Supporting women STEM students and researchers is not only an essential part of America’s strategy to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world; it is also important to women themselves. Women in STEM jobs earn 33 percent more than those in non-STEM occupations and experience a smaller wage gap relative to men. And STEM careers offer women the opportunity to engage in some of the most exciting realms of discovery and technological innovation. Increasing opportunities for women in these fields is an important step towards realizing greater economic success and equality for women across the board.
The Office of Science and Technology Policy, in collaboration with the White House Council on Women and Girls, is dedicated to increasing the participation of women and girls — as well as other underrepresented groups — in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics by increasing the engagement of girls with STEM subjects in formal and informal environments, encouraging mentoring to support women throughout their academic and professional experiences, and supporting efforts to retain women in the STEM workforce.
STEM Depiction Opportunities: Inspiring a diverse generation of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) innovators.
Biases are destructive for those who apply them as well as those being judged based on stereotypes. Various experiments suggest that those who judge others through a biased lens can miss the chance to hire superior employees or appreciate the true talents of others, including their own children. For in-stance, parents rate the math abilities of their daughters lower than parents of boys with identical math performance in school. For example, college faculty are less likely to respond to an email from a student inquiring about research opportunities if the email appears to come from a woman than if the identical email appears to come from a man. Science faculty are less likely to hire or mentor a student if they believe the student is a woman rather than a man.
STEM Workers Supply vs. Demand Mismatch: STEM fields are essential to America’s economic growth and global competitiveness; however, there is currently a mismatch between the supply and growing demand for STEM-skilled workers. Today there are over half a million unfilled jobs in information technology across all sectors of the economy, which reinforces the notion that computer science has become a basic requisite for 21st century jobs. Economic projections indicate that by 2018, there could be 2.4 million unfilled STEM jobs. The STEM employment gap is further compounded by persistent diversity challenges, as women and minorities, who comprise 70% of college students but less than 45% of STEM degrees, represent a largely untapped talent pool. In order to sustain American innovation, there is an opportunity to tackle this issue from all angles—from inside the classroom, to workplace culture, to entertainment media.
Hope for the future—power of STEM and storytelling interface: Popular entertainment media is powerful—it can influence the public’s perceptions towards STEM by shaping, cultivating, or reinforcing the “cultural meanings” of STEM fields and careers. For example, as a result of the introduction of various fictional CSI crime shows in 2000, the public became fascinated with the science behind crime-scene investigations. Termed the “CSI effect,” the positive, dramatic portrayal of forensic science resulted in significant increases in forensic science program applications at universities, with undergraduate and graduate degree enrollment in these programs almost doubling from 2000 to 2005. Because children and teens often consume large amounts of entertainment media, media presents a valuable opportunity to supplement the work of America's STEM teachers by providing information and role models that can inspire students to persist in STEM studies. In addition, positive STEM imagery and messaging can help enable exploration of STEM, guide parents on how to provide support, and illustrate the connection between classroom study and the array of STEM careers.
Current Representations of STEM in Entertainment Media: However, in depictions of STEM professionals in family films, men outpace women 5 to 1, and when it comes to portrayals of computer scientists and engineers, men outpace women 14.25 to 1 in family films and 5.4 to 1 in primetime. Rather than continue to normalize inequality through these stories, the entertainment industry has an opportunity to paint the picture of an inclusive STEM workforce the Nation aspires to achieve, and reflect the exciting aspects and social impacts of STEM jobs. Targeted efforts by the entertainment community to increase positive STEM content holds great promise to promote significant and sustained changes.
OVERARCHING GOAL: To support the inclusion of diverse and compelling STEM images, stories, and positive messages in mainstream entertainment media in order to help promote greater diversity in the STEM workforce. There are three main goals for STEM-related depictions in entertainment media:
Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Education
America must provide students with a strong education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to prepare them to succeed in the global economy. Scientists and engineers create many of the innovations that drive our Nation’s competitiveness, yet many American students are unprepared in math and science, particularly students from underrepresented groups, and the nation’s STEM workforce needs are not being met.
