Women in STEM: How can we understand and support their career development?

Abstract

This Research Full Paper investigates the rich stories of a range of women in STEM through psychological and sociological frames to develop a career development framework. Current research acknowledges the lack of representation of women in STEM and reports on challenges and barriers to recruiting, retaining, and advancing women in these fields. Engineering educators recognise the need for the profession to diversify, to be more inclusive, and that innovation and entrepreneurial mindsets are required for engineering leaders in the future. Traditional career ladders are dissolving and we understand better the new models of boundaryless and protean (self-directed and values-driven) careers that span across work units, organisations and sectors, including self-employment. The future of engineering education requires learning designers to better understand how to develop the mindsets required for orienteering the many transitions in the careers of the future. If we are to support the careers of women in STEM we need to understand the nature of their career paths and choices. This qualitative research used semi-structured interviews to explore the career narratives of women in STEM, focusing on the career decision making and individual perceptions of career choices associated with career shifts or pivots. With reference to the literature on career choice, mindsets and motivations, an inductive and thematic analysis was conducted and descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data. We looked at the career paths of women in STEM in terms of their career patterns, locus of control, career context, career age and stage, career sponsorship, and their experiences in entrepreneurial ventures. A framework has been developed for characterising and understanding women's choices and the mindsets that enable success. This framework will enable us to identify approaches and tools that are useful for women to evaluate their own mindsets and design their career choices. The results can be used to inform the design of resources and interventions that support the retainment and advancement of women in STEM, developing an intentional change mindset, and supporting career choices from undergraduate level to continuous professional development education. This new framework for career development is emerging and integrates knowledge from educational research and professional experience of women to enable educators, coaches, people managers, and human resource professionals to better prepare women and organisations for the future of work.