Today’s Women in STEM

In 1980, the National Women’s History Project was founded in Santa Rosa, CA by Molly Murphy MacGregor, Mary Ruthsdotter, Maria Cuevas, Paula Hammett, and Bette Morgan to broadcast women’s historical achievements. By 2018, the project had transitioned to the National Women’s History Alliance (NWHA) to support the study and celebration of women’s history all year long. Since the beginning, the NWHA has established the theme for National Women’s History Month in March. The theme for 2023 is “Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories.”

Since Sherry F. Bellamy—a cable, telecom, and wireless executive—made the cover of a 1997 Career Communications Group (CCG) publication, CCG’s Women of Color magazine has promoted the role of women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. Each year, we share the stories of women in STEM and celebrate their achievements in diverse industries and sectors.

WOMEN’S LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION1

• In 2020, women’s labor force participation rate was 56.2%. Women also accounted for 51.7% of all management, professional, and related occupations. However, only 19.4% of software developers, 29.3% of chief executives, and 37.4% of lawyers were women. By industry, women accounted for more than half of all workers within several sectors in 2020:

• Comparably, women were substantially underrepresented (relative to their share of total employment) in manufacturing (29.5%), agriculture (27.7%), transportation and utilities (24.1%), mining (14.5%), and construction (10.9%).

NUMBER OF DEGREES AWARDED TO WOMEN2

Education and health services

74.6%

Other services - 52.6%

Financial activities - 51.9%

Leisure and hospitality - 50.4%

In 2020, 47.2% of women ages 25 to 64 held a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared with 11.2% in 1970. Only 4.8% of women in the labor force had less than a high school diploma—that is, they did not graduate from high school or earn a GED—down from 33.5% in 1970.

In the United States, women make up only about one-third of the STEM workforce5, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It’s worth noting, however, that the share of women in STEM grew from 32% in 2010 to 34% in 2019, and that this growth was due to the increase in the proportion of women with a bachelor’s degree or higher in STEM from 42% (5 million women) in 2010 to 44%t (7 million women).

Women and certain minority groups—Blacks, Hispanics, and Native American or Alaska Natives—are underrepresented in the STEM workforce relative to their proportion within the U.S. population.