Increasing Mentorship in STEM Could Be the Key to Increasing Female Representation

 By Lily Barrett

Finding a mentor could be the key to encouraging more women to seek careers in the science-related fields, several said. 

         “Mentors for women are really important. Imposter syndrome is a real thing in thinking everyone knows more than you do, and mentors help motivate,” said Cheryl Schnitzer, a chemistry professor at Stonehill College. 

According to a study done by Pew Research Center, women make up half of those employed in STEM jobs, but women’s representation across STEM occupations varies widely: they are heavily overrepresented among health-related jobs and underrepresented in several other occupational clusters. For example, women are 74% of healthcare practitioners and technicians while atmospheric and space scientists are only 24% female. 

        Although these small numbers may be discouraging to women who are interested in pursuing a STEM career, Stonehill students are motivated to become mentors for young girls in the field. 

        “I never had a role model in the STEM field, so I hope to become one for other girls who wish to study the sciences,” said Maddi Achtyl, a freshman environmental science major at Stonehill College. 

        Achtyl and others said they hope to find a mentor in the coming years as they look for internships and jobs in the medical field. 

        “Having a mentor or role model in the same field as you is important because it’s motivating to look up to someone you relate to and hope to become someday. It sets the goal in your mind and keeps you driven,” said Eve Stone, a biology major undergraduate at Stonehill College. 

        Although there has been small progress in diversifying the STEM field, it is still a male dominated career in areas such as computer science, physical sciences, and engineering. The Pew Research Center study found that women make up 15% of engineering jobs and 25% of computer occupations, which have each increased by only 1% since 2016. 

        Schnitzer said that many women decide not to enter the STEM field because women tend to have an unrealistic idea of perfection that they obsess over when thinking too many steps ahead rather than one day at a time.  

        “I have had many students and friends in college who decided to switch their majors from the sciences when they weren’t getting A’s in a class,” Schnitzer said.   

        In addition to switching the mindsets of female STEM majors, Stonehill students believe that organizations and schools could do more to increase female representation.  

        “I think that getting more women in STEM is going to involve a shift in the attitudes of people. In general, everyone needs to be more humane towards all people,” Stone said.       

        With hopes of increasing the number of women in STEM careers, Schnitzer, Achtyl, and Stone agreed that colleges, other institutions, and businesses as a whole need to work towards encouraging more young women to pursue their passions in science. Schnitzer offered two ways to do this by creating special programs for young girls interested in science and for individuals to serve as mentors.