Why we leave, why we stay, and how to encourage women in STEM.

Coming in hot with why women leave (or never enter) their STEM careers after graduation 🎓

My first academic year of teaching undergrads is complete! After having busted my ass for eight months straight - Jared recently told someone that I was easily working 60-70 hours a week - we decided to flee Colorado and head east. Like crazy people, we drove our little family across the country to Florida. Along the way, we made it to the WCWS in OKC, a visit with a friend in MS, and Tulsa OK for hangs with my uncle and fun at the coolest public park of all time. While in Florida, we hit the panhandle (twice) for the gorgeous Gulf of Mexico with friends and fam, Orlando for some Disney action, Miami for a solo family adventure, and the Keys for a larger Fair family vacay.

Our month-long trip in a few of my favorite pictures

When we departed for our trip, I loaded up gear to do all sorts of things with the intent to be in your inbox on the reg. Yet here we are, two weeks after having returned from our trip and just now opening said bag of Coffee& gear. Trust me, I want to be consistently here because I recognize the value in that, but I also want every post to reflect how excited I am to share all the things with you. I’m finally feeling that fire again, so let’s chat about a little something something, shall we??

Women earn 50% of STEM bachelor’s degrees and make up 29% of the STEM workforce

Wait, what?? I know, right! While this data was pulled from 2019, it hasn’t changed that much. Read it again: women only make up 29% of the STEM workforce after having earned 50% of the STEM degrees. If we look even closer at my discipline (engineering), women earn 20.9% of engineering degrees (still a devastatingly low number) and then only rock 15.6% of the workforce. The stats are even lower for women of color across STEM fields. Where do all of these badass women go?

Why we leave

First of all, don’t even come at me with “they all stay at home with their kids”, because while that holds true for many women (I love the fact that we all have that choice), it’s not all women. And not to mention, the decision to stay at home with your kiddos isn’t always as straight forward as “this is exactly what I’ve always wanted to do.” Cue diving into fascinating rabbit holes like the leaky pipeline and maternal wall.

Now for the sake of this post, let’s assume that some of these STEM degree-earning women are still in the workforce, but they’re choosing non-STEM career paths. Which begs the question: why are women leaving STEM?

There’s data on data on data out there and it’s quite frankly overwhelming (and often conflicting). Therefore, I’m going to share the reasons I’ve personally contemplated being done with STEM. These are my experiences alone, so for those of you that have also contemplated bailing on STEM, please add to this convo in the comments 👇

Sexism. Yep, I said it. It’s real and it weighs on you. It’s blatant and subtle. Either way, it’s hurtful, it gets in your head, and it’s toxic. And so there comes a point where you break and finally say, “I’m done” and seek out a better culture that might not be in STEM and there is nothing wrong with that. I’ve certainly sought out better cultures, they’ve just happened to still be in STEM jobs - but I’ve also most certainly considered just being done with STEM because it just shouldn’t be this hard.

Rigid 9 to 5s. I recognize this isn’t every STEM job ever, but the ones I’m most familiar with are 40-hour AIS (ass in seat) jobs. Meanwhile, your girl has an almost-four-year-old, a spouse, a dog, and other interests I’d love to put my time toward while working a product-driven job (read: I’d like to work my butt off to get my ish done efficiently and then say byeeee 👋). This is why I regularly return to the dream of starting my own biz that may or may not be STEM-centric.

Lack of Representation. I pursued eight years of Electrical and Computer Engineering studies (bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD). Over the course of those eight years, I took something like 40 engineering classes. Of those 40ish classes, I had exactly ZERO female instructors. I was always one of few women in my classes and I really only knew one real-life engineer: my dad (for which I am beyond thankful). But there’s something to be said for feeling like you belong, and that’s not always a given when no one around you looks at all like you.

Bad educational experiences. Maybe this falls under sexism, but I think this deserves its own call-out because I think we all know one teacher can change the trajectory of your life. I’ve shared it before and I’ll share it again because 🤯: In my first engineering class ever, my instructor proclaimed loud and clear that “women don’t make good engineers because they have babies.” I even had another instructor assume I was cheating off my male counterparts when my work looked similar to theirs (and never the other way around). To be very clear, I worked hard to earn my grades outright and I have a baby and I am a GREAT engineer - so all the middle fingers your way, sirs 😇

DEI training. I know this sounds SO backwards, especially because I could not be a bigger supporter of DEI initiatives. But let me just tell you, when you’re in mandatory training with your colleagues that absolutely do not want to be there and they let you know all the reasons diversity is crap, it starts to eat away at your soul.

