PM Network - December 2014

CLOSING THE
STEM GENDER GAP
Eight years ago, male co-workers would tell Annette
Suh she was “a pretty sharp project manager—for a
woman.” “They intended it as a compliment,” says Ms.
Suh, PMI-RMP, PMP, senior IT project manager, Liberty
Mutual Insurance, Seattle, Washington, USA. “That
doesn’t happen anymore.”
Still, a 2014 study of over 5,000 women with
engineering degrees found nearly 40 percent left the
field citing limited advancement, hostile work climates
and unsupportive supervisors. But it’s a supply as well
as a demand problem: Of the 1. 4 million jobs that will
be created in the computing-related fields by 2020,
U.S. women will fill just 3 percent, according to the
U.S. Department of Labor and Girls Who Code. Waning
interest in science, technology, engineering and math-
ematics (STEM) fields begins long before
college. In a 2013 poll of 8-year-old to
17-year-old students, 24 percent of boys
showed interest in an engineering career.
Only 5 percent of girls did.
To help fuel the next generation of
female practitioners, programs have
emerged around the world to foster inter-
est in STEM. Google launched a US$50
million initiative in June 2014 to teach
young girls coding, which includes funding
organizations like the Girl Scouts, Girls
Who Code and Black Girls Code. In 2012, the European
Union and 12 nations—including the United States,
Australia, Senegal, Indonesia and Peru—announced a
partnership designed to expand women’s economic op-
portunities. In Melbourne, Australia, a nonprofit called
Girl Geek Academy is organizing classes that encourage
women to launch tech startups—including instruction
on JavaScript, HTML and Ruby on Rails.

Ms. Suh is encouraged that the issue is getting increasing attention. “Women in technology must realize we’re key in bringing change to the workplace, especially in project management,” she says. “The more of us representing in this role, the better the profession will become.”