Caltech’s Latest STEM Breakthrough: Most of Its New Students Are Women
Gloria L. Blackwell, chief executive of the American Assn. of University Women, lauded Caltech’s achievement as critical progress in reducing the substantial gap of women in science, technology, engineering and math. Although women hold about 60% of degrees in biological sciences, they represent only about 18% in computer science and 20% in engineering, Blackwell said. Research has shown that boys are not better at math and science than girls, but a persistent message in society says otherwise — and especially discourages Latinas and Black girls from pursuing the fields because they face discrimination and have less access to role models, resources and opportunities, the AAUW says. The report notes that Caltech isn’t the first educational institution to reach gender parity in STEM. Harvey Mudd College, a small private institution in Claremont, “enrolled more women than men in 2010 for the first time in its history and in 2014 graduated more women than men in engineering,” reports the LA Times. “Today, women make up 52.8% of majors in computer science, 50.5% in engineering and 68.2% in mathematical and computational biology.”
UC Berkeley is another powerful producer of STEM graduates, with “nearly half of students majoring in those fields [identifying] as women or nonbinary.” However, the report notes that the field they enter varies significantly. “They make up more than two-thirds of students in biological and biomedical sciences, but about one-third in engineering, computer and informational sciences, and mathematics and statistics.”
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