It is in Engineering and Computer science where this percentage bottoms out (25% and 20% respectively), despite efforts to foster females’ interest in these fields. When we look at the working world, in Spain women account for only 16% of the workforce with STEM degrees.

When did this difference begin to occur? And why? Is there, maybe, something intrinsic in women that prevents them from succeeding in scientific and technical careers? Centuries of feminist thought have led us to reject the idea that gender gaps are something natural, immovable, or irremediable. In fact, the social advances that have been possible thanks to this philosophy demonstrate that, when it comes to gender, there is nothing written in stone

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?

From an early age, children are asked the same question: what do you want to be when you grow up? Their answers, however, are rarely based on real information. A little girl doesn’t know exactly what an engineer does. A little boy doesn’t know what a mathematician spends his time on. But they do know their role models; they don’t know what they want to be, but they do know what they want to be like. Certain qualities are associated with each field and profession. A physicist has to be very clever, a brainiac. A doctor has to work hard and know a lot of things. They have to know what makes their patients sick – and the best ones give kids a lollipop when they leave the office.

The careers that later turn out to be the most masculine seem to require being brilliant, while the more feminine ones seem to require being very hardworking. These stereotypes are etched into our minds, whether they correspond to the real demands of each profession or career or not.

This is where the first divide materializes. Throughout primary education, boys and girls gradually develop and generate their self-concept, internalizing what their strengths are. According to studies carried out, at these ages it is common for boys to learn that they are “smart,” and girls to learn that they are “hard workers.” Both are positive qualities, of course, but each is associated with different career paths. A girl who considers herself hardworking, but not especially bright, is more likely to be drawn to fields associated with the stereotype of not needing a brilliant mind, but rather long hours of study.

WHAT DO YOU BECOME WHEN YOU GROW UP?

The gender gap is accentuated over the course of women’s academic and professional lives, in what is known as the “leaky pipeline” effect. The differences in the interests of boys and girls increase especially in adolescence: at age 15 teenage girls are three times more interested in the Life Sciences and caring for people than their male counterparts, according to a 2015 UNESCO report. This is why the effort to promote Science and Technology in girls and teens must be expanded throughout all the educational stages. But, is this enough?

Although women in STEM careers perform as well as or better than their peers, not all who choose science and technological studies end up in jobs in those sectors, and even fewer rise to senior positions.

Among women who reach leadership positions, many decide to seek other similar roles in settings where there are more peer-to-peer relationships. It would seem that careers in the STEM fields wear them down so much that mutual support with other colleagues becomes absolutely necessary. It’s hard to get rid of that little voice inside your head that says “you’re not good enough for this field, which requires geniuses,” but seeing others suffer from impostor syndrome helps ease the constant mental burden of proving that you’re not a “dumb girl,” that you’re capable and deserve the position you hold. Fostering professional and personal communication between STEM women can help prevent female brain drains.

IT’S A GIRL THING

We make a great effort to get women interested in and opting for careers in technical fields, but we don’t do the same to get men interested in fields traditionally associated with women. This is logical if we consider what has been observed here: there seem to be factors that hinder women’s development in masculinized careers. Nevertheless, while feminism emphasizes the liberation of women, and encouraging them to overcome their historical oppression, what we should ultimately be looking for is an equitable society in which gender does not determine what opportunities we have access to. This cannot happen if we only encourage women to do what men have historically done; it is necessary for the general population to recognize the more feminized fields as interesting, valid, and important too.

Before breaking into the labor market, women carried out essential tasks at home. Today, we know that true equality is impossible without men shouldering part of the workload that women used to bear, highlighting the need for measures to balance out professional and personal life. Similarly, just as it is important for women to find their place in technological areas, it is necessary to value the fields in which they already have a prominent presence. If we encourage women to get into fields generally considered “male,” but do not revise the misogynistic judgments we tend to make about female interests, we run the risk of fields that we once considered useful and prestigious being perceived as less glamorous simply because they include many women.

Something like this happened with the field of computing, initially dominated by women and considered something automatic that required no intellect. When the overall importance of programming was discovered, more men began to be interested in this area, displacing women from positions that, until then, had been considered apt for young ladies. The profession began to gain prestige, producing a “pull effect” that today has made Computer Science, as we mentioned, the field with the greatest gender gap, in favor of men.

HERE I AM, HERE WE ARE

I’d like to end this text on a slightly more personal note. I’m writing this article paddling against the current in a sea of insecurities, accompanied by an unhealthy dose of impostor syndrome. Who am I to talk about gender inequality? I’m a physicist, not a sociologist! And, a small voice in my head chimes in: “Not even a bright physicist, just a hardworking one!” It seems that being aware of the problem of the gender gap, and being able to analyze it, does not prevent me from falling prey to the dynamics that steer many women away from STEM careers. This is a pity.

Yet, here I am. I’ve gotten this far by persevering and proving others wrong, leaning on colleagues with similar experiences and those willing to listen. It’s necessary for us women to see ourselves as capable people, and not just workers, as individuals with innovative and relevant ideas. We have a lot to contribute, but we also need to be taken into account – both in terms of gender equality and in terms of our areas of work and study.