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In the US, women make up half of the overall workforce but hold only 34% of roles in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Representation is even worse in fields like physical sciences (26%), computer and mathematical sciences (26%) and engineering (15%).
The situation is similar in the UK, where women make up 30% of the overall STEM workforce and hold only 23% and 21% of roles respectively in computer sciences and engineering. And in Australia, things are even worse, with women representing just 15% of all people working in STEM jobs.
Women in STEM also tend to be paid less than their male counterparts and are less likely to hold leadership positions. Half have experienced gender discrimination at work. There’s even evidence that more women entering a STEM field impacts how people think about it, making it more likely to be seen as a ‘soft science’.
There are many factors behind these disparities, many of which begin well before young women enter the workforce. In this article, we’ll discuss some of the biggest barriers standing between women and flourishing STEM careers. We’ll also explore how employers can help women overcome these issues and build a fairer, more equitable future for everyone.
Why it matters: The importance of gender diversity in STEM
Breaking down barriers in STEM isn’t just the right thing to do — it could also have a major positive impact on society.
First, a typical STEM worker earns two-thirds more than the typical employee outside of this sector. The highest-earning fields, like computer science and engineering, tend to be those with the fewest women. Encouraging more women to pursue STEM careers could help combat the gender pay gap and improve economic security for women.
Getting more women into STEM will also make the field more balanced and diverse, which has many advantages. For example, companies with gender-diverse leadership teams outperform their peers in terms of profitability, market share and overall shareholder value. More gender diversity could also reduce the impact of bias on new products and services, ensuring these work for everyone.
And, of course, encouraging women to pursue STEM fields could help overcome talent shortages, which are a serious issue for businesses in 2025. According to the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET), talent shortages in STEM cost the UK economy £1.5 billion every year.
Key challenges facing women in STEM fields
Here are some of the biggest barriers that women have to overcome to forge a career in a STEM field.
Gender bias in hiring, pay and promotions
There has long been a stereotype that women are worse at STEM subjects than men. This means women often have a harder time getting hired for STEM roles and may be seen as less competent or qualified than their male peers.
For example, in one study, science faculty members consistently rated male applicants for a role as more hireable than female ones, even though each one had been randomly assigned a male or female name. They also selected a higher starting salary for the ‘male’ candidates.
And it’s not just during the hiring process that women face issues: 50% of women in STEM say they have experienced gender discrimination in the workplace, compared to 19% of men. This includes earning less than a male colleague with the same job (29%), being treated as incompetent (29%), being passed over for important assignments (9%) and being denied promotions (6%).
Lack of role models, mentorship, networking and growth
The fewer women there are in STEM fields, the fewer role models there are for budding scientists and engineers. This problem begins early: even at school, girls may not see many examples of female scientists and engineers in books, media or popular culture.
This can have a big impact: a study by Microsoft found that girls and women are more likely to be interested in a STEM job if they look up to a real or fictional person in STEM.
When women do go on to study or work in STEM fields, they have very few female mentors to look to for guidance. This leaves many women in STEM feeling isolated and unsupported. Male-dominated networks can also restrict opportunities for women due to ‘similar-to-me’ bias that prompts male leaders to favour young men.
Educational and societal barriers
Even when women do take on roles within STEM fields, retaining them for the long term isn’t easy. According to one study, 50% of women had left their jobs in STEM fields 10 years after graduating.
While there may be many reasons behind this, one is that inflexible and exclusionary corporate cultures often drive women out. The fact that these fields are dominated by men seems to be the problem. In a survey, 48% of women in STEM who worked with mostly men said their gender makes it harder for them to succeed, compared to 14% of other women in STEM.
The need to balance work and personal responsibilities is also an issue that disproportionately impacts women because of the unbalanced distribution of childcare and household management tasks. Many women are unable to stay in STEM jobs because male-dominated companies don’t have flexible work policies, adequate parental leave or other benefits that could help them to more effectively juggle their home and work lives.
Strategies to empower women in STEM and drive inclusion
While the issue of female representation in STEM can’t be fully addressed by employers alone, there are certain actions employers can take to break down barriers and give women a fighting chance. Here are some of the top strategies for empowering women in STEM.