Federal agencies have developed a range of programs over the years in order to advance STEM education, but recognize the need for continued improvement. In 2014, the President's Budget proposed a framework for delivering STEM education to more students and more teachers more effectively. The Administration has also published a Federal STEM Education Five-Year Strategic Plan to help align the framework with key goals and strategies. The major areas of priority for this plan include: improving pre-kindergarten-through-grade-twelve (pre-K-12) STEM instruction; increasing and sustaining youth and public engagement in STEM; enhancing the STEM experience of undergraduate students; better serving groups historically underrepresented in STEM; and designing graduate education for tomorrow’s STEM workforce.
Agencies have made considerable progress towards a stronger and more cohesive infrastructure for delivering STEM education. For example, federal agencies have increased their coordination and are identifying ways to leverage existing resources to improve the reach of agency assets, including over 200,000 federally-employed STEM professionals, laboratory facilities, and cutting-edge research and development. The 2015 Budget for the Department of Education builds on these efforts and also proposes additional goals that focus on identifying and using evidence-based practices and finding new models for leveraging assets and expertise. Key 2015 investments aimed at improving P-12 STEM education and learning include the following:
In addition to the proposed P-12 investments described above, the FY15 budget request included the following programs to support STEM at the undergraduate level and beyond:
Support for Women and Girls to Better Enable Them to Pursue Careers
In recent decades, women’s participation in the workforce has transformed the American economy. Today, nearly half of all primary breadwinners are women, and since 1970, women’s labor has contributed $13,000 to the median family income and expanded the economy by $2 trillion dollars. Young women today are also more likely than young men to graduate college, and just as likely to earn advanced degrees. Yet, despite these gains, women still earn just 77 cents for every dollar men earn, and women of color earn even less making it more difficult to provide for their families and secure the promise of the American dream. Women also experience unacceptably high levels of violence, from domestic abuse to sexual assault, and gender disparities persist in health care access and workplace policies.
Implementing Institutional Mechanisms for the Advancement of Women:
Supporting Working Women and Families: promoting a Comprehensive Working Families Agenda: On June 23rd, 2014, the White House partnered with the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Center for American Progress (CAP) to host the historic White House Summit on Working Families, which built on the President’s plan to ensure a better bargain for hardworking Americans by elevating the ongoing national conversation about making today’s workplace work for everyone. In preparation for the Summit, the White House Council on Women and Girls held discussions around the country with working families, employers, business and labor leaders, economists, and advocates to seek out new ideas for ensuring fair pay, encouraging more family-friendly workplaces, and improving and strengthening our businesses and our economy as a whole.
Fighting Pay Discrimination: In 2014, President Obama signed an Executive Order prohibiting federal contractors from retaliating against employees who choose to discuss their compensation. He also signed a Presidential Memorandum instructing the Secretary of Labor to establish new regulations requiring federal contractors to submit summary data on compensation paid to their employees to the Department of Labor, including data broken down by sex and race.
In 2010, the President created the National Equal Pay Task Force, which brings together the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the Department of Justice, the Department of Labor, and the Office of Personnel Management to identify and rectify challenges to gender pay disparities. Since the creation of the Equal Pay Task Force, the EEOC has obtained more than $91.5 million in monetary relief through administrative enforcement for victims of sex-based wage discrimination. The first piece of legislation President Obama signed into law was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which restored basic protections against pay discrimination.
Giving Working Families a Raise: In 2014, President Obama signed an Executive Order raising the minimum wage to $10.10 for workers on new federal contracts. He also called on Congress to raise the minimum wage for all workers to $10.10 by 2016, and index this wage to the cost of living. The President’s plan would benefit around 28 million workers. More than half of all workers who would benefit from increasing the minimum wage to $10.10 are women. Since the President called on Congress to act in his 2013 State of the Union address, 13 states and the District of Columbia have increased their own minimum wages.
Expanding Workplace Protections to More Families: President Obama signed legislation that made it possible for flight attendants and crewmembers to access FMLA and expanded coverage for military families, and in June of 2014, the DOL announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to amend the definition of a “spouse” under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) so that eligible employees in legal same-sex marriages will be able to take FMLA leave to care for their spouse or family member, regardless of where they live.
