Inspiring a Shift: Women in STEM

No surprise to anyone, I am proud to be a #WomenInSTEM.

I’m also quite proud of the firm that I work for; being a diverse, female-lead, majority female agency is a true rarity in the current landscape.

When I talk with other women in the field about working at Mad Hatter, and having a female lead the agency, they completely get it. They understand how rare that is and how much of an impact that has in attracting diverse talent in the workplace.

According to StatsCan, men made up 72.7% of the STEM workforce while women only made up 27.3% between 1991 - 2011

I recently gave a presentation with the fabulous Hive WR, who are doing amazing things to promote digital literacy and getting girls involved in tech, and all of the speakers spent the night describe different ways that current workplaces can transform to becoming welcoming environments for female and minorities and furthermore, how to get young girls and minorities to stay in STEM.

Here’s the thing: even if you improve the number of female and minorities graduating from postsecondary institutions with a degree in STEM, only 1 in 7 female STEM graduates actually end up working in the field.

That’s terrifying. And the numbers don’t lie. According to the 2016 American Census:

- 35.2% of chemists are women

- 11.1% of physicists and astronomers are women

- 33.8% of environmental engineers are women

- 22.7% of chemical engineers are women

- 17.5% of civil, architectural, and sanitary engineers are women

- 17.1% of industrial engineers are women

- 10.7% of electrical or computer hardware engineers are women

- 7.9% of mechanical engineers are women

​So even if can manage to keep a female coder in a STEM-related program through to graduation, a rarity in itself, there is a 1 in 7 chance that they will work in the field, and a 1 in 10 chance that they will work as a computer engineer.

We’ve come a long way and we still have a long way to go. But, as I get involved in more and more #WomenInSTEM initiatives and as each year brings us closer to parity, I am more inspired to be in this field, to highlight women who are paving the way for the next generation.

For extra inspiration during Women’s History Month, click here. To support #WomenInSTEM initiatives in Kitchener Waterloo, support Hive WR and Code.Like.A.Girl.io.