Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.: Statistsics

This NGCP resource presents the most compelling statistics for girls and women in STEM on one page. Statistics include information on K-12 Education, Higher Education, and Workforce and will be updated on a regular basis.

Although women fill close to half of all jobs in the U.S. economy, they hold less than 25 percent of STEM jobs. This has been the case throughout the past decade, even as college educated women have increased their share of the overall workforce.
Women with STEM jobs earned 33 percent more than comparable women in non-STEM jobs –
considerably higher than the STEM premium for men. As a result, the gender wage gap is
smaller in STEM jobs than in non-STEM jobs.

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A recent Snapshot Report from the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) Research Center illustrates a ten-year stagnation of women’s progress in STEM bachelor’s degree attainment over the past decade. When comparing the 2004 and 2014 attainment rates, women’s bachelor’s degree attainment in science and engineering fell by one percent overall, with declines in every field, including those where women are well represented (biological and agricultural sciences; social sciences and psychology). In fact, women lost ground in all seven bachelor’s field categories tracked by the Clearinghouse.

Google just hired Ruth Porat, a former Morgan Stanley executive, to be its chief financial officer, and is paying her a reported $70 million. You’d think that’s a sign that things are looking up for women in the tech industry.

Not quite.

The percentage of computing jobs held by women has actually fallen over the past 23 years, according to a new study.