Recently, Dr. France A. Córdova, director of the National Science Foundation, gave a presentation at the U.S. Council on Competitiveness meeting in Washington, D.C. She holds an extraordinary record of accomplishment and has made a tremendous impact on academia and the U.S.’s scientific community. Córdova is also the youngest person — and first woman — to serve as Chief Scientist at NASA. Her journey began with her love for STEM. 

In some ways, the future of work is largely linked to STEM. Yet in this day and age, despite role models like Córdova, women continue to remain significantly underrepresented across the board in this industry. What’s more, the inevitable reality of an AI-integrated workforce is coming. 

We can take advantage of the inescapable marriage of technology and biology to craft a novel multi-part solution for helping solve the discrimination and STEM gender gap:

  1. STEM awareness campaigns: Evangelize STEM in the workforce of tomorrow. 
  2. Special science and technology tracks for girls: Create a separate, more advanced science and technology curriculum for girls during early education due to biological developments in maturity. 
  3. AI in interviewing: Implementing carefully vetted AI in hiring procedures to potentially help eliminate gender-bias discrimination.
  4. Realizing a skills-based future: Create an understanding that the future economy will likely be skills-based rather than degree-based. 

Nationwide STEM awareness campaigns and action-oriented programs

“Women make up just under half (47 percent) of the workforce, but they are 58 percent of workers at the highest risk of automation,” states a recent report by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. Therefore, the digital workforce revolution could drive some women to encounter high levels of job insecurity. 

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But just how much of a threat does automation pose? According to the U.S. Census, between 2006 and 2010, 96 percent of secretarial and administrative positions were occupied by women. Females also reportedly hold 77 percent of teaching positions and 78 percent of central-office administrator roles. 

Learning from eastern Europe, America can introduce “STEM awareness campaigns,” large-scale private-public initiatives through which the government, academic and private institutions work in tandem to educate the public about STEM. One example of a current STEM awareness initiative is STEMFuture, an international non-profit organization that provides education and workshops for adolescents to encourage careers in technology, math and science. 

STEM awareness campaigns have the potential to significantly lessen the strain of automation on women and deliver a new set of opportunities and benefits to the female workforce of tomorrow. 

Launching advanced separate technology coursework geared for girls

Scientific research suggests the female brain matures faster than the male brain and possesses unique structural attributes. For example, girls tend to have stronger neural networks in the temporal lobe, leading to better memorization and listening abilities. In addition, the corpus callosum (a weave of fibers that conjoin the left and right hemispheres of the brain), can be up to 25 percent larger in developing female adolescents than in their male counterparts. 

Currently, schools teach boys and girls at an equivalent pace, neglecting their separate biological needs. If educators take advantage of development differences, special STEM curriculums could be crafted for girls at an early age. This could help bring STEM to girls across classrooms in the U.S. and encourage them to explore the field more deeply. 

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AI-augmented HR interviewers

Using AI to improve the HR hiring process isn’t news. Many companies use AI recruitment software that aims to make hiring more efficient or cut down on bias. This innovation suggests that AI will remain central to the future workplace environment. 

According to a Pew Research report, “about  four in ten working women (42 percent) in the United States say they have faced discrimination on the job because of their gender.” Moreover, another another study by Pew suggests that 50 percent of women in STEM jobs have experienced gender discrimination. Carefully-vetted AI could help decrease gender bias discrimination in STEM by exclusively assessing candidates based on skills. 

Realizing a skills-based future in the workforce

A digital society is a dynamic one. In the future, new technologies will regularly enter the marketplace, continuing to make lifelong learning necessary. A skills-based economy means that degrees and hierarchies will no longer be as relevant. When abilities are prioritized above factors like gender, more women could feel empowered to enter the STEM industry, knowing they’d be less likely to be assessed on the basis of gender. 

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