Reducing Tech Gender Barriers Could Unleash a $212 Billion Opportunity
According to the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES), the share of women working in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) roles is on the rise. That’s the good news.
The not-so-great news, according to the NCSES, is that about two-thirds (65 percent) of those women put their STEM careers in motion by earning their bachelor’s degree, while less than half of men (43 percent) in STEM roles can make the same academic claim.
In other words: even though the number of women in the STEM professions rose 31 percent between 2011 and 2021, the nearly 23 million men now working in STEM were not necessarily expected to achieve the same academic accomplishments that their female counterparts were. Not only do NCSES findings suggest women are being asked to clear a higher educational bar to enter STEM fields, but the agency’s findings also show that — once employed — women earn less.
[Learn more about the earnings disparities facing women.]
(This disparity isn’t limited to women. NCSES data also shows minorities are underrepresented in tech jobs, with Hispanics making up 15 percent of the total STEM workforce, while Asian and Black workers account for 10 percent and 9 percent respectively. American Indians and Alaska Natives collectively account for less than 1 percent of the STEM workforce. And Hispanic, Black, American Indian and Alaska Native STEM workers earn less than their White and Asian counterparts.)
Graphic courtesy of NCSES
A Global Shortage of Women in Tech
STEM career paths include a wide array of roles and responsibilities, and the Department of Labor estimates that 6.5 million Americans total work in tech, with women accounting for about 28 percent of that workforce while accounting for 51 percent of the total U.S. population.
How do U.S. STEM workforce percentages measure up to those in other parts of the world?
Twenty-six percent of the U.K. tech workforce are women, while women account for about 22 percent of Europe’s tech workers. The share of women in technology across the six countries in Asia ranges from 34 percent to 40 percent. In Latin America, less than 10 percent of software developers are women. The shortage of female tech workers in the U.S. aligns more or less with global trends, although there are outliers.
In the relatively small eastern European country of Moldova, for instance, a country with less than 2.5 million residents, women make up nearly half of tech workers. Why? Moldova has benefited from the U.N.’s Development Programme (UNDP), a program created to eradicate poverty and reduce inequalities and exclusion in 170 countries. In the case of Moldova, the UNDP determined that bringing equality to the country’s digital workforce could help the country’s economy, so it helped Moldova develop a national initiative to train and place women in the country’s tech sector.
But it’s not only governmental agencies banding together to level the gender playing field in STEM. Last year, Technovation was launched with the support of industry giants such as Google, Shopify, eBay, TEKsystems, SAP and others specifically to “create a generation of female leaders and innovators capable of tackling complex global challenges through unique skill sets and digitally-native innovation.”
The initiative is focused on educating 25 million girls worldwide during the next 15 years. Included in its efforts is the launch of The AI Forward Alliance (TAIFA), which zeros in specifically on resolving gender gaps in AI and “fostering more diverse leaders and promoting innovation across high-risk areas posed by AI, including discrimination, stereotyping and exclusion.” Globally, 3.9 million women work in tech, according to TAIFA , compared to approximately 14 million men. TAIFA’s goals include raising the number of women tech professionals worldwide to 8 million by 2038.
This isn’t simply a feel-good effort. By bringing more women into the world of AI, TAIFA estimates that it could put the industry on “a path to sustainable development that adds ~$212 billion to the global economy and increases economic resilience.” In other words, eliminating gender barriers in STEM simply makes good business sense.
Next Steps
Find out how Avestix is working to empower female founders and enrich the lives of women in technology. Learn more about the Avestix Fortuna Fund.