Making Historic Investments to Expand Access to High-Quality Child Care and Early Education: The President has prioritized continuous improvement of the Head Start program, which serves nearly one million children from birth to 5 each year. Through the Recovery Act, the President and Congress took important steps to expand Head Start and Early Head Start by adding more than 64,000 slots for these programs. ARRA investments in the Child Care and Development Fund also increased access to child care for an additional 300,000 children and families. In his 2013 State of the Union address, President Obama called on Congress to expand access to high-quality preschool for every child in America, and established a comprehensive early education agenda with a series of new investments to establish a continuum of high-quality early learning for a child—beginning at birth and continuing to age 5. In 2014, the Department of Health and Human Services began this work with a $500 million competitive grant opportunity to support the expansion of Early Head Start and the creation of Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships and the Department of Education announced a $250 million Preschool Development Grants competition to enhance state preschool programs and expand access to high-quality preschool for four-year-olds in high-need communities to model the President’s Preschool for All vision.
Promoting Access to Child Care for Workers in Job Training Programs: DOL will make funds available for technical skill training grants to provide low-wage individuals opportunities to advance in their careers in in-demand industries, with $25 million of the competition focused on addressing barriers to training faced by those with childcare responsibilities. These funds will give more working families a path to secure, higher wage jobs by addressing the significant barriers related to finding and acquiring affordable, high quality child care -- including emergency care -- while attending skills training programs.
Supporting State Paid Leave Programs: Every one of President Obama’s budgets included a State Paid Leave Fund ($105m in FY15) that would help States with the start-up costs of creating their own paid leave programs. In June of 2014, DOL targeted funds for Paid Leave Analysis Grants to fund up to five states to conduct research and feasibility studies that could support the development or implementation of state paid leave programs.
Ensuring Minimum Wage and Overtime Protections for Home and Personal Care Workers: In September 2013, the Administration released a final rule to provide minimum wage and overtime protections for workers who are employed providing in-home care services for the elderly, the ill and individuals with disabilities. This rule will help ensure that the nearly two million workers in this industry -- roughly 90% of whom are women, and a large portion of them women of color -- earn fair wages for a hard day’s work.
Attracting and Retaining Women and Girls in STEM: Building a pathway to high-paying, high-skilled jobs for women and girls, the Administration has featured competitive preference for inspiring and engaging girls in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) through the President’s $4.35 billion Race to the Top program, the 2013 Youth Career Connect grants to redesign high schools so that students complete prepared for college and career, and additional education reform programs. Federal agencies have deployed their STEM workforce and have partnered with the private sector to increase mentorship of girls and women in STEM, for example, by DOE forming new partnerships with 100kin10 and US2020 to reach classrooms and mentors, respectively, with their Women @ Energy series profiling women in STEM careers to inspire the next generation of energy scientists and engineers. Supporting and retaining America’s female scientists and engineers was a focus of the June 2014 White House Summit on Working Families at which NSF announced implementation nearly a year ahead of schedule of cost allowance policies for childcare at professional conferences that lesson the challenges for working families and NIH released a comprehensive summary of research on barriers and opportunities to attract and retain women in biomedical science careers and is using that evidence base to guide Administration policies to broaden participation and success of women in STEM fields.
Tax Credits for Working Families: Early in his Administration, President Obama pushed for significant improvements to tax credits for working families, which Congress extended on a bipartisan basis through 2017. These improvements include expansions to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit, which strengthen work incentives and help parents afford the costs of raising a family, and the creation of the American Opportunity Tax Credit, which helps working and middle-class families pay for college. Together, these improvements provide about $25 billion in tax relief to 26 million families every year.
The Federal Government as a Model Employer: To strengthen the government’s position as a model employer for working families, in 2014 President Obama signed a Presidential Memorandum to support executive departments and agencies in their efforts to better utilize existing and develop new workplace flexibilities and work-life programs, including making Federal employees aware of their right to request work schedule flexibilities. Additionally, in 2010 President Obama signed the Telework Enhancement Act which requires Federal agencies to promote the use of telework. Furthermore, in 2010 the President signed legislation establishing an Office of Minority and Women Inclusion in the Department of Treasury, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), each of the Federal Reserve Banks, the Federal Reserve Board, the National Credit Union Administration, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Each office is responsible for all matters of its agency related to diversity in management, employment and business activities.
Supporting Mothers Who Choose to Breastfeed: As a result of the Affordable Care Act that President Obama signed into law, many women will now be provided reasonable break times and space at work to express breast milk, up until a child’s first birthday. The U.S. Surgeon General also launched a nationwide effort to support mothers who are breastfeeding. In addition, USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program has provided nutrition assistance and breastfeeding support to more than two million low-income pregnant, breastfeeding and postpartum women, as well as to their children.