Developing inclusive recruitment practices
Giving women a fair chance in the recruitment process is a big part of improving representation in STEM. One first step may be to provide hiring managers and recruiters with unconscious bias training that helps them recognise and address the biases they hold.
However, this is unlikely to be enough to solve the problem on its own — and there’s even evidence that raising awareness of stereotypes can increase the use of those stereotypes in the workplace. Instead of relying on training alone, employers should consider strategies like:
- Setting clear, consistent criteria for hiring, promotions and pay decisions.
- Putting together diverse hiring panels to ensure a range of views is heard.
- Using structured interview questions to assess candidates consistently.
- Re-writing job descriptions to avoid gendered or ‘male-coded’ language.
- Setting measurable diversity goals for recruitment and tracking progress.
For example, CXC was engaged by a STEM client to improve their male:female ratio by sourcing and placing at least one female candidate without compromising on the skills required for the position. To achieve this, we developed a specific recruitment process to attract and encourage female candidates.
This included adjusting the wording of the company’s job descriptions to avoid ‘masculine’ language and include more ‘female-coded’ words. We also highlighted the employer’s flexibility and wellbeing initiatives, which included benefits such as remote working and health insurance. Lastly, we made efforts to avoid unconscious bias by only presenting each candidate’s skills and competencies to hiring managers — not their genders.
You can read more about our inclusive recruitment efforts in the full case study.
Creating a supportive work environment
Increasing women’s presence in STEM fields isn’t just about attracting female employees but retaining them for the long term. That means employers need to ensure their policies and workplace cultures are supportive of all employees — including women.
First, offering flexible work hours enables all employees to balance their work and personal responsibilities. Benefits like childcare and generous parental leave can also be enormously helpful to employees who are parents.
All in all, employers should aim to create a supportive culture that promotes work-life balance. This means not only setting up the right policies and benefits programmes but also asking leadership to lead by example by prioritising their own time off. Employers should also take care to avoid glorifying long hours and unsustainable work patterns, and instead reward actual achievements.
Fostering mentorship, sponsorship and allyship
Employers must also find ways of providing role models for their female employees. This will involve setting up structured mentorship programmes that pair junior female employees with mentors for support, guidance and networking opportunities.
While formal programmes with clear goals are key, informal conversations and interactions are also important. Employers should look for ways to connect female employees together, for example, by encouraging the formation of employee resource groups (ERGs) for female employees.
It’s also important to foster allyship from male leaders and employees by emphasising the value of gender diversity and encouraging them to advocate for inclusive policies.
Promoting intersectional inclusion and visibility
Setting up programmes to cater to all women (not just white able-bodied ones) is the only way to ensure true diversity in STEM fields. Employers should encourage the formation of intersectional ERGs to facilitate peer-to-peer support and professional development for different groups of women.
It’s also important to increase the visibility of women in STEM, both internally and externally. Consider putting together promotional campaigns celebrating women’s achievements.
Lastly, employers can play a part in building the next generation of women in STEM by partnering with educational institutions. Through these partnerships, they may provide grants or scholarships, offer career development resources or mentoring or even work with educators to develop curricula.
Measuring success and driving long-term change for women in STEM
Improving outcomes for women in STEM is not something that can happen overnight. Organisations that are serious about driving change should first set concrete, measurable goals related to diversity, equity and inclusion. They should then track their progress against these goals over time. Publishing reports on progress can help demonstrate a commitment to diversity and inclusion.
There are many ways to measure progress, but conducting regular inclusion surveys is one good idea. These assess how women in STEM jobs feel about their workplaces and colleagues. They may reveal important insights that can be addressed through policy changes, education or training.
Building a better world for everyone
There’s no doubt that women face significant barriers when pursuing employment in STEM fields. These begin at the preschool level and follow girls and women throughout their academic and professional careers.
Collaborating with industry bodies, educational institutions, and even government agencies will be key to resolving this issue. After all, many of the barriers faced by women in STEM are systemic and can’t be solved by employers alone.
However, through inclusive recruitment policies, structured mentorship programmes and supportive policies, employers can give female employees the best chance of thriving in a STEM career. Ultimately, this will help to drive innovation and build a more diverse, equitable and inclusive future for all of us.
