Making sure school-aged girls can see themselves in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) careers is important, but it’s not the only problem when it comes to increasing the number of women in STEM.

“Historically, the thinking has been that it’s a supply issue – that we don’t have enough women entering engineering and STEM programs,” says Dr. Dianna Dempsey, an assistant professor of human resources. “But over the past 10 years, we’ve realized that it’s also about the workplace environments themselves.” 

For example, while there is a supply problem in the engineering field (Dempsey’s primary STEM focus) – only 20 per cent of students entering post-secondary programs are women – there are also issues with retention. Four years after graduation, women account for only 9 to 12 per cent of the new engineers who complete the required post-degree training to become registered professional engineers. And seven to 10 years after completing that post-degree training there’s another significant loss of women in the field. Clearly there are also issues with retention in these workplaces, and Dr. Dempsey wanted to know why. 

Using a mix of surveys, interviews and focus groups with people across the profession (engineers, other STEM professionals, executives and management teams, supervisors, clients of engineering firms and industry associations), she looked at the barriers women face in engineering workplaces and how to overcome them. A few things were clear.

“Having an ally in the organization, particularly someone in a position of power, is important – someone who is willing to stand up and say that making their workplaces more inclusive of women needs to be addressed in their organization,” says Dr. Dempsey. “And it’s often more impactful if that ally is male.”

Along with advocacy and allyship, development opportunities, cross-training and recognition are important. So is creating an open, ongoing dialogue.

“One of the biggest lessons of our research is that this can’t be a one-time, one-size-fits-all program with specific timelines because when the program ends, the initiative dies,” says Dr. Dempsey. “When it comes to making these kinds of changes stick, it must be a shift that is embedded in an organization’s culture.”

Another stream of Dr. Dempsey’s research also challenges thinking around why women are underrepresented, this time in entrepreneurship. There’s a prevalent, male-centred norm, she explains, that attributes the lack of women entrepreneurs to underconfidence. 

“The research we're doing challenges that idea and says that women aren’t necessarily underconfident, but that they are more accurately confident about their abilities and efficacy,” she says. That could be a good thing because other researchers have found that, while overconfidence in men who are entrepreneurs is often perceived as a strength, that overconfidence can lead to outcomes that are actually detrimental to a business.

Although both branches of Dempsey’s work argue that supply isn’t the only factor when it comes to creating a more inclusive future for women in non-typical careers, she believes there is still much work to do when it comes to helping young girls and women see themselves in these fields. 

“We need to change those norms and narratives and demystify these careers so that young girls can see these fields as a possibility for them and have a deep awareness of the importance and impact they can make in these professions,” she says. “At the same time, both the professions and the organizations within them need to change and evolve in order to attract – and retain – women moving forward.”