Female professors lead by example
But more strong role models are needed to encourage students
The University of Calgary might have a female engineer by training as its president, but Elena Di Martino says more women role models and mentors are needed to continue the trend of boosting the number of female students entering the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.
After what was seen as a successful Women in Engineering Day recently, Di Martino emphasizes the need to expose people from all walks of life to careers in those fields every day.
“With our diversity council, we’re trying to have a more welcoming environment for everybody,” she said. “It’s not just about gender equality; it’s really about feeling that you belong.”
The topic spurred three Canadian grads to take on the challenge in their own way.
Arik Motskin, Michael Kuzmin and Zack Gallinger — all statisticians working in various places — decided to take a closer look at the role models aspiring young women can look up to when pursuing careers in one of the STEM fields.
They launched a blog called The 10 and 3 aimed at turning the numbers game into real-world, intriguing facts. Whether it’s analysis of hockey or far-flung languages, the trio spends their spare time examining any topic that interests them.
Their latest study of Canada’s top 20 universities, measured by the size of their engineering departments, revealed a huge difference when it comes to the number of female professors in STEM departments.
At the low end of the spectrum, for example, was the University of Alberta, with just under 10 per cent of its professors who are women, according to their analysis. The University of Ottawa and the University of Victoria, meanwhile, were the only two institutions that had more than 25 per cent of professors identified as female.
“We were really quite shocked both at the extremely low percentage of tenured women overall … but also the wide variation between universities, and also the shockingly low number of women — just one or two per department — in some of Canada’s most well-regarded public institutions,” says Motskin, who now works in California as a statistician for a major technology firm.
“We believe this is an incredibly important topic that hasn’t received enough attention from the public,” he added.
Lynn Taylor, vice- provost of teaching and learning at the U of C, says female mentors play a vital role in encouraging other young women to pursue careers in these fields.
“It is inspiring for women who have a passion for STEM fields to see female role models achieving success and providing leadership,” Taylor said.
“Appreciating the achievements of female professors in STEM teaching, research and professional careers offers compelling examples to other women.”
She said it’s encouraging to see more female students entering such occupations. “Their success will change the landscape of STEM careers.”
During the 1970s, the number of women engineers practising in the business world was only about one per cent.
Today, that number has grown to around 16 to 17 per cent. The U of C now has about 28 per cent female students in its first-year undergraduate engineering stream.
“It’s starting to look like a more diverse class,” Di Martino said. “You don’t really notice that sea of only male students anymore.”
Even within the STEM areas of study there remain differences, however.
While chemical and biomedical engineering tend to attract more women, physics and computer science still generally have strong male biases.
When she first began teaching, Di Martino’s department head advised her it would be difficult for her because the male-dominated classes typically questioned her credibility.
There are exceptions. The Harvey Mudd College in California managed to boost the number of its female students up to 48 per cent after a concerted effort to target women to build careers in computer science, technology, engineering and math, says Di Martino.
Taylor believes strong, female role models serve to ignite a passion among young women to consider pursuing careers in one or another area of the broad STEM realms.
Di Martino, meanwhile, just wants young women to consider the possibilities and opportunities in one of those fields.
It is inspiring for women who have a passion for STEM fields to see female role models achieving success and providing leadership.