 3–13.

"This is a reflection that the workplace has not changed in terms of work expectations for men and women."

STEM literacy

The "STEM literacy" capabilities girls develop in school and higher education are also important in all fields, not just STEM:

"This increases their chances of engaging with and viewing the world through a rational lens, and using STEM knowledge and skills to improve their own life chances and those of others," says Dr. Anne Forbes, Senior Lecturer in STEM Education at Macquarie School of Education and co-author of STEM Education in the Primary School: A Teacher's Toolkit.

Professor Emma Smith, Head of the Department of Education Studies at the University of Warwick and regular contributor to journals including Oxford Review of Education also highlights the significance of STEM literacy:

"There is the importance of having a scientifically literate population who can consume basic scientific information so they are able to engage critically with issues that concern us today – whether it is about understanding the climate emergency or the need to maintain a healthy lifestyle, as well as evaluating the risks associated with COVID and so on."

"There are many reasons at individual, institutional, and societal levels that prevent women from pursuing STEM degrees and careers," says Dr. Ro.

"It's a complex problem with many factors," adds Dr. Forbes.

Competency isn't a cause

"Among individual factors, research has shown that girls are as good at math – or even better – and as interested in math as boys," says Dr. Ro.

"The 2015 National Center for Education Statistics' Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) reported that, at Grade 8 level, only 6 out of the 39 participating countries reflected a statistically significant gender gap favoring boys," adds Professor Sarah Bansilal, Professor of Mathematics Education at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and Chief Editor of African Journal of Research in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education.

"Meanwhile, seven countries reported a statistically significant gender difference favoring girls."

So if it's not competency in STEM subjects holding girls back from a career in STEM, what is?

Gender bias

"Gender stereotypes against girls and women are still ongoing in STEM learning and STEM fields," says Dr. Ro.

"Parents, teachers, and community members may not see the potential in STEM for girls and young women, particularly for women of color.

"White and Asian girls may consider STEM careers because they are often exposed to doctors, engineers, or scientists of their same race.

"Latina and Black women students may not have as many chances to interact with same-race STEM professionals."

Dr. Forbes agrees: "Uninformed or biased perspectives by advertisers, media program developers, parents, relatives, and teachers combine to provide a male-centric view of STEM.

"This excludes or marginalizes girls and young women from engaging with STEM ways of thinking and working."

Dr. Forbes highlights these examples:

1. Advertisers of children's toys presenting STEM as a male domain
2. Parents, carers, and relatives making decisions about whether to enroll their children in STEM activities
3. Teacher ignorance or bias when preparing and implementing learning experiences

This can feed into societal norms about gendered roles, says Professor Smith:

"Recent research with secondary-age students shows that the image of a lone scientist – usually male – 'mixing things' in their lab persists. This is despite decades of interventions to widen knowledge about the breadth of STEM careers and promote the notion of ‘science for all.'"

Self-belief

Girls also tend to have less belief than boys in their STEM-related skills.

"Girls underestimate their science abilities," says Dr. Forbes.

"A recent study by Webb-Williams made the disturbing finding that, while primary school boys’ and girls’ 'actual performance in science was similar… girls consistently (and in some cases grossly) underestimated their science performance.'

"Girls mostly did this by negatively comparing their work with that of nearby peers and being highly sensitive to negative verbal, facial, and physical gestures from their peers or teacher," adds Dr. Forbes.

This means fewer women choosing certain STEM-related subjects at school and in higher education, and fewer choosing a career in some sub-disciplines of STEM.

Stereotype threat

Another possible reason for this lack of self-belief is due to what researchers call the "stereotype threat."

This is where fear of confirming the negative stereotypes about women and girls in STEM causes girls to doubt their abilities and underperform.

Options beyond STEM

"I think we also need to consider whether any under-representation is not because of an informed and considered choice on their part," says Professor Smith.

"There is an expanded choice of subjects to study, both at post-16 and, for those who go, university. There are also a lot of different career paths, and it may be that many girls and young women see opportunities and challenges beyond the traditionally defined borders of STEM."

Policymakers, schools and universities, and parents can all play a part in encouraging and supporting girls so they're more likely to develop and retain an interest in STEM.

This can start early in a girl's life:

"A person’s identity begins to form from birth," says Dr. Forbes.

"Well before a child leaves primary school their 'STEM identity' is – or is not – developing, and notably, it takes time to develop."

What can parents and carers do?

"Parents should ensure they do not have different expectations for girls and boys, in terms of academic performance, sports, and responsibilities at home," says Professor Bansilal.

"Set high expectations for children irrespective of gender."

"Parents should not assign gender roles to children at a young age," adds Dr. Sibanda.

"They should also support girls in the same way they support boys, both financially and emotionally."

