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Minority Women and STEM
"Though African-Americans and Latinos make up 12 and 16 percent of the U.S. population, respectively, they make up just 5 and 6.2 percent of the engineering workforce. Women are similarly underrepresented: Just 13.4 percent of engineering professionals are women."

Feminism in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
The idea of women being known as scientists or part of other STEM fields are still considered, "out of the norm" since Science, Technology, Engineering and Math are predominantly male. From a feminist perspective, although there is still a a lack in women's involvement in STEM, women have evolved from centering their lives in the private sphere into the public sphere. They have take working positions which was mainly the duty the patriarchal bread-winner. It has long been known that "the ‘stay-at-home mom’ represents ‘traditional’ family values and harks back to the purported stability of the U.S. postwar years; the ‘working woman’ speaks of the breaking down of gender boundaries and the challenges of new family roles for both women and men” (Domosh and Seager p. 1)

Some Reasons for Low Enrollment in STEM Programs
"The absence of women in the sciences [STEM] is symptomatic of a much deeper issue associated with the norms and expectations of science. Because the normal image of scientists has been, and continues to be, white, middle/upper-class, solitary, laboratory oriented, it is necessary to modify 'scientist' when we try to include other types of people" (9)

Londa Schiebinger mentions Margaret Rossiter's two concepts of understanding women in science and the disadvantages that they have in the book Has Feminism Change Science? Margaret Rossiter offers the concept of "hierarchical segregation" in which it describes the lessening of women as one "moves up the ladder of power and prestige"(33) If we take a closer look, women are not seen in high positions for example CEO s of companies, government officials, scientists and engineers. The Majority of these figures are male. The majority of women are not seen in high positions in the fields of STEM and therefor there is a lack of gender diversity.

Schiebinger also mentions Rossiter's second concept, "territorial segregation." It states that women "cluster" in a certain field of study or a major in college or university. Women also have a lower chance of having a STEM position as professors or researchers. It is well known that, "women are more likely to teach and do research in the humanities and social sciences than in the natural sciences and engineering" (34). The majority of women in college focus in majors such as psychology, education, English, performing arts, nursing, etc. Much of these certain "clusters" of women in

"Sex segregation describes the uneven distributions of women and men across occupations, industries, or fields of study. While other types of gender inequality have declined dramatically since the 1960s (for example, in legal rights, labor force participation rates, and educational attainment), some forms of sex segregation are remarkably resilient in the industrial world."

Gender, Work and Family
Recently a study was done to show the importance of careers to young men and women. In 1997, 58% of men and 56% of women say that being successful in a high-paying career or profession is one of the most important things or very important part of their lives. When the study was done again in 2011, 59% of men and 66% of women confirmed the importance of a profile career.

There is a significant increase in the women's percentage as opposed to men but despite the fact that women are increasing in the labor force, there is still a low enrollment of women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education and Careers. Among all workers ages 16 to 34, women’s earnings are more than 90% of men’s; this ratio drops for women ages 35 to 64, who earn 80% or less of what men earn across the board. While this could signal a changing workplace, women have tended to fall behind men as their careers progress, so it remains to be seen whether this is an age or generational phenomenon. One contributing factor is that professional women are not as well represented in higher paying job groups, such as computer and engineering fields, and are overrepresented in lower paying job groups, such as education and health care.

Where women tend to hit the glass ceiling in many occupations, men hit what is considered the Glass Escalator, a term coined by Christine Williams. While the glass ceiling is a hindrance for women and minorities to reach the top an occupation dominated by the majority, the glass escalator is a hidden advantage for men to excel in a profession that is female dominated. For STEM, it is very likely for women to hit the glass ceiling because it is more likely for women to enroll in jobs that are male-dominated than for men to enroll in jobs that are female oriented.

Both men and women who work in nontraditional occupations encounter discrimination, but the forms and consequences of this discrimination are very different. Women entering traditionally male professions also face negative stereotypes suggesting they are not real women. However, these stereotypes do not seem to deter women to the same degree that they deter men from pursuing nontraditional professions. There is ample historical evidence that women flock to male-identified occupations once opportunities are available. Not so with men. Examples of occupations changing from predominantly female to predominantly male are very rare in our history. The few existing cases—such as medicine—suggest that redefinition of the occupations as appropriately masculine is necessary before men will consider joining them.