Recent research from the Center for Talent Innovation shows U.S. women working in science, engineering, and tech fields are 45% more likely than their male peers to leave the industry within the year.
It’s not for lack of enthusiasm or passion
Recent research from the Center for Talent Innovation shows U.S. women working in science, engineering, and tech fields are 45% more likely than their male peers to leave the industry within the year.
It’s not for lack of enthusiasm or passion. Of those women surveyed, 80% say they love their work, yet many still report barriers to getting to the top.
“Women entering STEM fields have a much shorter runway for career takeoff than women entering other industries,” according to the report. “To begin with, they’re starting later because of the time it took to get a Ph.D. That intensifies the ticking of their biological clock, which in turn pressures them to step up the pace of their research progress.”
Companies like Merck, Johnson & Johnson, and Pfizer have been putting programs in place to help balance out this pipeline of leadership. But a number of factors need to be addressed before the issue can be resolved.
As predominantly male fields, it’s no surprise a lingering old boys’ club attitude in the science, engineering, and tech industries isolates women. Surveyed women describe these as the “lab-coat culture” in science that encourages long unforgiving hours, the “hard-hat culture” of engineering, and the frat-like “geek workplace culture” of tech.
These environments tend to make women working feel out of place as a result. It’s that sense of isolation that may tend to prevent women from climbing up the ranks.
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