Why we stay

Well, that was depressing! So now let’s chat about why I am personally still working in the field of STEM after fifteen years of all of the reasons to maybe not.

STEM is fun. I kid you not! I love solving problems and there are so many to tackle. For me, there’s nothing more satisfying than beating my head against a wall to then find the solution and feel that win. Is this healthy? No idea, but I love it.

I can do anything. My career field offers a broad range of opportunities. In my fifteen years of work, I’ve performed research from brain-inspired computing to machine learning (read AI) to celestial-aided navigation, I’ve led a team of researchers, I’ve served as a technical lead on a billion-dollar program (yep), and I’ve taught at an undergraduate institution. The coolest news though? The opportunities don’t 👏 stop 👏 there 👏

I am the representation. As mentioned, I have the pleasure of teaching undergraduate students. Zero students going through our institution (while I’m there at least) will be able to say, “I had exactly ZERO female instructors.” Not only that, but I also get to mentor other female STEM professionals in any role I hold. They may also have the immense joy of being able to look up to their engineering dad like I do, but now they also get to see other female professionals paving the way ahead of them.

I like the money. Okay, I can’t even begin to pretend this doesn’t play a part. Engineers make great money and I greatly appreciate the financial security it provides me and my family (alongside that of my partner’s career).

There’s so much support. As it turns out, I do belong! Sometimes we just might have to look a little harder for our people. Thankfully I’ve found so many amazing women (and men) in my field that I can be inspired by and lean on, like these two awesome engineers here and here.

So, what can we do if someone’s on the fence about leaving STEM?

Let’s backtrack and note that in the statistic above, 50% of STEM bachelor’s degrees are earned by women. This is a drastic increase from just a few decades ago! A colleague recently shared a graphic from just 1989 that stated “women join the ranks as well” with regards to Electrical Engineering 🤯 I was definitely alive in 1989, soooo... I’m taking that to mean that efforts to encourage girls toward STEM disciplines are for sure working. But where’s the outreach for women once we are in it?

My friends, say hello to my little (actually, quite big) passion. There’s admittedly no part of me that wants to go to an elementary school to tell 6-year-olds how great STEM is. But put me in a room of STEM professionals and I am on FIRE 🔥 I want to talk to those that are in the thick of it, hear their stories, empathize with them, encourage them, find new ways to tackle the insane-shouldn’t-even-be-a-problem problems. This is where I thrive, and this is why I’m here in your inbox on a Friday morning 👋 Regardless of where a woman is in her STEM pursuit, there are avenues by which they can feel supported and know they belong. Here are the things I’d point a woman in STEM toward if she were contemplating leaving the field.

Student Organizations (college). Find them. Become a part of them. Show up authentically. Learn from others. Band together to become the never-ending future of the workforce. And if they don’t exist wherever you’re at, start them like we did at Georgia Tech.

Professional Organizations (career). Have you heard that it’s brutal making friends as adults? Well, here’s your easy button. Professional orgs are a great place to find women with similar interests and ambitions to yours that will give you the energy to keep going. Bonus: the people you meet here tend to make great coffee and lunch dates when you need a break from the hustle of your workplace.

Podcasts. Find ones that speak to you and leave you feeling encouraged and inspired because friends, you can do the thing. Admittedly, I’m in my audiobook era - specifically fiction books - so I haven’t been binging on pods or anything growth-mindsetty like I used to. BUT when I do, I tend to find those that interview female entrepreneurs to hear of all the inspiring things we can do in any field.

Show up as your badass, multifaceted self. This particular post says it all.

Call the haters OUT. It’s not easy, although I think it does get slightly easier as you progress in your career. When people make remarks that are discriminatory toward women, let them know their comments have no place here (or with a lighter touch: the 1920s want their jokes back) ✌️

What’d I miss?

Any reasons you’ve contemplated leaving STEM? What are your reasons for staying? What would you tell other women that are considering opting out of STEM? Please share below in the comments! Can’t wait to keep this conversation going 💪

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