Despite making up 50% of the labor market, women only make up 28% of STEM fields. We need more representation to create better technology that is made by women for women. This percentage has increased over the years, but we can do better! By introducing more girls to STEM and educating them about the benefits at a young age, we can substantially increase that number.

In high school, one of largest differences between boys and girls taking STEM classes is in engineering. Only 8% of girls choose to enroll in an engineering class. If we want to increase the number of women in STEM jobs, we must start early in high school and encourage these classes to create the interest. Some students may not find their passion in these classes, but some students will! 

At the university level, the number of women earning STEM degrees has increased by 50,000 over the last decade. However, due to the popularity of STEM, the drastic increase of men choosing this career path, and the number of women remaining constant, the gender gap is still prevalent with only 24% of people getting STEM degrees being women. To close this gap, we need to not only match but exceed the rate of men choosing these degrees.

In most fields, women board members are rare, but, in STEM fields, the number is especially low. In addition to there being fewer women in general, studies have shown that women are often more qualified than men, which means it takes longer and more work to become a board member. Ways we can combat this is through first encouraging girls to go into STEM careers as well as emphasizing that they should be confident in their abilities to self-promote.