We are all too familiar with the Stevens ratio. Before visiting campus, you should at least get an idea of what you’re getting yourself into when you attend a tech school. According to the Stevens website, the Undergraduate female population is 29% with only a 1% increase for the Graduate female population for a whopping 30%. This is not a Stevens problem, but a societal one.
Women have been making gains in the STEM field over the past 50 years. In 1970, only 8% of women made up the STEM workforce, and in 2019, they made up 27%. While more women are getting college degrees in engineering and the sciences we are still behind our male counterparts. This number is misleading because it does not show the distribution of the different fields that constitute STEM. While there has been a slow increase in females entering university for engineering, the main cause of the uptick in women in STEM is due to fields such as social sciences and biological science. In 2019, women made up approximately 60% of U.S. social scientists and about 40-50% of life science workers.
Society is more inclusive than it used to be. There are STEM camps for girls, and some parents are encouraging their daughters to conduct science experiments in their backyard rather than just playing with their easy-bake oven. However, the gender stereotype is very much alive for engineering, math, and computer science. In high school, girls are perceived as “nerdy” and “geeky” if they excel in calculus and AP Computer Science. Now you could say, “just brush it off”, “it’s not a big deal”, and in response, I would say yes, you’re right. It doesn’t matter what people say, follow your own path. But at the same time, the fact that there’s still a stigma plays a role in why there is a leaky pipeline.
You might be asking yourself, why is there such a large gender gap specifically with engineering? Women are making gains in fields of medicine and biology—maybe even overrepresenting in that domain.But what is preventing women from getting an equal chance in engineering?
Girls don’t want to feel out of place. And let me tell you, it can be a rude awakening at Stevens. During my time here, I have had at most 10 girls in a class of 50 students. That is a 1:5 ratio of girls to guys. I personally don’t have a problem having a lot of male friends, but I have a problem when they have a superiority complex, especially when I am more knowledgeable on the topic at hand. Just because I am a woman does not mean I know any less than you, I may actually teach you a thing or two.
Senioritis is an Opinion column written by one or two Stevens student(s) in their last year of study to discuss life experiences during their final year at Stevens, and other related subject matter.
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