More than getting girls into science: The lifecycle approach to gender equity in STEM

If you’ve ever wondered how we’re going to get more women and girls into STEM fields, there’s a phrase you’re probably familiar with: “You can’t be what you can’t see”.

For the last 15 years or so, STEM workplaces with gender equity problems (i.e., almost all of them) have taken this phrase as gospel and tackled the challenge with gusto. “What girls need”, the thinking goes, “is role models”.

And sponsorships! Mentorships. Scholarships, educational programs, outreach to schools, awareness-raising campaigns.

We call these initiatives “attraction” – programs that seek to inspire young women and girls to want to get into the sciences, and giving promising individuals the tools to get there.

Sadly, I have bad news for you: it isn’t working.

Despite millions in funding and huge national programs, the proportion of women in STEM occupations almost won’t budge. We’ve seen tiny incremental changes, but the number has been stagnating.

Only 15% of Australia’s 2023 STEM workforce were women (a 2 percentage point increase from 2019) and they earn on average 16% less than men.

Obviously, STEM needs a shake-up. We need evidence-based action.

So, what can we do instead?

Let me ask you a question.

Imagine you’re hosting a dinner party in a month. You’ve invited some new friends – they’ve never been to your house before, they don’t know each other, and they don’t know the way. Some of them might feel nervous.

And the road up to your house is an undrivable mess full of potholes.

What do you do?

A) You could fix the road

or

B) you could select your two favourite dinner guests and give each of them a monster truck to just drive right over the problem.

In STEM, we’ve been choosing option B (programs to help individuals) far too often. A huge amount of time and money has been poured into helping a select few promising women and girls to overcome the odds – giving them over-powered supports that plough through the barriers instead of changing the way we do things: the policies. Systemic change. Fixing the road.

Why not both?

However, evidence shows that sometimes those monster trucks can also help.

The best outcomes for gender equity in STEM happen when we prioritise improving policies (the road) and then support people to navigate other challenges.

Getting out the earthmoving equipment

SAGE was set up to help the higher education and research sector “fix the road” by embedding systemic change.

We work with institutions across the country (39 of them – accounting for 83% of all employees in higher education) to assess which policies and structures in their workplaces are keeping women out.

Then we support them to systematically dismantle those barriers.

What does that look like?

While every organisation is different, there are a few key issues that come up over and over again, and some interventions that can help.

• Women tend to bear more caring responsibilities for children and elder family members than men – flexible working arrangements can free up people of all genders to manage their time better, like they did at Western Sydney University.
• Men are more likely than women to be promoted into senior roles because often they have had more opportunities to demonstrate success against the promotion criteria. A fairer promotions system might take opportunity into account. La Trobe University did this successfully.
• Workplace cultures can be hostile to women, especially when they tolerate sexual harassment or promote rigid ideas about what the “right employee” looks like. Developing policies and procedures to train staff in acceptable behaviour and support reporting can create a safer environment. Read about how the University of Melbourne approached this issue.

We need to look at the whole lifecycle

When we look at these systemic barriers (potholes), it’s clear that the problem isn’t just at the start of the career trajectory. Beyond inspiring women and girls to pursue STEM careers, there is a lifetime of challenges facing women and gender-diverse STEM.

At SAGE, we help organisations ask questions at every career stage:

• attraction (Do they apply? Do they succeed?)
• retention (Do they stay? What’s pushing them away?), and
• promotion (Can they progress their careers?)

When we make changes that address all these points in a person’s career, the road starts to feel far less bumpy. A smoother road to success – with fewer unfair barriers built in – means we start to see increasing gender equity.

SAGE institutions have smaller gender pay gaps when compared to the national average for similar organisations. They’re also more likely to have increased the number of women in senior leadership roles in the last 12 months.

What you can do

The good news is this isn’t rocket science (we’ll leave that to the women and girls who take up STEM roles). You don’t have to be participating in the SAGE framework to replicate the ideas behind our work.

No matter who’s reading this, you have a sphere of influence that you can use to make structural change in your workplace if you choose to take the lead.

Is there a problem with hiring, keeping or promoting women in a particular area? Take a good hard look at whether it’s a place where women really want to work.

We’ll leave this with you. Will you help fix the road?