September 9, 2016 11:55 AM
Women Will Get It Done
Going forward, the Washington Watch will be including short sections from a project that I have been working on called, “Women Will Get it Done.”This project is a compilation of data on women in America: in politics, business, the military, education, and at home. It explores some of the specific challenges women face in advancing in these fields. It looks at everything from the dramatic, such as domestic violence, to the more hidden, such as pervasive institutional biases.
A general theme throughout all of the study is that biases exist and keep doors closed for many women, even though they have proven their ability to achieve success in every field. If American society could see women as equally capable members of society, we would all be better for it.
The question now is how these challenges can be overcome? How can women play a greater role in U.S. politics, business and culture? And, most of all, how can the [institutional] gender biases that hold so many women back become a thing of the past?
Women in Science
In 2014, journalist Touriq Moosa wrote: “That the disparity between men and women’s representation in science and math arises from culture rather than genetics seems beyond dispute.” In the United States, the numbers of women going into STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) fields lags significantly behind that of men but it is not because women are inherently inferior intellectually, but rather that they are not socialized to consider them as viable careers.The statistics are clear:
• In a 2012 study, only 5.7% of female respondents had computer and mathematical occupations and just 4.3% had architecture and engineering occupations.
• In 2011, women earned only 17.6% of Computer and Information Sciences Bachelor’s Degrees and 18.7% of Engineering Bachelor’s Degrees.
• In 2013, only 20% of the students who took the high school computer science Advanced Placement test were female.
• In the tech industry just 20% of software developers are women, and they make 49 cents to the male dollar and among women who do join the tech field, 52% leave by midcareer.
The reasons for these statistics are also clear:
• Gender-based socialization and messaging that science isn’t for girls are incredibly pervasive in American culture.
• For women who have engineering degrees but don’t work in the field, the things that pushed them out were uncivil workplace climates, inflexible work schedules, and little opportunity to advance.
• In a 2014 survey of scientists engaged in field research, 64% said they had personally experienced sexual harassment while at a field site. The vast majority of victims were women.
• According to a survey of women in tech, barriers for women include: facing stereotypes based on gender, being excluded from important networks of key decision-makers, not having a mentor and lacking role models who are similar to themselves.
While inroads are being made, the overall problem continues: women and girls are not being told that science is for them.
Women Are Losing to Men in IT jobs
The percentage of women working in the information technology field has always been relatively low, but it didn’t used to be as lost as it is now.It peaked at 31 percent in 1990, then declined by about 6 percent over the past decade, even as the percentage of women in other occupations has steadily risen…
…most IT workers tend to be young, male and often foreign born…
…IT jobs have grown from 450,000 in 1970 to 4.6 million in 2014…
…in the 70s, men were paid a median wage of $74,180, which jumped to $80,895 in 2014...
…in 1970, the median wage for women working in IT jobs was $57,315, and in 2014 it jumped to $70,385.
….more than half of all IT workers are between the ages of 25 and 44 and that 24 percent are foreign-born.
….EPI’s own analysis has estimated that about two-thirds of all hires each year are employed under guest-worker visas.
