Where do the women in STEM, stem from?

Since entrepreneurship accelerates social and economic growth, women’s entrepreneurship is crucial, even more so for developing nations. Many studies show women entrepreneurs face a plethora of obstacles that affect their ability to start businesses, succeed in them, and stay in business. Governments, international organisations, and a variety of other players are making a lot of efforts in this environment to improve entrepreneurship in general and women’s entrepreneurship in particular. 

Given its increased potential and prospects for promoting economic and social progress, entrepreneurship in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is a crucial subject to which several parties have paid special attention. However, it has been discovered that there are very few female entrepreneurs in general and in STEM professions in particular.

In Sri Lanka, which has a strong patriarchal culture, gender stereotypes are tightly institutionalised and internalised, which hinders women’s advancement and involvement in many areas of society. The misconceptions permeated employment decisions, paid work, and women’s admittance, retention, and success in their jobs although women have made tremendous advancements in many areas of modern Sri Lanka, including STEM sectors where they have even outpaced males in scholastic achievements. Therefore, it is not unexpected that women are discouraged from pursuing careers in disciplines traditionally associated with males, such as entrepreneurship and the STEM professions. Women’s acceptance in society and success is judged in terms of righteous and respectable womanhood, as well as traits like femininity and submissiveness.

As a result, there is a significant gender disparity in entrepreneurship in the nation, with very few women pursuing entrepreneurship in general and STEM professions in particular. Despite providing a larger percentage of female output in higher education, this conundrum of low female labour force participation seems to be an unusual one. Additionally, the gender gap in STEM education in the nation is closing, with 55% of female output in STEM disciplines reported at national institutions in 2018. This country’s higher proportion of women working in STEM areas is especially remarkable given that overall reports and widespread trends from many other regions of the world suggest that more males graduate in these fields. However, these differences may stem less from choices and more from the structure of work culture. 

Women are frequently more driven by pull considerations – things that attract someone to change into a new behaviour than push factors – motivations to stop a prior behaviour, even though men and women tend to have similar motives for starting their own businesses in general. However, another study done in underdeveloped nations indicates that women there can be more driven by push factors like the desire for jobs and wealth. Analysis reveals that contrary to prior research in underdeveloped nations, pull factors are more significant, which is consistent with research on women entrepreneurs generally. The fact that STEM entrepreneurs, who often had greater levels of education and work in a profession with a double male bent, may be responsible for the difference in outcomes.

It is impossible to truly determine if men and women are motivated differently to start businesses in STEM disciplines. However, the process of launching a business and the inspiration behind it have been impacted by gender role assumptions and attitudes connected with societal gender norms. Indeed, the reasons given for wanting to start their own businesses show that while entering a doubly male environment, their motives are nevertheless driven, consciously or subconsciously, overtly or indirectly, by gender ideology. examples of gendered needs include the need for flexibility – homemakers, caring for family members, and nurturing mothers, the desire to contribute to society – altruism, empathy, and caring, and the lack of attention on money matters – where women are not expected to work or earn. Therefore, to fix this playing field, private and public sector actors alike should band together for inclusive workforce creation.