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Gender in science and STEM: Possibilities for shifting perspectives

Posted in : Blog
Posted on : February 11, 2025

By: Michelle Hawks, Ph.D.

One of the stories that Robin Wall Kimmerer shares in her book Braiding Sweetgrass^[i] is about how she went to school and spoke with an advisor about her interest in studying botany because she “wanted to learn about why asters and goldenrod looked so beautiful together” (p. 39) only to be told that her question wasn’t science. This story continues to resonate with me as someone who has always been in love with both mathematics and art and have so often been told that they are diametrically opposed subjects of study. Math is logic, reason, objectivity, quantitative, and is associated with our left-brain while art is creative, intuitive, emotional, qualitative, and associated with our right-brain. However, the idea that math and art (or science and art) are separate continues, despite research debunking the myth of certain activities being associated with one side of our brains or the other, or that somehow our personality is within one camp or the other^[ii].

I wanted to share this story because it relates to a fundamental bias that I see existing around science as a discipline that also contributes to the gender disparities we continue to see in science and across all science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Most commonly, this effect is referred to as the leaky STEM pipeline^[iii], where we see women and girls consistently moving away from STEM courses of study, impacting later job opportunities and ultimately contributing to the larger gender pay gap^[iv]. In Canada in particular, despite holding 34% of STEM degrees, only 23% of people working in STEM positions are women^[v].

Recognizing this gap and the implications for women and girls as a scientist and medical doctor herself, HRH Princess Dr. Nisreen El-Hashemite worked to have the gender gap in science recognized by an official UN commemorative day, the International Day of Women and Girls in Science^[vi]. This day is recognized on February 11 every year, and 2025 marks the tenth anniversary^[vii].

While there are many reasons to encourage more women and girls to join STEM professions, it cannot be overstated that society as a whole is at a disservice without more women continuing on to professional appointments across STEM disciplines^[viii]. As this brief article title states, “Lack of Female Scientists Means Fewer Medical Treatments for Women”^[ix] which ultimately leads to more women dying from preventable medical issues. Starting from this position, it seems that we are facing an insurmountable problem internationally; however, there are many ways we can start to make changes to support the impetus for this day, both personally and organizationally.

Starting nationally, Larissa Vingilis-Jaremko, Ph.D. delivered a speech in 2017 to the Canadian House of Commons’ Standing Committee on the Status of Women in Canada, highlighting the impact of fewer women in science in the Canadian context. At the core of her speech, she highlights a key indicator, the importance of representation in science. To illustrate this point, she will often ask an audience to picture in their mind what a scientist looks like, and the typical image that is shared, is “an old man with crazy white hair, a lab coat, and glasses” (page 2)^[x]. This imagery of a “typical” scientist is something she and her organization, the Canadian Association for Girls in Science (CAGIS), work hard to overcome. They do this by working with girls and youth ages 7-16 to encourage more girls to find connections with the STEM disciplines to assist in efforts to gain gender parity down the road.

In fact, one of the ways to combat various gender biases across STEM disciplines is to look at representation. This can be achieved by examining celebrity influence and popular culture as a way of changing people’s perceptions of what people in STEM look like. Danica McKeller is an example I often use - a famous actress known for playing Winnie Cooper on Wonder Years who also holds a doctorate in mathematics and has written a series of books geared towards young women learning mathematics^[xi]. Some celebrities, like model Karlie Kloss, are using their money and influence to create programs to support women and gender diverse individuals in specific STEM industries like tech, and building that bridge where supports are missing^[xii]. Bridgit Mendler, who may be known to many from her Disney Channel acting career in the 2010s, holds degrees from both MIT and Harvard Law, and is working to bring space technology to everyone through a new venture called Northwood Space^[xiii]. Also, looking to the media we consume, television programs like Bones brings us amazing female representation in the sciences through several different characters, and is based on the writings and career of real-life forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs^[xiv]. Each of these examples shows a new representation of science and math that can help bring more young women and girls to explore their own interests and knowledge in these fascinating subjects.

Another way we can champion higher gender parity in STEM is by raising awareness of those already in the field. In the Canadian context, this can be done by:

• attending and recommending events, like the “Celebrating the Success of Women in STEM” Symposium^[xv], which occurs annually around February 11 to celebrate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, as well as exploring the profiles of past symposia attendees^[xvi].
• highlighting efforts within your discipline that reach out to youth and get them interested^[xvii] or organizations that are already doing this work like CAGIS.
• supporting women who are in the STEM professions currently and working to ensure that women stay in the STEM professions once they join^[xviii].

Finally, I think it would be so valuable to consider expanding our conceptions of what science looks like as a discipline. So often we think of science as being in a lab doing research, however, as Larissa Vingilis-Jaremko mentioned in her speech, science can also be about the “physics of figure skating” or the “chemistry of art conservation” (page 2)^[xix]. A quick search in Indeed brought me to a list of math and science careers that includes teachers, pharmacy technicians and pharmacists, mechanics, electricians, biologists, meteorologists, engineers, pilots, software developers, and IT professionals, to name a few^[xx]. Ultimately, by expanding our view of what counts as science and who we see doing it, we can create space for new questions and different avenues of exploration, like Robin Wall Kimmerer’s desire to explore why asters and goldenrod look beautiful together. 

References (click here to review the sources)

Tags CDNdiversity CCDI Diversity Inclusion Equity Accessibility DEI DEIA IDEA Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion STEM