Advancing Women in Tech: A Look into How Far We’ve Come

While we still have a lot of work ahead of us to completely diminish the gender gap in STEM and increase the amount of women in the field, it’s important to notate the progress and celebrate the great strides forward in the past year so we can carry this momentum into 2022, and beyond.

As a woman who has devoted her professional career to STEM, I have seen firsthand the need for creating more opportunities, representation, and incentives to encourage more women and young girls to enter the field. This past year, we’ve taken important steps in the right direction. By building upon the framework of these forward-thinking initiatives and continuing to take tangible action to elicit change within our communities, we can continue to close the gender gap in STEM.

Increased Representation

The media plays a huge role in how people, especially young people, see themselves and the world around them. For years, young women have seen depictions of other women in the media that shape their dreams and possibilities. Recently, we’ve seen a push to include more representation of women in STEM in the media for young girls to look up to.

In June of 2021, 3M released Not the Science Type, a documentary series showing four women’s different experiences facing stereotyping, gender inequality, and racial and age discrimination while rising to the top of their careers in biology, engineering and science and technology-based applications. All four women shared one common theme: they felt underrepresented in the STEM field and wanted to change that for the next generation of females. As a woman who faced similar experiences working in the sciences, I applaud the strength and courage these women have for sharing their journeys and becoming four role models for girls to look up to. The importance of representation, specifically for girls to see that a career in the sciences is possible, cannot be overlooked.

British Foreign Secretary and equalities minister, Liz Truss, is also making important strides to get more women into STEM jobs. She recently announced her plan to create two government led task forces to examine ways to boost the representation of women in STEM jobs and at the helm of start-ups, with “equality of opportunity” as the main goal. It’s amazing to see these initiatives being taken at the government level, and I am looking forward to seeing the progress that is made from these panels. I hope that other countries follow suit.

Education

It’s important for women in STEM to be represented in the media as an example for the generations to come, but it’s equally important to actually provide educational and learning communities for young women who want to grow in STEM.

An example of an organization that has done a great job closing the gender gap in tech over the past years is girls who code. Extending from 3rd grade to college-aged students, the organization has programs that foster young girls’ interests in math and science. Not only showing girls how fun a career in tech can be but also showing them that there’s a community of people who want to see them succeed. I love the message behind the organization’s recent campaign, #MakeThatChange, where they share: “when you learn to code, you can not only make the change you want to see in the world, but you can change the trajectory of your own life, too. And when women in tech come together, they don’t just make change — they #MakeThatChange.”

Other educational opportunities on the horizon for women interested in entering the field are college scholarships. After researching, I found numerous scholarships for women who want to study STEM. The Young Women in STEM Scholarship encourages the future generation of women in STEM fields, by offering scholarships to female high school seniors and undergraduate students that are from low-income households and are pursuing a degree in STEM. Other scholarships include: Latinas in STEM Scholarship, Connie Konatsotis Scholarship, Elevate Women in Technology Scholarship, and more.

With varying backgrounds and financial situations, college scholarships are a great way to attract more young women to enter the field and strive for success. This is an area I hope to see expand in opportunity over the next year.

By bringing different perspectives to the table, changing the status quo, and providing learning and growth opportunities, we can work to continue changing STEM’s male-dominated institutions. With over 35 initiatives aiming to close the gender gap in cybersecurity by attracting more women into the field, we have a bright future ahead and I’m excited to see these young women change cybersecurity for the better.

And for the young women who are interested in pursuing a career in STEM, we believe in you.