If technology is designed by only half of the population that’s male, we’re missing out on the innovations, solutions, and creations that women could be bringing to the table.

Ultimately, diverse teams perform better. 

• Diversity is a key ingredient to growing a strong and inclusive economy that’s built to last.

• Individuals from different genders, races, backgrounds, and experiences bring different perspectives that can lead to innovative solutions.

• To be competitive in the global market, over the next decade the U.S. will need an astounding one million more STEM professionals than it is currently on track to produce. 

• An early start puts all kids on a level playing field and starts to prepare both girls and boys for the jobs of the future.

• Girls are interested in STEM! Girls interested in STEM like to understand how things work, solve problems, do hands-on activities and ask questions. Yet, negative associations with STEM careers and stereotypes create barriers that keep these same girls from making STEM careers their top choices.

• STEM workers typically earn more than those in other, non-STEM occupations. In 2019, median earnings for full-time, year-round workers ages 25 and older in a STEM job were about $77,400. The comparable median for workers in other, non-STEM occupations was $46,900.

While women make up nearly half of the U.S. workforce, women remain underrepresented in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) workforce. Women who do pursue a career in STEM are paid less than their male co-workers, and experience isolation, discrimination, and hostile work environments in their male-dominated workplaces. And, ultimately, women leave STEM careers at disproportionately higher rates than men, particularly those who are working parents.

United States

• Kindergarten-aged boys and girls show equal interest in STEM activities, yet by the third-grade girls begin opting out of STEM saying that it’s “for boys.” 

• The percentage of women in STEM jobs made gains – from 8% of STEM workers in 1970 to 27% in 2019. Men still led the field, making up 52% of all U.S. workers and 73% of all STEM workers.

• Women working in engineering occupations, specifically, increased from 3% in 1970 to 15% in 2019. While the percentage of women in computer occupations is higher than in 1970, it decreased between 1990 and 2019.

• Women employed full-time, year-round in STEM occupations earned more than their non-STEM counterparts; however, the gender earnings gap persisted within STEM occupations. Among the 70 detailed STEM occupations the Census Bureau reports on, women earned more than men in one STEM occupation – computer network architects (women represented 8% of those in this occupation).

Miami-Dade

• As of the 2020-2021 school year, there were more than 110 Miami Dade County Public Schools designated as either STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) or STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, math). 

• A handful of local Girl Who Code Clubs specifically target girls and STEAM careers.

• In Miami, women were the majority in educational services, and health care and social assistance in which 71% of the full-time workforce, or almost 152,000 sector employees were women.

• A 2021 survey showed two advancements to women’s opportunities: 1) two in three women who had left the workforce indicated they planned to return in the future and 2) 56% of women were considering a career change as a result of the pandemic – 8 in 10 women showed interest in transitioning to the STEM field. 

• In 2019, women in Miami-Dade County earned more than men in only two occupations: computer and mathematical occupations, as well as architectural and mathematical occupations. Albeit the gap was small at 0.3 percent and 0.2 percent. Researchers note that one year is not sufficient time to determine a trend.

• In 2019, there were close to 600,000 persons in the 25 and over age group in Miami-Dade who had bachelor’s degrees. Of these, 23.4% of female bachelor’s degree holders have science and engineering degrees. 

• At Florida International University College of Engineering and Computing, in the 2019 academic year, women earned 20% of bachelor's degrees, 30% of master's degrees, and 28% of doctoral degrees. 

• At the University of Miami College of Engineering, in 2018, 31% of the undergraduate student body was female, the College welcomed its first woman Chair of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and two of the associate deans were women. However, the College recognizes that there is much work to do to support women students and women in engineering professions.

• The following table displays the top ten occupations, from 2019 data, where women working full time were paid the highest. Women are still only a small percentage of the workforce in these occupations (20.3% in computer and 15.5% in architecture and engineering), and the small sample for these estimates might not be indicative of a trend. The gaps in 2018 were in favor of men. The pay gaps for these same occupations in 2019 were more than 10 percent at the state and national levels.

Dive into some of the latest local, national, and international research about girls and women in engineering and STEM careers.

For perspectives on girls and STEM, look here:

• Girls’ and young women’s achievement in mathematics and science is on par

with that of boys and young men.

• Among high school seniors, 13% of girls cite plans for a career in a STEM field, compared to 26% of boys. 

For data on college women and STEM, look here:

• Women who enter college planning to major in STEM fields change to non-STEM majors at a rate of 49.2%, whereas 32.5% of men do the same. 

• Perceived gender barriers are still high for girls and may help explain why STEM fields aren’t their top career choices. 

For reports on women in the STEM workforce, look here:

• Women comprise 29% of the STEM workforce and 52% of the college-educated workforce.

• On average, starting salaries of women engineering graduates were less than $61,000 while those of men were more than $65,000. 

• The median annual wage for architecture and engineering occupations was $79,840 in May 2021, which was higher than the median annual wage for all occupations of $45,760.

• 50% of women in STEM jobs have faced gender discrimination in the workplace, compared to 41% of women in all occupations. 

