classroom Inequality

Just as women are a minority in the STEM industry, women are also a minority in STEM bachelor's degree programs in the United States. Women account for nearly 57% of students enrolled in undergraduate programs. According to Ishani Sing, author of Yale Scientific, women represent 57.3% of undergraduate students in the United States and only 38% in STEM fields. The breakdown of women categorized by race enrolled in undergraduate programs is represented in the corresponding chart. Women in STEM are still a minority in college programs, and women of color are far less defined. The gap in female representation in STEM is scarily similar to the gender gap in the industry. Women are missing out on quality STEM education and opportunities in higher education. The lack of female participation in higher education STEM programs results in women being barred from getting into the growing STEM industry.

Employment in STEM has doubled the expected occupational growth. The STEM industry is expected to grow at the double the rate of non-STEM industry fields. These percentages are alarmingly concerning, considering the STEM industry is projected to "grow by 8.0% percent by 2029, compared with 3.7% percent for all occupations (Ice and Zilberman). Overall, women are missing out on STEM employment opportunities because women are underrepresented in higher STEM education programs. Black and Brown women are disproportionately affected. We know that women are underrepresented in STEM education and employment. Why is there a gender gap? Why are women of color disproportionately underrepresented in STEM. Where does this gender gap begin to form? What can educators do in the classroom to decrease the gender gap and increase female participation in STEM?

Worcester, Massachusetts, is considered a diverse city representing a wide variety of races, ethnicities, ages, genders, and socioeconomic statuses (Worcester, Massachusetts Population 2021 (Demographics, Maps, Graphs)). The Worcester Public School (WPS) system comprises 44 schools, serves grades pre-K through 12th grade, and supports 23,986 students. 100% of classrooms are available online as of May 18th, 2021, and have a 14.2 to 1 student: teacher ratio. Worcester Public Schools has also been labeled a high-needs school district and receives Title I funding for some schools. High-needs is calculated based on the number of high-needs students divided by the adjusted enrollment. A student is in high need if they are designated as either low income (before 2015, and from 2022 to present), economically disadvantaged (from 2015 to 2021), El[English Learner]/former El, or a student with disabilities". According to the Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy,

"High-needs is used as an umbrella term for such designations as children eligible and receiving subsidies as reported to the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, and students designated as either low income (prior to 2015), economically disadvantaged (starting in the school year 2015), English Language Learner (ELL), former ELL, or a student with disabilities" (​​Student Group Data Definitions | Rennie Center).

Title I schools are public educational institutes that receive additional federal funding to bridge student performance and state standards. Title 1 funding is also given to districts with above 40% of students receiving free or reduced lunch (Title I, Part A Program). WPS student body is approximately 49% female, 51% male. WPS also has a higher than average enrollment of students who identify as African American, Hispanic, and multirace / non-Hispanic compared to the Massachusetts average (seen above). In the following figure, the demographic breakdown of WPS is represented, highlighting the students from many different backgrounds enrolled at WPS.

WPS serves more students considered minorities in STEM than the state's average demographic. Based on the above data, we can roughly calculate that 14% of women are white and 22.5% Hispanic, 4.5% African American, 3% Asian, and 2% multiracial enrolled in Worcester Public Schools. The state's average female demographics can be approximated to 28% white, 11% Hispanic, 4.5% African American, 3.5% Asian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander, and 2% multirace.

As mentioned earlier, "women represent 57.3% of undergraduate students in the United States and only 38% of that in STEM fields". The percentage of Black and Brown women in WPS is higher than that of Black and Brown women enrolled in college. However, these women are not finding themselves in college STEM programs.

Worcester Public Schools has a slightly lower graduation rate of 87% than the state's rate of 89%. The college enrollment rate based on graduating high school seniors in Worcester is 88%. According to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Worcester Public Schools are making "substantial progress towards progress" and do not require state intervention.

WPS states that academic excellence is a priority and that they strive in educating all aspects of their students via "high achievement for each student, rigorous, relevant activities, social-emotional learning, family and community involvement, access to advanced opportunities, and interventions and supports" (From Here, Anywhere). These are great words to hear since progress is needed to be made to decrease the gender gap. However, these efforts are not translating into more women of color participating in STEM programs post-graduation. Women in Worcester are graduating high school. 91% of women graduate high school, but only 65.2% attend college. Out of the total district demographic, 48% of Hispanic/Latino, 64.2% White, 74% Black / African American, and 75% Asian attend college. We can estimate the demographics of women attending college after graduation by dividing the totals of demographic percentages by 2 when considering the male to female ratio.

Why are these women graduating high school, proceeding into college, and not going into the STEM career path? I believe this to be true because of the lack of representation, support, and societal biases.

"I've seen this divide in person. I lived through the experience. During the spring semester of 2021, my junior year, I completed my student teaching in high school biology at a public high school in Worcester, MA. When students in my class were asked to describe what a scientist looked like, many of them said, tall, white lab coat, a man in goggles, beakers, and test tubes. I continued to ask them to name any scientists that came to their minds. Many said Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, or Elon Musk. However, not one student from my four sections mentioned Rosalind Franklin, Katherine Johnson, Mae C. Jemison, or even George Washington Carver. Three things were made apparent to me at that moment. One, many of my students remained oblivious to the fact that being a scientist doesn't come with a list of appearance requirements; two, that they didn't have role models to look up to in the science community that shared similar identities with them; and three, meeting their diverse holistic needs always to be my top priority. Since then, I have constantly researched new methods, philosophies, and pedagogies to better support my students and become better educators" (Pacheco).

Students from underserved schools are not given the same opportunity to flourish, especially in science regarding STEM education. I know this is indeed based on my teaching during COVID-19. Julia Philips, a physicist, researcher, and chair of the National Science Board's committee on National Science and Engineering Policy, stated,

"​​It ought to be extremely disturbing to everyone in the U.S. that science and math performance is not equally distributed across the country. You see huge differences in performance based on race and ethnicity, so that Asian and white students do much better on these standardized tests than students of color. And you also see that there is a huge difference based on the socioeconomic status of students – students that are from higher socioeconomic backgrounds do much better than students from low socioeconomic backgrounds".

Students in more affluent districts have greater access to better learning resources and technology than others from lower socioeconomic status districts (SES) within the same state. Students from higher socioeconomic status perform better on standardized tests than students from lower socioeconomic classes. Typically students of color originate from lower socioeconomic groups than those who are white. Students from higher socioeconomic status don't just have different lifestyles; they also have diverse educational experiences. Students from more wealthy backgrounds have more financial resources to get additional tutoring, test preparation, and educational tools such as laptops and tablets to assist in learning. These resources are not necessarily accessible to everyone.

"I've learned that the arts and sciences are riddled with epistemic injustice. Epistemic injustices are the purposeful discreditation of a person or groups' knowledge and capabilities (Stroupe, 2019). This injustice trickles into the classroom even when teachers actively break racial, cultural, and ethnic boundaries. These dividers can vividly be seen across all identities, male, female, white, black, Hispanic, latine, queer, straight, and various socioeconomic status in between via microaggressions, stereotypes. Diversity in age, knowledge, and background has been scientifically proven through evidence-based research to deliver better learning outcomes and inspire creative solutions for complex challenges (Hong and Page). Why is there such a gap in representation in STEM when diversity has been proven time and time again to yield better and more creative resolutions? The truth is much more complex than a simple answer" (Pacheco).