Expanding Women's Access to Quality, Affordable Health Care: Preventing Insurance Companies from Denying Coverage or Raising Premiums Based on Gender or Pre-Existing Conditions, Including Pregnancy: The Affordable Care Act (ACA) ensures that every American can access high-quality, affordable coverage, providing health insurance to millions of Americans. More than 4.3 million women and girls enrolled in coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace in the first historic open enrollment period, and many more gained coverage through Medicaid. In addition, as of 2012, 1.1 million women between the ages of 19 and 25 who would have been uninsured currently receive health coverage under a parent’s health insurance plan or through an individually purchased health insurance plan.
Making Women’s Preventive Health Care Affordable, Including Contraception: Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, most insurance plans must cover preventive services including contraception, mammograms, HIV testing and counseling, domestic violence counseling, and testing for gestational diabetes with no deductibles, copayments, or coinsurance. As of June 2014, due to the Affordable Care Act, 29.7 million women are estimated to have access to expanded preventive services coverage in private insurance plans.
Protecting Women’s Access to Reproductive Health Services: President Obama has consistently supported and defended Title X family planning clinics, proposing funding increases for these clinics above prior year levels in each year of his Administration. For many women, a family planning clinic is their entry point into the health care system and is their primary source of care. These services are highly cost-effective, saving $4 for every $1 spent.
Preventing Teen Pregnancy and Supporting Pregnant and Parenting Students: As part of his FY 2015 Budget, the President included $105 million to support community efforts to reduce teen pregnancy. Additionally, $7 million in Public Health Service Act evaluation funding is included for the evaluation of teen pregnancy prevention activities. Teen pregnancy funding will be used for replicating programs that have proven effective through rigorous evaluation to reduce teenage pregnancy; for research and demonstration grants to develop, replicate, refine and test additional models and innovative strategies; and for training, technical assistance, and outreach. In addition, in June 2013, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights issued a Dear Colleague Letter and Pamphlet on “Supporting the Academic Success of Pregnant and Parenting Students Under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972” (June 25, 2013) to help support pregnant and parenting students.
Improving Maternal and Child Health Outcomes: The Administration launched the Maternal Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program, which supports voluntary, evidence-based home visiting programs for at-risk families during pregnancy and children’s early years of life in over 700 communities and in all 50 states. In March 2014, Congress allocated $400 million through the Protecting Access to Medicare Act, to provide grants to support states that encourage positive parenting, help prevent child abuse and neglect, and promote child development and school readiness.
Expanding Opportunities for Women-Owned Businesses: ◦ Increasing Access to Credit for Women Business Owners: The President has expanded Small Business Administration (SBA) loans, which are three to five times more likely to be made to minority- and women-owned businesses than conventional small business loans made by banks. Between January 2009 and December 2013, SBA made 57,831 loans worth $17.2 billion to women-owned businesses. In 2013 alone, SBA made $3.8 billion in capital available to women, a 31% increase since 2009.
Expanding Access to Federal Contracting for Women Business Owners: The Administration has implemented the Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contract program, which helps level the playing field for women-owned small businesses in over 300 industries where women are underrepresented by giving them greater access to Federal contracting opportunities. In FY 2012, SBA awarded $16.2 billion of federal small business eligible contracting dollars to WOSBs. The National Defense Authorization Act of 2013 removed the caps on the contracts that were eligible for this program, and in 2013 SBA worked quickly to implement the cap removal, allowing contracting officers to set aside contracts with higher dollar amounts.
Protecting Women From Violence: Combating Sexual Assault on College Campuses: On January 22, 2014 the President signed a Presidential Memorandum establishing a White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault. On April 29, 2014, the Task Force released its first 90-days report with recommendations and actions focused on helping schools identify the extent of sexual assault on their campuses through climate surveys, developing evidence-based prevention strategies to prevent sexual assault, helping schools to respond effectively when a student is sexually assaulted, providing training for school officials, and improving and making more transparent federal enforcement efforts. The Office on Civil Rights at the Department of Education has ramped up enforcement of federal civil rights laws and raised the visibility of federal investigations at colleges and universities. The Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) has provided critical grants, training and support to help schools develop com