Still just a minority of scientists in movies are women
More women are needed in STEM – science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Women make up almost half (49.3%) of total employment but just 29.2% of all STEM workers. TV and films can show role models stimulating girls to go for STEM studies. However, a new survey shows that on-screen, men in STEM still outnumber women in STEM: 38% are women, just up 1% from a study reported in 2017, Geena Davis Institute On Gender in Media says in a report.
“Write STEM characters and careers in ways that appeal to young girls and women by highlighting collaboration and the ways STEM is important to society” the report recommends.
“A powerful way to attract girls and young women to STEM careers is by showing that these fields align with values of girls and young women.”
“Based on findings from this study, we suggest showing STEM industries and careers as more family-friendly, STEM work as in pursuit of the greater social good, professionals working together, and environments that are safe for women and girls from marginalized communities (e.g., disabled women, women of color).”
The report shows there has been a big increase in STEM characters of colour. From 2007–2017, 29% of STEM characters were people of colour. From 2018–2022, that number increased to 42%.
“This change, however, was concentrated in medical professions and not seen across STEM fields.”
The report says that in newer films and TV shows, women are shown in more diverse STEM fields. 2007–2017, nearly 66% of female characters in STEM were primarily in the medical field. Now, about 56% of female characters in STEM were shown in the life sciences.
“There was a marked increase in female characters shown as engineers (from 2% to 13%), and computer scientists or programmers (from 7% to 15%).”
71% in a recent survey agree that it is important to have female representation of STEM characters on-screen, a 20-percentage-point increase from 2018.
“Additionally, most girls and young women say that they enjoy watching movies or television shows about STEM-related topics (62%) and wish there were more female STEM characters in movies and on TV (72%).”
Girls and young women think most STEM characters on TV are men. Characters who play civil engineers, software developers, and mathematicians are overwhelmingly recollected to be portrayed by men, suggesting that viewers are taking note of women’s underrepresentation on-screen.
Data from UN Women confirm that women and girls remain underrepresented across the creation, use, and regulation of technology.
“Only 28% of engineering graduates, 22% of artificial intelligence workers, and less than one third of tech sector employees globally are women. This limits the digital empowerment of women and girls while also hindering the transformative potential of technology”, UN Women says.
Women remain significantly underrepresented in the STEM workforce, data from LinkedIn shows. Women make up almost half (49.3%) of total employment across non-STEM occupations, but just 29.2% of all STEM workers.
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