SWE's recent case study underscores the critical role of female STEM mentorship programs. Mentorship programs function as gateways to professional networks and provide essential support resources for women in STEM. Women remain vastly underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Recent statistics paint a concerning picture: globally, only 35% of STEM students are female, and this number drops to a mere 28% for doctoral students. Addressing this imbalance and closing the gender gap in STEM participation and success have become a global priority. In 2022, the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) hosted research roundtable discussions with individuals from Austria, Germany, and the United States to gather insights and recommendations to address the gender gap in STEM education and the workforce. These roundtables highlighted the significant impact effective mentorship programs have in supporting women in STEM - both on a global international scale and as an emerging powerful tool for empowerment and support. Recognizing the crucial role of female STEM mentorship programs, SWE conducted a qualitative study involving interviews with international participants in identified female mentoring programs at universities in Austria and Germany. The selected programs were aimed at retaining women in STEM graduate studies and faculty. The research objective focused on understanding what factors make a university STEM mentorship program truly impactful for women and examined “What are the key factors that contribute to the effectiveness of university STEM mentorship programs in promoting the advancement and success of women in engineering and technology fields within the specific contexts of Austria and Germany?” Findings from SWE’s case study report shed light on female mentorship program effectiveness, program design, best practices, and lessons learned.

The female empowerment portrayed in the book and television series Lessons in Chemistry may have been ahead of its time. The experiences of a woman chemist facing sexism in science in the mid-20th century seems an unlikely topic for 21st-century popular culture. Yet, Bonnie Garmus’ Lessons in Chemistry1 focuses on just that and has experienced tremendous success. The book, published in 2022, spent 51 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list as of November 2023, was named Amazon’s Best Book for April 2022, and was Barnes & Noble’s Book of the Year for 2022. And in November 2023 Apple TV released a limited television series based on the book. Lessons in Chemistry aims to depict, in an approachable and humorous way, the difficulties women experienced if they attempted to enter the world of science in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Elizabeth Zott, a talented, aspiring research chemist, enters a graduate program in chemistry in the late 1950s but soon falls victim to sexual misconduct and the university’s unwillingness to do anything about the misbehavior of a male professor. She leaves for a job at a research institute, where she becomes romantically involved with a brilliant, successful, but unorthodox male chemist. With his support, both psychological and institutional, her career as a researcher begins to show signs of taking off. Unfortunately, he dies in an accident and Zott is subsequently fired by the research institute, whose staff resented her and refused to see her as anything more than a parasite feeding off her late partner’s success.

This webinar is for undergraduate and graduate students who aspire to make a difference in the world of STEM. Don’t miss this opportunity to unlock the doors of opportunity within the Department of Defense! Join NCWIT for an informative event about the esteemed Department of Defense (DoD) SMART Scholarship program. At 2 pm PT | 3 pm MT | 4 pm CT | 5 pm ET, delve into the comprehensive benefits and unparalleled opportunities offered via SMART Scholarship, an initiative designed to empower the next generation of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) leaders. A panel of speakers will share invaluable insights into the program’s structure, eligibility criteria, and application process. Participants will discover how the SMART Scholarship program fosters a dynamic environment where scholars engage in cutting-edge research, collaborate with learning experts in their fields, and contribute to critical defense initiatives. From full tuition coverage to stipends, internships, and post-graduation employment opportunities, the benefits of the SMART Scholarship are extensive.

The Council on Foreign Relations hosted Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger to discuss developments in the tech industry, the implications of geopolitical conflicts on global trade, and leadership lessons learned.
In this clip, I, on behalf of the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT), ask Mr. Gelsinger about any initiatives at Intel that may be helping to retain women and other underrepresented groups in the tech workforce.

The 2024 NCWIT Summit will take place May 20–22, 2024, in Kansas City, MO at the Loews Kansas City Hotel. This year, the Summit will be in-person, with livestreams of sessions taking place on the plenary stage available for online participation. With NCWIT being the trusted source for research-based strategies that facilitate reform in computing classes and technical organizations, the NCWIT Summit continues to be the world’s largest annual convening of change leaders focused on significantly improving diversity and equity in computing.

