User:Mrsiegel/sandbox

'''Obstacles in Supply Specifically in STEM '''

STEM related fields are heavily populated by men, and women are extremely underrepresented. Many people believe this issue to be getting better, and although it may be, it is still a large issue that must be addressed on a larger scale. From a study done in 2010 by AAUW, it seems as though the underrepresentation stems from societal norms that cause barriers. Some of these barriers include stereotypes and gender bias. But one of the most important aspects that is often not recognized as much is that some of these barriers come from the way that engineering and mathematics programs at universities are geared more towards men. An example outlined in this study was that a woman going into a math exam naturally feels more pressure due to the idea that men are better at math, and the environment of being in a room with more men would subconsciously affect performance as well. In addition, women having the ability to get out of the mindset that they have a fixed amount of intelligence is imperative in achieving more in the scientific world. There are hundreds of peer-reviewed research papers written focusing on many different aspects of education, specifically regarding STEM, that explain the implicit bias against women. For example, a review, “Males under-estimate academic performance of their female peers in undergraduate biology classrooms”, stated that men rank their fellow male classmates as more knowledgeable than their female peers.

There are also issues regarding occupational sex segregation because there is hiring discrimination in the technology and mathematics fields. This is partially due to the way society makes it seem as though it is socially abnormal for women to work in STEM related fields. In addition, this issue is extremely hard to fix because it is so ingrained in society, but it is important that there are options for girls to get involved in STEM related classes and extracurriculars at a young age in order to create less of an inequality of opportunity. This will also help break the norm that STEM is a man’s field.