It’s always the same person – the old, gray-haired, white man, who’s been with the company for decades. No matter where you go, he’s the manager, the VP, and the CEO. Doesn’t it make you wonder “where are all the Black women in STEM leadership?” Erika Jefferson, the founder of Black Women in Science & Engineering (BWiSE), posed this question in a recent article for Scientific American. She detailed that despite our increasing efforts to encourage women to pursue STEM degrees, we’re lacking retention in the workforce. Whether we’re not receiving the opportunities to advance into leadership roles or leaving our STEM-driven positions mid-career, we’re seeing fewer women of color at high levels.
Read about the STEMpowered Woman leading a Fortune 500 company
Learn more on her insight in this short excerpt from her article:
Today, Black women are working in every industry imaginable and doing jobs that, just a generation or two ago, we could only dream of. Yet the number of those working at senior levels in STEM fields remains distressingly low. In March, the National Science Foundation reported that in 2016 alone, Black women earned more than 33,000 bachelor’s degrees in science and engineering and accounted for 24 percent of doctorates awarded in STEM. But that same report showed that in 2017, only 5 percent of managerial jobs in STEM were held by Black women. So, where are we?
Erika Jefferson – President, Black Women in Science & Engineering (BWiSE)
This disparity is occurring amid record employment levels, and there is a critical need for qualified technical workers—but we cannot expect women and underrepresented minorities to remain in work environments where they cannot grow and thrive. We also cannot expect girls to enter fields where they do not see positive role models. It is imperative that we stop the constant drip from the leaky STEM pipeline by working hard to retain women—and especially underrepresented women of color—from the middle to the end.
Not only is this important for today’s workforce needs, but also for tomorrow’s. Despite our best efforts to encourage future generations to become scientists and engineers, there is no guarantee they will enter or stay in the STEM workforce once their education is complete. Without an influx of new talent each year, the United States will far further behind other nations in innovative and technological advances. Let’s spend more time and money to ensure we can keep those Black women who are determined enough to make science a career.
