FROM THE GROUND UP: WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN STEM

In 2012, women received 50.5 %of the total number of bachelor's degrees in STEM, but female participation is not evenly distributed among science and engineering disciplines. While women receive 59% of all bachelor's degrees in biological sciences and 39% of earth science degrees, they only receive 20% of engineering degrees. At the graduate level,, the population narrows, with women representing 41.4% of all doctorates in science and engineering. Earth sciences has some of the lowest female academic employment rates amongst all fields, with only one female for every five men. This is a ‘pipeline problem’ that has a deep historical context rooted in gender roles, systematic oppression, and the masculinization of the scientific process.

Rhetoric and philosophy are embedded in the history of women’s participation in STEM, making the debate ethical and ideological. But affirmative action created major changes in how we document and measure that participation. By comparing inequalities before and after this policy, we can explore the pipeline problem and how women’s experience in STEM has changed historically, positively and negatively.

There is a common transition in different fields of STEM; women are integrated in sciences through determination, solidarity, and opportunity. Women dominate biology partially because Anna Comstock created a curriculum for Nature study in the 19th century--she made nature study a female occupation and an accessible. Other women challenge the system through persistence and awareness. For example, the organization Girls Who Code addresses the pipeline problem at an early age. In the geosciences, women are still in a time of transition where they are steadily increasing in doctorates, but there is still a ways to go. By expanding networks like the Association for Women Geoscientists and increasing in faculty representation, we’re able to project the track of female participation in geosciences and also address opportunities for growth.