Rising Boat Of Women In STEM

In July 2018, a prominent newspaper in the UK, The Guardian, had a feature piece on a researcher named Jess Wade who was described as a ‘scientist on a mission’. Wade was featured because in the past year, she had completed 270 Wikipedia entries on different women who had major scientific achievements to their names. Given the ubiquitous nature of Wikipedia, the initiative by this postdoctoral researcher in plastic electronics at Imperial College in London got the public talking on multiple platforms about how women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) hadn’t received their due.

While her efforts were laudable, it also raises the question as to why, even after all these years, it needs personal enterprise of individuals to throw light on what women have done in STEM throughout the history of the field(s).

According to data from UNESCO, women account for less than 30 per cent researchers world-wide. Their presence is often concentrated in the lower echelons of responsibility and decision-making with limited leadership opportunities.

To address this disparity, concerted efforts are required at various levels. To my mind, there are a few key areas that need focus.

The first one is to encourage women to pursue STEM education. Essentially, this is about tackling the problem at source since the paucity of young women pursuing STEM as a career then shows up as disparity at leadership positions in organisations and cutting-edge research.

The second one is that in our organisations, we can take cognizance of this proactively and do much more. For starters, Mentorship Programmes and Employee Support Groups formed within and across our organisations to support women through their journey in STEM play a very big part.

The third one is that it doesn’t and shouldn’t end with encouragement for young women only. Experienced researchers often face systemic issues such as unequal pay, limited advancement opportunities and lack of enabling policies at multiple life stage re-entry points.

The last and also probably the most critical point is around sensitisation and tackling of unconscious and conscious bias at all levels and creating enabling ecosystems where all stakeholders take joint ownership towards furthering this agenda across all levels of the organisation.

They say that a rising tide lifts all boats but let me go a step further and say that the rising boat of women in STEM will surely have a far-reaching, multiplier effect on other boats too.