How many women really are in math and sciences?

Looking at the history of women in math and sciences, there seems to have been seem resistance for many female mathematicians to even study the subject in a formal setting.  Let’s take a look at what the present state of female students in mathematics and sciences is like. [2]

USA

Percentage of degrees earn by women (2015-2016)

Degree	All STEM fields	Mathematics and Statistics
Bachelors	35.50%	42.50%
Masters	32.60%	41.70%
Phd	33.70%	28.50%

CANADA

Field	Percentage of Canadian women enrolled in post-secondary education
Physical and life sciences and technologies	55.20%
mathematics, computer and information sciences	27%
Architecture, engineering related technologies	20.50%

Percentage of degrees earned by Canadian women (2016)

All STEM fields: Bachelors: 34%

Percentage of Canadian Women enrolled in post-secondary institutions (2016-2017)

Field	Percentage women enrolled in post-secondary education
Physical and life sciences and technologies	55.20%
mathematics, computer and information sciences	27%
Architecture, engineering related technologies	20.50%

EUROPEAN UNION

Tertiary education graduates (2016)

(Tertiary education is education after the high school level.)

Field	Tertiary Education Graduates
Natural Sciences and Mathematics and Statistics	53.50%
Engineering, manufacturing and construction	27.70%
Information and communication technologies	18.80%

Percentage of women tertiary education graduates in information and communication technologies in Europe (2016)

Country	%
France	16.50%
Germany	18.10%
Netherlands	12.50%
Switzerland	8.90%
UK	19.40%

INDIA

Undergraduate degrees (2017-2018)

Field	Undergraduate degrees
Information Technology	51.90%
Science	51.30%
Engineering and Technology	31.70%

Canadian University

University of Waterloo, Canada

If we consider some numbers a little closer to home, at the University of Waterloo, in Canada, there has not been much improvement in women’s participation in mathematics since 2008. [3]

University of Waterloo	2008	2015	2016
	female	male	female	male	female	male
math faculty members	39	165	43	197
general faculty members	247	715	359	859
Math Phd students	68	195	63	246	70	241
general Phd students	527	1029	651	1330	671	1293
math masters students	83	218	217	345	241	375
general masters students	983	1391	1602	1678	1732	1732
math undergraduate students	1510	3271	2209	4251	2411	4404
general undergraduate students	10575	13264	13971	16304	14589	16649

So far, not so great.  If we look at the numbers for 2018 for women in STEM in the UK, it has not improved any.  Physical sciences have more female students and graduates at about 35-39% while computer sciences and engineering & technology have the lowest female participation at 19%.  Women in, and graduates of mathematics programs, lie between these two.  [5] Let’s consider the labour force and see if there is any more improvement. [2, 5]

LABOUR FORCE

Earth

28.8% – Less than 1/3 of those employed in scientific research and development roles are women (2015) The following parts of the world have greater than 1/3 of women employed in scientific research and development

Region	Percentage of women employed in scientific research and development
Central Asia	48.1%
Latin America & Caribbean	45.4%
Central & Easter Europe	39.5%
Arab States	39.8%

Australia

27% – women are employed in STEM fields (2016) 12.4% – employed in engineering roles (2016) 22.8% – employed in computer systems design and related fields (2018) Let’s consider the labour force and see if there is any more improvement. [2, 5]

Canada

Among young Canadian, 25-35 years, holding a Bachelor’s in a STEM field, men are 2 times as likely to work in science and technology jobs than women. (2016) 22.3% – women employed in computer and information systems 13% – women employed in civil, mechanical, electrical and chemical engineering

USA

24% – women employed in STEM fields (2015) 25.5% – women employed in computer and mathematical jobs 16.2% – women employed in architecture and engineering jobs

Demographics of women employed in STEM fields (2015)

Ethnicity	Percentage of women employed in STEM fields
Asian	6.5%
Black	1.6%
Latin	1.8%

Less than 20% of people employed in high tech jobs are women in the USA. (2017) 18.7% – female software developers, applications and system soft 4.2% – women employed in computer network architect roles 8.9% – women employed as aerospace engineers

European Union

32.6% – women made up 32.6% of people employed in high-tech, manufacturing and knowledge intensive high tech services. (2017) Why women leave STEM related careers and career paths is another big question.  Below are just a few possible reasons but definitely not all of them.  This is a topic that definitely requires it’s own post.

Reasons women leave STEM careers/paths

• Isolation
• Male-dominated work environment
• Bias
• Lack of effective (female) role models

45% – once women enter a tech field, they are 45% more likely to leave. There are some positives and initiatives, however small. 

POSITIVES

European Union

40.5% – women scientists and engineers (2017).  This is a 28% increase since 2007

Japan

15.7% – Women researchers in science and technology (2017) In 2007 the Japanese government made targets for women researchers in science to increase to 20% and in engineering to 15%.  They haven’t quite achieved their goal, yet.

LEADERSHIP

There are fewer women on boards in STEM fields than other industries.

Information technology industry:

• Lowest representation of women on boards
• 28.5% of companies surveyed had 0 women on their board (2017)
• 18% of companies surveys had 3 or more women on their board (2017)
• Of the women on boards, the women are almost 2 times as likely (at 16%) as their male counterpart  ( at 9%) to have professional technology experience.  (518 Forbes Global 2000 companies)

PAY GAP

Canada

82.1% – women who have graduate with a STEM degree earn 82.1% of what a male counterpart earns. (2015)

European Union

73.4% – women in professional, scientific and technical activities earn 73.4% of what men earn (2014)

USA

80.3% – women in computer, engineering and science jobs earn 80.3% of what men earn in those roles Women in STEM jobs earn 35%  more than women in non-STEM jobs and 40% more than men in non-STEM jobs. All these statistics are great. But the real question is how do we encourage more women into math and sciences?

References

1. Why Talk About Women in Math?, Rachel Crowell, March 2019, Forbes, URL: https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelcrowell/2019/03/28/why-talk-about-women-in-math/#5fe781ac7179
2. Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM): Quick Take, June 2019, Workplaces that work for women, URL: https://www.catalyst.org/research/women-in-science-technology-engineering-and-mathematics-stem/ (Catalyst, Quick Take: Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) (June 14, 2019).)
3. Representation by Gender, Women in Mathematics, University of Waterloo, URL: https://uwaterloo.ca/women-in-mathematics/representation-gender
4. Statistics, National Girls Collaborative Project, URL: https://ngcproject.org/statistics
5. Women in STEM | Percentages of Women in STEM statistics, Sept 2019, STEM Women, URL: https://www.stemwomen.co.uk/blog/2019/09/women-in-stem-percentages-of-women-in-stem-statistics