Programs aim to steer women into male-dominated fields

It’s a good time to be a woman in business.

Between 1997 and 2013, the number of women-owned businesses in the United States increased by 59 percent while the overall number of businesses increased by 41 percent, according to American Express Open’s 2013 State of Women-Owned Businesses Report. And Idaho’s a decent place to be for women business owners – American Express Open ranked it the 10^th best state for women-owned firms in 2013.

But though women business ownership is on the rise nationwide, women are still underrepresented in many traditionally male-dominated fields, whether as owners or employees.

While women represent just more than half the U.S. population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, their representation is far lower in fields such as information technology (25 percent), engineering (13 percent) and construction (9 percent).

“I struggle to know why we haven’t been able to attract more women,” said Amy Moll, dean of the College of Engineering at Boise State University. “We’re not attracting half the population. … Are we getting out there and attracting the best people to be engineers?”

Moll argues that with so few women earning engineering degrees, it’s inevitable that the field is missing out on some of the highest-potential individuals. And women provide a needed voice in engineering, as they do in any field, she said.

“A diversity of positions, a diversity of experience is critical to good design,” Moll said. “If there’s not a woman on the design team, you’re not getting that experience and that voice.”

“Women bring a different perspective to the table, and that could lead to better innovations or faster processes, and the things the company is looking for,” said Brooke Lacey, owner of Tech Savvy, a computer service and repair firm in Boise.

Lacey has pitched a girls-only science, technology, engineering and math class – commonly abbreviated as STEM – to the educational arm of the Reuseum in Boise.

“It shouldn’t be about breaking barriers,” Lacey said. “The point is: Girls don’t have the information, and there’s a stigma.”

Lacey would also like to visit area schools to talk about the tech field.

“I just want 20 or 30 minutes with a group of girls and explain that it’s cool and you can still be a girl,” she said. “They can still be a girl and be feminine and like pretty clothes and to a tech thing.”

Boise State also has outreach programs to attract girls to STEM fields, Moll said. For example, the university offers an e-Girls summer camp to get ninth- and 10^th-grade girls interested in engineering.

the National Association of Women in Construction Boise runs a summer camp designed to teach young women about carpentry, masonry, and electrical skills. The Girl Scouts of Silver Sage also has programs to encourage girls to enter not only STEM fields, but also leadership roles in all fields.

“We want girls to see themselves in those roles,” said Maureen O’Toole, CEO of the Girl Scouts of Silver Sage. “We want our girls to feel confident in any academic setting.”

Moll said having female professors in fields like engineering can help girls and women see themselves in such roles.

“When you see people that look like you, it may not affect you, but in general you think, ‘Well, I can do this,’” Moll said. And while some women see a classroom full of men and think, “I’m going to show you; I’m going to do even better,” Moll said, others think “Is it even worth it?”

That’s why Lacey wants her STEM class to be for girls only and why it’s important that a woman teach it.

“It’s so that they feel comfortable that they’re not going to be the only girl with a bunch of boys,” she said. “It’s different from anything they’ve ever known, and I just don’t think they would be as comfortable with a guy.”

Fifty-five percent of incoming college freshmen are women, O’Toole said, and more women than men will complete their bachelor’s degrees.

“When you take that number and figure out who the future business leaders are, it’s women,” she said.

O’Toole said the Girl Scouts are increasingly emphasizing STEM education, with new badges for video game development and biochemistry, and STEM education built into its K-12 Journey Program. The Girl Scouts of Silver Sage also recently received a grant for STEM programming at its summer camp in McCall this year.

Part of encouraging girls to see themselves in leadership roles and in male-dominated fields is combating media stereotypes, O’Toole said. Girls are bombarded with messages that emphasize their appearance over their abilities.

“It’s not about who you are and what you do with your talents,” she said.

Moll agreed that preconceived ideas about fields like engineering can discourage women, whether it’s because the stereotype – nerdy, boring white males who work alone – is unappealing, or that young people don’t think they have the skills needed to succeed in the field.

For example, Moll said students have the impression that if they haven’t been placed in advanced math classes during middle school and high school, their math skills must not be good enough for them to enter engineering.

“That’s just wrong,” she said. “You have to use your math; you don’t have to love the math.”

Moll said some women may be deterred by unreasonably high expectations of themselves. For example, research has indicated that more women than men leave engineering majors at GPAs of 2.5 or higher.

“We have to pay closer attention to those kinds of things,” Moll said.

Moll and Lacey are also trying to inform women about their fields.

“People who have no experience with it don’t necessarily say, ‘I know what an engineer does. I know what a computer scientist does,’” Moll said. “We need better marketing for engineers.”

Hollywood and television have given a glamorous spin to fields like forensic science, medicine and law, Moll said, but there’s no such portrayal of engineering in popular culture.

“We need them to do that for engineers,” she said.

“It’s not like you’re sitting there doing calculus all day long,” Lacey said. “If you don’t know anything about it – all you know is it’s scary – then how do you know you’re not going to be any good at it? How do you know you’re not going to like it?

“It’s just important for (girls) to see that there are these other options and it’s OK for them to like it.”