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The National Science Foundation's "Women, Minorites, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering" (2021) report presents statistical information on the educational attainment and employment of women, underrepresented racial minorities (URM).

Race imbalance in STEM fields

Employed adults, by workforce, educational attainment, and race and ethnicity: 2019.

According to the the National Science Board's "The STEM Labor Force Today: Scientists, Engineers, and Skilled Technical Workers" (2021), which provides statistical data on the U.S. Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics labor force, people of color remain underrepresented in STEM occupations.

Employment, Occupation, and Income

See also: Gender pay gap

Using American Community Survey data, Asians represent 9%, Whites 65%, Hispanics 14%, and Blacks 9% of the STEM labor force. The Pew Research Center reports that Whites make up about 69% of the STEM workforce, while Black people are underrepresented as they only make up 9% of the STEM workforce. More specifically, Black people only make up 5% of engineering, 11% of health-related sciences, 6% of physical science, 9% of math, 4% of life science, and 7% of the computer science workforce. Women are also underrepresented, making up roughly half the United States workforce, yet they only make up 27% of STEM workers. However, there has been growth in these fields for women, as women only made up 8% of these fields in the 1970s. Despite this growth taking place over time, the underrepresentation still persists. While being underrepresented, there are also significant wage gaps between women, men, and people of color, especially in STEM jobs. Women and Black workers are considerably more disadvantaged compared to their White and male counterparts. An example of this disadvantage is the pay gap in computer science fields, where White workers make roughly 23.2% more income than Blacks. Furthermore, in 2019, women only make 74% of what men make in STEM fields, Asian workers make 127% of what white workers make in STEM, Hispanic workers at 83%, and Black workers at 78%. As of 2019, Asian men earn the most annually in STEM jobs at $103,300 whereas Hispanic and Black women earn the least at only $57,000 annually. The gender, racial, and ethnic pay gap in STEM fields are significantly greater than all regular non-STEM jobs with an even greater pay gap between these gender, racial, and ethnic groups. When first being hired, 35% of women of color reported negotiating their salaries, but nearly 50% wished that they had negotiated their salary after starting the job. Many of these women reported being initially satisfied with the salary they had been offered when being hired, but later learned that they were earning much less than other workers at their same level.

Effects of Underrepresentation of POC in STEM

Psychological distress can be caused by underrepresentation can lead to mental illnesses, like anxiety and depression, that can have an effect on a student’s capability to perform academically. About 6 in 10 African Americans feel that there is not enough attention being directed toward adding more racial and ethnic diversity in the workplace.

Experiences of people of color in STEM

Discrimination

Implicit Bias

Implicit bias directed towards people of color negatively affects their ability to progress and can affect the way a person interacts with another or a group, leading to disparities. It also affects their chance to succeed in STEM classes and fields from PreK-12 education all the way to the workplace. For example, in a study conducted by Dr. Walter Gilliam, it was found that preschool teachers often held an implicit bias against black boys. While black children only make up 19% of preschool enrollment, they account for about half of preschool suspension. This bias has caused teachers and faculty to separate students of color and often inhibit them from entering STEM or advanced classes, which may further contribute or explain the underrepresentation in STEM. Judgements placed upon people of color based on these implicit biases are incredibly damaging and contribute to stereotype threat, which affects their overall performances. For instance, Black women are often assumed to be the janitorial staff along with being underqualified, which forces them to overwork themselves to prove that they deserve to be in those spaces(Hidden Figures, Disney).

With People of Color who are a part of the LGBTQ+ community, their time in STEM spaces proves to be even more difficult. For example, in a Scientific American blog post, a Black trans male neuroscientist was praised for a seminar he presented in and was told it was better than his sister’s. What they failed to realize was that his ‘sister’ was him before he transitioned to a man. This shows that adding the intersections of sexual orientation, race and gender complicate the experiences of people of color in STEM in astronomical ways.

Strategies for increasing representation of POC in STEM

The CMS Girls Engineering Camp at Texas A&M University–Commerce in June 2015

There are a multitude of factors that may explain the low representation of minorities in STEM, action is needed in order to eliminate the underrepresentation. This can be done by incorporating role models, mentors, providing bias training and protective factors, and influencing diversity.

Diversifying STEM fields is an important goal.

Increasing the representation of people of color within STEM requires collective action among educators, governments, organizations, and learners.

For Society

Underrepresentation of women and people of color in STEM is a problem that is rooted from society.

