Women In SET: Progress And Challenges.pdf

The Athena Factor 2.0: Accelerating Female Talent in Science, Engineering & Technology reports on the evolution of the female talent pipeline in SET fields over the past five years. Despite a robust pipeline, women continue to drop out of the field due to hostile work environments, isolation, and a lack of clarity surrounding career paths. The demand for SET talent is intensifying, but the supply is dwindling due to post-9/11 security concerns and a reverse brain drain of highly qualified Indian and Chinese scientists and engineers.

The report finds that women are the majority of SET college graduates in many key geographies, but a sizable proportion feel stalled and are likely to quit their jobs within a year. The fundamental reasons for this have not changed, but new data identifies nuances such as hostile macho cultures, isolation, and a scarcity of effective sponsors.

Women who feel stalled are more likely to be in the US (32%), Brazil (22%), China (30%), and India (27%). Those who are likely to quit within a year are also more prevalent in the US (29%), Brazil (23%), China (45%), and India (27%).

The report identifies several antigens that contribute to an environment of subtle, unspoken bias, making it more difficult for SET women to assume leadership roles. These include:

Hostile macho cultures that marginalize women
Isolation from "buddy networks" and lack of female role models
Scarcity of effective sponsors, with women not reaping the benefits to the same degree as their male colleagues
Difficulty with executive presence, with women struggling to decipher and embody leadership attributes

The report offers roadmaps for both ambitious SET women and human resource professionals seeking to correct for some of the inequities that beset this critical talent pool. Five company initiatives offer templates to ensure that many more women not only stay in SET careers but also progress to realize their full potential.

The report highlights the importance of sponsorship in helping women crack the unwritten code of executive presence, improving their chances of being perceived as leadership material. Sponsors also help women get their ideas heard, which is critical for companies to enjoy a "diversity dividend" that translates into increased market share and entry into new markets.

Key statistics include:

Women with sponsors are 37% more likely to ask for a raise and 22% more likely to be satisfied with their rate of promotion
46% of US SET women believe senior management more readily sees men as "leadership material"
30% of women's ideas get green-lighted for development, compared to 37% of men's
25% of women's ideas get realized/implemented, compared to 30% of men's
* Women with sponsors are 70% more likely to have their ideas endorsed, 46% more likely to see them developed, and 39% more likely to see them implemented.