Women in STEM Share Their Workplace Experiences

Understanding women’s experiences and professional growth within STEM is essential for promoting gender equality and ensuring diverse talent to fuel innovation. These insights can help improve workplace policies and foster more inclusive and supportive work environments where everyone can thrive on equal footing. With this in mind, MYBiosource surveyed women working in STEM from around the world to draw on their perspectives. Read on to learn more about the experiences of women in STEM.

Key Takeaways

• 1 in 10 women in STEM know they’re paid less than their male counterparts.
• Women in STEM with female mentors receive more frequent promotions and higher salary increases.
• 18% of women in STEM have been told to smile at work.
• Remote female STEM workers report fewer gender-based issues than those working in person or hybrid.
• Nearly 2 in 3 millennial, Gen X, and baby boomer women working in STEM have seen workplace gender equality improve during their careers.

MyBioSource surveyed 600 women from around the world currently working in a STEM field. Among them, 10% were Gen X or older, 55% were millennials, and 35% were Gen Z. Regarding mentorship, 35% had a female mentor, and 65% did not.

For many women, the journey to recognition and success in STEM fields is filled with challenges. A significant 45% of women in STEM said they’ve never been promoted. Among those overlooked for promotions during the last two years, 69% said a man got the promotion instead, highlighting a gender bias in career progression. Of the women who had been promoted, 38% believed they were promoted less frequently than their male peers.

The top reason women in STEM cited for this inequitable promotion system was an exclusive male presence in leadership positions (15%). Additionally, 11% of women felt sidelined from informal networking events, 9% struggled to connect with male supervisors, and 6% were perceived as less committed to their work due to family responsibilities.

Alarmingly, more than half of the women surveyed reported receiving a “quiet promotion,” requiring them to shoulder more responsibilities without a title change or increased pay.

We also discovered that having a female mentor played a pivotal role in the professional development of many women in STEM: 31% who had this benefit reported receiving a promotion in the last year. Comparatively, only 21% of their peers without such guidance said the same. Beyond upward role changes, those with a female mentor experienced an average 8% salary increase at their last raise, marginally eclipsing the 7% increase for those without.

In addition, 61% of women with a female mentor got a pay raise in the past year compared to 53% of those without. These findings highlight the tangible benefits of female mentorship for supporting growth and opportunity.

Other topics covered by the survey include workplace experiences and work-life balance.

Reflecting on the evolution of gender equality in the workplace, 65% of women in STEM across generations said they’ve seen improvements since they began their careers. However, they also shared their visions for further progress.

The most desired change was salary transparency, with 68% advocating for more openness about pay. The U.S. is already working toward this, with some states having already enacted pay transparency laws. Similarly, many also called for more transparency in advancement criteria (53%), highlighting a quest for fairness and clarity in how women can progress in their STEM careers.

Having more women in leadership roles was another top wish, with 61% emphasizing the need for more female representation at the top. Others wanted more flexible schedules (51%), which can help align workers’ professional lives with their personal needs.

About MyBioSource

With over 60% of our employees being women, MyBioSourceis commited to diversity in STEM. We’re also commting to providing top-quality biological reagents globally, catering to researchers and scientists with products including monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies, recombinant proteins, and ELISA kits.