Charting STEM Success: Data-Driven Strategies to Empower Female Students in Chicago
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18409/a0d8b836Keywords:
women in STEM , STEM education , Mentorship , Career pathways, Gender equityAbstract
Despite increased efforts to improve gender diversity, women remain underrepresented and underserved across many Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields, particularly in advanced and leadership positions. While previous research has extensively documented structural barriers such as gender bias, lack of mentorship, and work-life imbalance, the comprehensive understanding of the nuanced and diverse range of individual career experiences of women who succeed in these domains remains impoverished. This study addresses this gap by collecting and analyzing qualitative data from accomplished women in STEM along five thematic categories: personal traits, education and skills, career navigation, institutional barriers, and personal struggles, and organizing these patterns into three classes—established (well-documented in literature), developing (high research activity), and emerging (minimally or unaddressed in literature). By integrating the lived experiences of women in STEM, this work contributes to a comprehensive conceptual framework that enhances the understanding of women’s career journeys, highlights underexamined challenges and motivations, and provides an empirical basis for designing targeted mentorship initiatives and future research.
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