Addressing the current diversity issue in STEM

Since 2017, STEM employment has increased by 6.3%. That is more than six times that of the total rise in the UK’s overall employment rate. As every sector continues to be revolutionised by technology, it is no surprise the opportunities in STEM are rising. Although STEM-focussed businesses continue to undergo rapid and exciting growth, there has been growing awareness of the underrepresentation and lack of women entering and working in the field.  

In 2019, the number of STEM professionals identifying as female was reported at only 24%. As career opportunities continue to grow, why are women, particularly in the UK, not entering the field?

There are several organisations which track and report on the number of girls studying scientific subjects at GCSE and A Level, the number choosing to continue their studies in higher education and finally, the number of women graduating into the STEM workforce. Reviewing these figures, it is clear the disparities often start from as young as primary school and carry on through every stage of girls’ and women’s lives.  

Throughout the British education system, more boys are studying STEM subjects than girls and although society is working hard to move away from gender stereotypes, an unconscious bias remains, and many people still associate scientific and mathematic fields with men and the arts and humanities with women. 

Sadly, only 22% of students in a PWC survey could name a famous female working in technology. Considering the lack of female role models in STEM depicted in the media, it is not surprising that an unconscious bias still exists, and it is highly likely girls are still being subliminally dissuaded from STEM subjects from a young age.

There is also a lack of information, guidance, and encouragement to enter STEM experienced by girls. According to PWC’s research, only 16% of women have had a career in technology suggested to them during higher education. If nobody is putting STEM forward as a possible career path and there is no information available on the opportunities these subjects can offer, the gender imbalance of graduates in STEM is only to be expected. 

Unfortunately, the discrepancies do not stop there. Although there are now one million women working in STEM in the UK, only 5% of leadership positions in technology are held by females, a sobering figure to say the least.

Businesses in STEM can address these issues by having processes in place so that female employees progress at the same rate as their male counterparts. Organisations must implement initiatives to support women to advance to more senior positions as well as gender targets at all levels. 

Gender equality is, of course, desperately important in all industries, but there are several reasons why this is particularly important in STEM. Women make up half of consumers, so it is essential product and technology employees represent the diversity in our community – only then will the most innovative and truly customer centric products be designed. In home technology design, the outlook is particularly worrying. Women currently only account for 5% of product and industrial design workers, the lowest proportion of any design sector, this despite women being the biggest drivers of consumer purchasing globally. At SharkNinja, most of our products are targeted at women, so we are actively seeking to have as much female input as possible during our design process. 

To tackle these issues more broadly, Lauren McMullan General Manager, London & Business Partner, Global Engineering and Jen Marsden, Director, Design Engineering at SharkNinja came together with a group of colleagues to initiate SharkNinja’s London WE Lead programme.

WE Lead runs across the Boston and UK offices and consists of a series of events aimed at raising awareness of gender issues amongst all employees, creating a global support network for women across the business and providing education and entry avenues to students through joint ventures with universities and schools. SharkNinja has also joined in a partnership with WISE, a body which campaigns for gender balance in science, technology and engineering, from classroom to boardroom and brings together international organisations to champion this change.

Real Life Experience:

Female engineers share their experiences in the sector, the challenges and advice for others pursuing a career in STEM 

Although Lauren and Jen had different paths leading to their current roles as women in STEM at SharkNinja, forming and leading this initiative has been extremely important to them. 

For Lauren, it would be amiss to say that developing a career as a woman in STEM and growing into a position of leadership hasn’t come without challenges, but it has also offered incredible rewards and the opportunity to thrive as well. Lauren studied Product Design and Engineering in an innovative course provided jointly by Glasgow University and the Glasgow School of Art. Subsequently, she achieved her Masters in Design Management at the University of Cambridge and first worked extensively within the industry, helping a lab operation scale-up to production capacity. After spending eight years in a design management role with a large beauty brand, Lauren got back into traditional STEM with SharkNinja in 2016. 

Spending some time studying the current state of the STEM industry has led Jen to reflect on her own experiences. She began in the profession as a junior designer 15 years ago but is now well advanced in her career as part of the home technology firm’s leadership team. Despite not limiting her career progression, it has always been apparent to her that she was in the minority as a female during each stage of her journey. At university, less than a third of her fellow Industrial Design Technology students were women and at her previous firm, where she worked for ten years, there were times when she was the only female engineer on the team. The most poignant realisation came when she was recently asked where her interest in STEM began and realised then it was her home environment, not school, where her passions were sparked. Her dad began his career as an engineer in the Navy and would teach Jen about how things worked from a young age, keen for her to follow in his footsteps. 

Within the engineering team at SharkNinja’s London office, there are experts who have backgrounds in Electronics engineering, Product Design, Mechanical & Hardware Engineering and Technical Project Management. Everyone has had different personal experiences and has graduated from different programs or taken different educational as well as professional paths, but they have all led to technology and engineering.

For young girls and members of diverse backgrounds who are studying STEM subjects or interested in pursuing the industry, they would advise seeking out placements and submit as many applications for work experience as possible. Be hungry and adaptable to understand what does and does not appeal to your interests and strengths. Most importantly, don’t worry too much about getting it exactly right the first time. STEM education is widely recognised as a strong and rigorous foundation for many career options you may end up pursuing. Finally, even if someone doesn’t initially seem obvious, look for the people in your network who offer encouragement and inspire you to find the possibilities of a career in STEM. You will likely find someone willing to help if you ask for it. 

If you are already a member of the STEM industry, never forget to share what inspires you and use your leadership to be that person who encourages others. It will take this kind of encouragement from current women in STEM for our industry to grow. 

We all have our part to play in broadening the diversity within STEM and specifically engineering whether that is getting engaged with the gender equality ventures our companies run (or setting these up if they don’t yet exist) or, working to spread awareness of the vast careers in STEM. As parents and teachers, we can educate our children on the wealth of opportunities which exist in the industry. As technology and electronics become ever more intertwined in every part of our lives, we people from a variety of backgrounds to take their rightful place in the shaping of our future.

This article first appeared as the cover story in the April/May 2021 edition of Industrial News: Electronics & Engineering.