In earlier times, there were very less girls or women involved in STEM because of the restricted thinking of individuals which led to female feticide, female infanticide, and the thought that women should be restricted to a home being housewives, cooking food, taking care of children rather follow their dream and work for the development of society.
Then with the societal development even though the gender disparity has not been completely removed but has abated a lot. Then women started following their dreams and the workforce ratio of men and women in STEM experiences a small increase. UNESCO also believes that more women indulging in the STEM field bring about sustainable development. There is a lot a greater number of male scientists as compared to female ones.
There were/are many reasons for girls not indulging in STEM studies:
A myth that boys possess more intelligence in the technological and mathematics field, girls begin to lose their self-confidence. That is, believing in the potential for intellectual growth, in and of itself improves outcomes. This is true for everyone but it is particularly helpful for girls in mathematics where negative stereotypes persist about their abilities.
The gender pay gap is also one of the reasons. Female graduates earned less on average than male graduates. Most of the healthcare workforce are women especially in lower-paying jobs like nurses, health workers than those females who are doctors. Many women are employed in computer fields but most of them are indulged in small computer works than in main computer engineering field. Girls have fewer role models to inspire their interest in these fields.
A research proved that small improvements in physics and computer science departments like providing a broader overview of the field in introductory courses can add up to big gains in female student recruitment
STEPS TO INCREASE WOMEN IN STEM FIELDS
But nowadays women are constantly evolving and reaching new milestones across a wide spectrum of human activities. Women in STEM are invariably focused on the completion of tasks assigned within a deadline. They maintain the smooth functioning of the organization. In the present century if given equal opportunities women outperform men and take economic growth to a height.
There are many steps taken by the government to encourage women to join STEM fields
Gender parity in STEM is important because true progress cannot happen without a diversity of perspectives in different STEM roles.
– by Vedika Mishra
