Celebrating female STEM achievements is key to gender parity

Source: Supplied. Tayyibah Suliman, Director: Corporate & Commercial practice and Head of Technology & Communications sector at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr (CDH).

From Lisa Meitner’s discovery of nuclear fission, to Florence Siebert’s discovery of the international standard for testing TB, Grace Hopper’s assistance in building one of the worlds' first computers, and Katherine Johnston’s work at National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (Naca) (now Nasa) being pivotal in most of the US’s successful missions, including the first man in space mission, Apollo 11 and the moon landing.

Additionally, Marie Curie’s work on separating radium and polonium was instrumental in finding treatments for cancer, while Rosalind Franklin’s discovery of the double helix has shaped the way we understand DNA and the medical world today.

Unfortunately, most of these women never received recognition during their lifetimes for their crucial work and their contribution to life as we know it today. Recognising past and present female leaders in STEM areas is pivotal to encourage young women to study STEM subjects as well as to retain women in these fields and grow female STEM leaders.

South Africa was ranked 18th out of 146 countries in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index 2024. While this seems promising, we ranked 113th for wage equality for similar work.

Encouragingly, the number of female South African Stem graduates has increased from 12.94% in 2021 to 42.76% in 2024. South Africa's concerted effort to ensure equality in the labour market and the promotion of previously disadvantaged groups within workplaces is likely a contributing factor to the drastic increase in female STEM graduates. However, women remain under-represented in leadership roles in the STEM industry.

Bias in STEM starts young

Young girls or women may get ridiculed for attempting to pursue a career in STEM as this has historically been a male-dominated industry. As a result, there is a lack of females heading up these industries and therefore there are only a handful of role models for females looking to pursue a career in STEM.

In addition to this, there are often implicit biases in educational environments which may have a ripple effect on the thought patterns of females. This starts during early child development years where boys are bought Lego and Meccano sets to play with while girls are bought barbie dolls and tea sets.

When these children join a school environment, male students tend to gravitate toward the STEM subjects as their interest in these subjects has been encouraged from a young age. This may adversely affect the interest of female students in the STEM subjects.

Early bias shapes workplace culture

Women who join STEM fields often have to work harder than their male colleagues to prove that they belong. They may also be subjected to harassment and gender discrimination. The implicit bias in hiring and promotion within STEM fields may also hinder a female's ability to get a job in a STEM field and then be promoted.

Although there has been a shift towards gender equality, there are still many cultures which expect women to perform stereotypical female roles and are often left accountable for raising, transporting and educating their children, cooking dinners and managing the household.

STEM workers may be expected to work long hours and will often have inflexible schedules – a legacy of a male-dominated environment. Therefore, women in STEM may struggle to balance their STEM careers with their traditional caregiving and familial roles.

Overcoming barriers

By acknowledging bias in STEM areas, it is possible to promote awareness for gender equality and create environments that foster learning for women and encourage women to join STEM fields.

The promotion of gender equality needs to occur at all levels including parents, children, employers and employees. Public awareness campaigns must filter into our cultural fabric. Filmmakers and content creators need to be considerate of the promotion of gender equality and should ensure that their movies, shows, adverts and social-media posts support the promotion of women in STEM.

As a society, we need to start encouraging females from a young age to chase their passions. If a young girl shows an interest in one of the STEM areas, her further exploration needs to be encouraged. This can be done through educational games and children's books which focus on the STEM areas.

Schools have the potential to play a pivotal role in sparking interest in young girls in the areas of STEM and overcoming the bias which exists towards STEM fields.

Young women should be encouraged to pursue an education in STEM through mentorships and scholarships. For example, the movie Hidden Figures was based on the life of Katherine Johnston and her work for Naca.

This movie could be shown in schools in science class to help combat the bias surrounding the STEM fields.

Employers must adopt a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination and harassment towards women in STEM workplaces – and support must be provided to women who experience this at work.

Employers also have the responsibility to ensure that women are properly accredited for their contribution towards all research in which they participate. This will build a supportive workplace culture which will encourage more women to pursue careers in STEM. Furthermore, they must ensure that women should be provided with equal opportunities for workplace enhancement which includes equal pay.

Providing flexibility in terms of work schedules in STEM will also greatly expedite gender parity in the space as it will allow women to balance their household duties with their work. This will also help to retain females in the pipeline to develop more women leaders in STEM.

For STEM jobs which cannot be done remotely due to the specialised equipment required, for example DNA analysis, perhaps companies in STEM could consider implementing four-day work weeks.

The barriers preventing women from succeeding in the STEM fields start from childhood. Thus, it is the responsibility of all of us, from teachers to parents to employers to policymakers to society, to make a concerted effort to create an environment which fosters female participation in the STEM fields as women have the potential to play pivotal roles in many areas therein.

We must take the mistakes of the past and learn from them to make a better future.