For Educators

While many teachers are highly dedicated to reducing the race gap and actively striving to create equal opportunities in their classrooms, they can actually contribute to the STEM race gap. It is important that teachers understand that their actions impact students’ futures more than they may realize. The journal article “What You Need to Know About the STEM Race Gap”, states, “Teachers alone cannot tackle systemic issues of racism, sexism, and ethnocentrism in STEM.” Cindy Hoisington at Edtopia writes. “But addressing our own biases and enriching our repertories of STEM teaching behaviors is a manageable goal and has the potential to dramatically benefit not only our individual students but the STEM community as a whole” (White 2018). A nonprofit based out of Harvard, Project Implicit, creates tests to help people better understand subconscious biases and stereotypes they may have. Requiring educators to take this test to shine light on any subconscious biases they may have can help educate them on ways to be intentional, push these biases aside, learn from them, and overall better support all students.

Role models

One of the most promoted solutions is the need for role models. While both female and male role models can be effective in recruiting women in STEM fields there is a lack of role models of color to mentor POC in STEM fields. When individuals have someone to look up to that looks like them, they are more willing to stay in the field and develop a sense of belonging. In the Journal article, Girls and Women in STEM: STEMIng the Tide and Broadening Participation in STEM Careers, the authors stated, “Academic departments should recruit senior women in STEM fields to present their technical work as part of department colloquia, brown-bags, and other special events, providing opportunities for these speakers to meet and mentor students.” (Dasgupta and Stout, 25) Opportunities to engage and connect with individuals in STEM allows for excitement to be a part of this community. The sooner individuals have opportunities to engage in STEM the more connected they will be in the field. Providing individuals with hands-on experiences and role models will allow for students to stay engaged in the field. According to the journal, Reimagining the Pipeline, "Undergraduates at research-intensive institutions are often more exposed to and influenced by researchers who serve as a de facto role models than are students at minority-serving institutions. Accordingly, the influence of research on undergraduate education at research-intensive institutions is greater than that of minority-serving institutions." (Allen-Ramdial and Campbell, 615) This shows the need for increased access to research opportunities allowing minority students to have opportunities to engage with STEM early on.

For Learner

Being aware of the collection of factors that contribute to low representation of women in STEM fields explains the phenomena of the leaky pipeline and can reverse some of its effects for STEM learners. Interpretations and perceptions of people of color participating in STEM environments easily become skewed due to factors including stereotype threat, lack of mentors, and comparative advantage. Despite the multitude of these factors, people of color still show interest in thriving in these environments. The major findings from I AM STEM, a community-based STEM program designed specifically for Black girls and women, indicate that Black women ignited interest in learning STEM fields after exploring their own formal and informal experiences with STEM using critical race methodology. The dynamic and complex perspectives and experiences gave women who participated in I AM STEM a space to formulate new understandings and create better connections between their everyday lives and the environment in which they learn STEM. The major findings confirm that Black women have a luster for learning STEM after being given a space to explore their unique experience with STEM after historically being silenced and misrepresented.

See also

• Sex and intelligence
• International Conference of Women Engineers and Scientists
• Women in science
• Women in computing
• Association for Women in Science
• Association for Women in Mathematics
• Stereotype threat
• Pygmalion effect
• Black sheep effect
• Beyond Bias and Barriers
• Implicit stereotypes
• Glass ceiling
• Inequality in the workplace
• STEM fields
• Heuristics in judgment and decision making
• Category:Organizations for women in science and technology
• Margaret W. Rossiter History of Women in Science Prize
• Matilda effect

References

Sources

•  This article incorporates text from a free content work. Licensed under CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0 (license statement/permission). Text taken from A Complex Formula: Girls and Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics in Asia​, 15, 23–24, UNESCO, UNESCO. UNESCO.
•  This article incorporates text from a free content work. Licensed under CC BY-SA. Text taken from Cracking the code: girls' and women's education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)​, UNESCO.
•  This article incorporates text from a free content work. Licensed under C-BY-SA 3.0 IGO. Text taken from To be smart, the digital revolution will need to be inclusive​, Bello et al., UNESCO.

Further reading

• American Association of University Women (2010). Why So Few?
• American Association of University Women - official website and career development grants for women: [1]
• WIOA - Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act
• Natarajan, Priyamvada, "Calculating Women" (review of Margot Lee Shetterly, Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race, William Morrow; Dava Sobel, The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars, Viking; and Nathalia Holt, Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, from Missiles to the Moon to Mars, Little, Brown), The New York Review of Books, vol. LXIV, no. 9 (25 May 2017), pp. 38–39.
• World Economic Forum "Global Gender Gap 2020"
• Campero S. 2020. "Hiring and Intra-occupational Gender Segregation in Software Engineering." American Sociological Review.