• 30% of women who earn bachelor’s degrees in engineering are still working in engineering 20 years later. 

• 30% of women who have left the engineering profession cite organizational climate as the reason. 

• Women make up 3% of STEM industry CEOs. 

• The number of women in board positions in STEM-related industries in 2020 was 19.2%, an 18.3% increase over the previous year.

• The gender gaps are particularly high in some of the fastest-growing and highest-paid jobs of the future, like computer science and engineering.

Here are some articles, podcasts, and videos digging deeper into why girls and women are leaving engineering and STEM fields, and how we can keep them engaged.

For context on STEM education and girls, look here:

• How to get more girls involved in STEM

• Making STEM more engaging and inclusive

For viewpoints on STEM and the college and university world, look here:

• How to attract more female engineers

• Inspiring the next generation of female engineers

• Science Is Soaring: Here's How To Pursue A STEM Career And Why It Matter

• Transforming Undergraduate Education in Engineering Phase IV

For insights on STEM engineers and women in the workforce, look here:

• Why do so many women leave the engineering field?

• What the statistics reveal about ongoing gender disparities

• What managers can do to keep more women in engineering

• The More Gender Equality, the Fewer Women in STEM 

• 15 Most Wanted Engineering Skills

For female STEM role models, look here:

• Ordinarily Extraordinary - conversations with women in STEM

• The Ella Project

For opinions on the future of the workforce, look here:

• One Decade One Millions More STEM Graduates

• Future of Work

• Perspectives: Future of Work

For stories on organizations in Miami leading on STEM and engineering, look here:

• Girl Scouts of Tropical Florida introducing girls to STEM

• Girls Inc.: Developing Girls interest in STEM

• STEM centers open at 3 Boys and Girls Clubs of Miami-Dade locations

• Building Bridges: South Florida mechanical engineer founds STEM nonprofit Tech Girl Power

Raising, recruiting, and retaining more girls and women in engineering and STEM-related careers will take all of us - parents, mentors, teachers, and managers - across the education and career lifespans. 

Parents / Caretakers / Mentors 

To be effective and long-lasting, STEM engagement needs to start early. 

• Give girls role models. Seeing women who have succeeded in STEM helps inspire and motivate girls, especially when they can relate to these role models as people with lives outside of work.

• Teach them the skills they will need, encourage them, and show them that tech careers will help change the world for the better.

• Invite questions. Encourage girls’ natural curiosity about the world – scientists and engineers are professional question askers and problem solvers. Even if you aren’t comfortable with STEM, you can discover and learn together.

Schools / Nonprofits / Community-Based Organizations

Help her access STEM activities.

• Spark her interest. Give girls hands-on experiences to get in STEM clubs and activities. Organizations like Girl Scouts of Tropical Florida, Tech Girl Power, Code/Art, Dibia Dream, Code Fever Miami, Girls Who Code, and Launch Code are a good place to start.

• Engage her outside of school. Take advantage of spring and summer breaks and enroll girls in science and STEM camps. Check out Miami-Dade County Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces, Frost Science and Florida International University offerings.

• Stand by her. Support their career intentions throughout their academic career. 

Colleges / Universities

Keep engineering relevant.

• Enhance classroom content. Reframe the goals of engineering research and curriculums to be more relevant to societal needs.

• Build community. Encourage mentorship opportunities that establish a sense of “belonging” with their academic and professional colleagues

• Inspire self-efficacy. Foster positive, affirming experiences early in students’ academic careers that will reverse negative stereotypes and gender biases.

Companies

Make the workplace a desirable one to work and thrive in.

• Encourage growth. Give women stretch assignments beyond their existing skill levels – inviting women to stand in for managers or high-status colleagues, take higher-level responsibilities, and/or take on new, challenging areas of work. 

• Provide personalized feedback. Personalized feedback can help her overcome uncertainties around her work.

• Demonstrate work-life balance. Show them how work and parental responsibilities could be combined.

Government

Invest in STEM.

• Provide federal grants for programs in elementary school, middle school, and high school that would help create educational opportunities in STEM fields for girls.

Colleges, companies and investors are pouring funds into programs encouraging women and underrepresented communities toward tech studies.

• Florida International University’s (FIU) College of Engineering and Computing Knight Foundation School of Computing and Information Science (KFSCIS) has partnered with Break Through Tech to develop programs that will propel women and underrepresented communities into technology degrees, careers and leadership positions. Part of the Gender Equality in Tech (GET) Cities Initiative, this partnership also will help expand the talent pipeline that is infusing South Florida’s burgeoning tech ecosystem.

• Backed by Bill Gates' investment company Pivotal Ventures, the Gender Equality in Tech program will partner with Florida International University to direct female students in search of a major toward technology studies.

• Miami Dade College’s (MDC) School of Engineering and Technology (EnTec) will receive a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation for nearly $600,000 for the launch of MDC’s Women RISE (Reinvigorating Industry Support & Empowerment) program, which will empower more women to enter emerging technology fields, such as cybersecurity, cloud computing, IoT and data analytics.