Get messy

"Give them experiences that let them explore – and sometimes make a mess," says Ms. Stimmer.

"Make oobleck with young children. Encourage building and asking questions. Let them take guesses and learn to refine their answers.

"There are so many resources out there now for parents. Even NASA has activities for families to have fun and learn."

Other influences

Parents also need to be aware of other influences in the community away from school.

"Religious and cultural leaders need to be sensitized to their influence on parents and youngsters," says Professor Bansilal.

For example, "some religious texts portray girls as being subservient to boys and that males are more important than females.

"In places where religion is viewed as most important, then those perspectives are not questioned by the participants."

What can schools and universities do?

"Schools need to make sure there is a good representation of STEM teachers in terms of gender, so successful female teachers can act as role models to their learners," says Professor Bansilal.

Ms. Stimmer agrees: "Create a 'woke' faculty."

Dr. Ro highlights that role models are especially important for Latina and Black students:

"These students do not see role models in their STEM classes. The instruction is isolated from relevant contexts and from students’ identities, and peer culture may be too competitive rather than collaborative," she says.

"Faculty and administrators should offer more inclusive and welcoming environments to women, particularly to women of color, otherwise they tend to choose other majors which better represent and serve them."

"They should also make sure that teachers do not promote gendered stereotypes of people who are successful in mathematics and ensure that cultural and social norms that promote gendered attitudes and expectations are recognized and discouraged within the school," adds Professor Bansilal.

Women teachers can also help girls improve their performance in STEM subjects:

"Research by Sullivan and Bers observed that female teachers may have a greater favorable impact on girls’ performance in robotics and coding activities than male teachers," says Jiahong Su, a researcher in technology and early childhood education at the University of Hong Kong.

Ensuring exposure to STEM subjects

"Exposure to math and advanced math in secondary school is crucial," says Dr. Ro.

"High schools that do not have a lot of funding and resources – which often have more Black and Latinx students – often do not offer advanced math courses – e.g., Algebra II and Calculus.

"To encourage Latina and Black women students in STEM, an early exposure to math courses through K–12 education is also key," she adds.

Professor Bansilal thinks there could be a link between the quality of a school and girls' participation in math and other STEM subjects:

"When schools focus on effective teaching, learning, and academic success, gender differences may not be so noticeable because everybody is focused on improving themselves.

"In a dysfunctional school, the management struggles with making sure that normal activities are done properly. In such a case, practices that discourage girls may not be recognized amongst the 'noise' of all the other factors needing attention."

Get practical

"Make STEM as hands-on as possible," adds Ms. Stimmer.

"Not just in the science classes, but across the board... hands-on math! Give girls more opportunities to engage before, during, and after school."

How much should schools do?

"There are a number of potentially conflicting roles for school science education," says Professor Smith.

"Is its purpose to provide scientific training for a minority in preparation for university and the labor market? Or is there a broader social aim of educating a scientifically literate population, as well as encouraging an enjoyment of learning science for its own sake?"

"We know that making science compulsory in the U.K. more than 30 years ago had little impact on recruitment to STEM subjects at university. So it is difficult to see what further efforts schools can make – particularly within a system that restricts the choice of subjects post-16 and again at university."

What can policymakers and researchers do?

"We still need to learn more about the situations under which girls flourish in STEM and those which limit their participation," says Professor Bansilal.

Ms. Su agrees: "We need more STEM research that only focuses on girls."

Dr. Ro highlights the need to ensure girls from all backgrounds are included in efforts to get more girls into STEM:

"We should try to focus on the representation of women who have diverse backgrounds – and not just white women or Asian women, particularly in the United States. Throughout K–12 education to higher education, and then to the STEM workforce.

"Also, girls who have the potential for STEM careers – i.e., those who are good at math – tend to be good at other subjects such as literacy. So they have more options to choose from in other majors or careers.

"Thus, having more intentional efforts to prevent the 'STEM pipeline leakage' throughout education and the workforce to keep women is necessary."

Dr. Ro suggests a sector-wide effort, involving industry and education:

"STEM higher education, industry, and professional associations should offer vision and strategic planning to promote more women engineers and scientists.

"It is a long journey. It should be started from early childhood education and higher education and industry should be engaged in the early stage as well."

"There needs to be a centralized response internationally and nationally," adds Dr. Forbes

Reviewing the 'why' of policy and research

"The recruitment of female scientists is often framed in policy discussions as a way to overcome perceived shortfalls in the numbers of STEM workers and tends to be motivated by economic concerns rather than a desire to include more women in important and fulfilling careers," says Professor Smith.

"This is an important point, especially when, as our research has shown, studying STEM subjects is generally advantageous for men in terms of accessing highly skilled STEM employment but was not always associated with higher status occupations among women."