Million Women Mentors: Busting Myths about Women in STEM

While women comprise nearly 50 percent of the workforce, they represent only 24 percent of the STEM workforce. Many people assume this disparity is because women are not as interested as men in STEM, or not as good at STEM subjects as men. Yet research demonstrates these assumptions are more myths than reality. There are many nuanced reasons why women remain severely underrepresented in the STEM workforce.

In this brief, we will explore four common myths about why women do not pursue STEM careers at the same rate as men, along with several best practices for employers to recruit and retain more women in STEM.

Million Women Mentors (MWM), an initiative of STEMconnector, is a national and global movement to spark the interest and confidence in women and girls to pursue STEM careers and leadership opportunities through the power of mentoring.