Each year, the NCWIT Virtual Career Fair connects Workforce Alliance members with over 24,000 technical women, genderqueer, and non-binary individuals in the AiC Community. This robust and engaged talent pool is comprised of high school students, college and graduate students, and professionals who are eager to meet with company representatives and learn more about internships and job opportunities. Event access is free for members of the AiC Community and Workforce Alliance members!

Diversity Matters Even More is the fourth report in a McKinsey series investigating the business case for diversity, following Why Diversity Matters (2015), Delivering Through Diversity (2018), and Diversity Wins (2020). For almost a decade through our Diversity Matters series of reports, McKinsey has delivered a comprehensive global perspective on the relationship between leadership diversity and company performance. This year, the business case is the strongest it has been since we’ve been tracking and, for the first time in some areas, equitable representation is in sight. Further, a striking new finding is that leadership diversity is also convincingly associated with holistic growth ambitions, greater social impact, and more satisfied workforces. At a time when companies are under extraordinary pressure to maintain financial performance while navigating a rapidly changing business landscape, creating an internal culture of transparency and inclusion, and transforming operations to meet social-impact expectations, the good news is that these goals are not mutually exclusive. On the contrary, our research suggests a strong, positive relationship between them. And in an increasingly complex and uncertain competitive landscape, diversity matters even more. For this report, the fourth edition of Diversity Matters, they drew on our largest dataset yet - spanning 1,265 companies, 23 countries, and six global regions, and multiple company interviews. They also extended our research and interview focus beyond the relationship between diversity and financial performance, for the first time exploring the holistic impact of diversity on communities, workforces, and the environment.

Women working in the sciences face obstacles at virtually every step along their career paths. From subtle slights to blatant biases, deep systemic problems block women from advancing or push them out of science and technology entirely. Women in Science Now examines solutions to this persistent gender gap, offering new perspectives on how to make science more equitable and inclusive for all. This book shares stories and insights of women from a range of backgrounds working in various disciplines, illustrating the journeys that brought them to the sciences, the challenges they faced along the way, and the important contributions they have made to their fields. Lisa M. P. Munoz combines these narratives with a wealth of data to illuminate the size and scope of the challenges women scientists face, while highlighting research-based solutions to help overcome these obstacles. She presents groundbreaking studies in social psychology and organizational behavior that are informing novel approaches for combating historic and ongoing inequities. Through a combined focus on personal experiences and social-science research, this timely book provides both a path toward greater gender equity and an inspiring vision of science and scientists.

eXXec is an exciting program for female leaders on the rise to refine professional skills and learn from women leaders who know what it takes to realize lifelong success. Attending SWE’s Executive Leadership Program is not only life-changing for you - but also transformative for your organization. eXXec provides a safe, personal and engaging leadership development experience for 18-20 influential leaders, providing the opportunity to form a peer support network during and after the event. To obtain the most out of the program, attendees are encouraged to engage with the learning process, including multiple pre and post-event learning opportunities, all focused around the three leadership pillars.

On the occasion of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, researchers from the Jožef Stefan Institute, the National Institute of Chemistry and the University of Ljubljana spoke about the position of women in research at a round table entitled Women in Science and for Science. The event, which took place on 12 February 2024 at the National Institute of Chemistry, was attended by Associate Prof. Dr. Mojca Benčina, National Institute of Chemistry, Assistant Prof. Dr. Tanja Goričanec, Jozef Stefan Institute, Prof. Dr. Barbara Koroušić Seljak, Jozef Stefan Institute, Associate Prof. Dr. Barbara Koroušić Seljak, Jozef Stefan Institute, Associate Prof. Dr. Natalija Majsova, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, Prof. Dr. Ksenija Vidmar Horvat, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, Vice-Rector for Academic and Student Affairs and the guardian of the Gender Equality Plan at the University of Ljubljana, and Dr. Ema Žagar, Institute of Chemistry. According to the United Nations, only 12% of the members of national science academies globally are women. In Slovenia, only 12.8 per cent of the 179 members of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SAZU) are women, which translates to 23 women. The panellists spoke about what inspired them to pursue a career in science, their role models, their work at research institutions in Slovenia and abroad, as well as their experiences of working in predominantly male teams, the challenges of work-life balance, and the barriers that women scientists still face in the framework of career progression. They stressed the importance of encouraging young girls to pursue a career in science, especially in STEM, and agreed that research is a highly creative and fulfilling profession.