#GIRLS IN STEM
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, STEM college degrees continue to remain male-dominated — from 2011 to 2021, the percentage of STEM bachelor’s degrees held by women only increased from 35.2% to 38.2%.
Chun said providing role models for young girls has a huge impact on their future aspirations, especially in male-dominated fields like STEM.
“A major success of this movement has been providing role models for young girls that can inspire them, help them realize that they can do whatever they want in life and that they’re as good as all their boy peers,” Chun said. “From a young age, I wanted to be a lawyer, a doctor, an astronaut, and before our time and generation, that wasn’t really something that was as common. When (my mom) was younger, girls were expected to (take) on the role as a stay-at-home mom, and that’s great if you want to do that, but I was raised knowing I can keep working.”
And on campus, senior Samhita Konduri, co-president of the Girls Who Code club, said there are more male students in many STEM clubs at Paly.
“Even in Palo Alto, there’s still kind of a lack of equal representation in our STEM clubs at school,” Konduri said. “It’s more of just feeling out of place in the more general STEM clubs at school because if no one’s saying anything, you still kind of feel like another person, kind of separate from the rest of the people in the clubs.”
Konduri said this feeling inspired her to start Girls Who Code, where she could relate more to her peers and feel more included and comfortable.
“I have a lot more fun with STEM and technology and coding and everything because of Girls Who Code,” Konduri said. “There’s kind of a feeling that we all deserve to pursue this, and no one’s doubting each other there, so you just feel a lot more encouraged. Like, ‘Yeah, I can do this. I can keep going on this path.”
While pushing for inclusivity, Kramer said she has noticed inherent biases against girls in STEM-related fields.
“I’ve had experiences where teachers in my engineering classes have an inherent bias and say things like, ‘Oh, you’re a woman in engineering,’ and notice that there’s a difference about that, usually with a negative connotation,” Kramer said. “It’s so implemented in society because when someone says ‘doctor,’ the first thing you think of is a guy, and so it’s how society has raised us and shaped our views.”
According to the US Department of Labor, women working full-time, on average, are only paid 84% of what men are paid. Kramer said this inherent bias can lead to pay gaps and other inequities in the workplace.
“Sometimes women can just be seen as inferior and can be given different tasks according to that, like a less complicated or less essential task,” Kramer said. “Or, if you make a mistake, you could be weighed more heavily or blamed because of your gender.”
At Paly, however, Williamson said women have fairly equal opportunities for pursuing leadership roles.
“We’ve had female principals,” Williamson said. “Two of our (assistant principals) are women of color, and a lot of our instructional leads are also women, which is great. It’s also easier in our line of work because our salaries are just based on years of experience. So it makes it extremely equal.”
Similarly, Mohan said the surge in gender diversity within STEM fields is encouraging.
“Especially in the field of data science, being able to see more girls and women encourages people to join tech and data science and often pursue their passion and look further into a field that’s often assumed to be more male dominated,” Mohan said.
