Employers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics – commonly called the STEM industries – continue to struggle to attract female applicants. In its 2024 jobs report, the National Science Board found that men outnumber women almost 3-to-1 in STEM jobs that require at least a bachelor’s degree and over 8-to-1 in STEM jobs that don’t, such as electrical, plumbing or construction work.

Despite women being just as academically prepared for many STEM roles as men, if not more so, and the fact that STEM jobs offer higher salaries and greater job security than non-STEM jobs, men continue to dominate this section of the workforce.

I am a social scientist who studies the relationship between education, identity and science, and since 2019, I’ve led the Talking Science research and development group. One question we’ve sought to answer is why employers continue to struggle recruiting talented women to the STEM workforce.

Our team recently carried out a study where we discovered that how caregivers, especially mothers, talk about STEM topics may significantly shape their children’s interest in STEM careers.

As a researcher, whenever I give a public talk I like to ask the audience, “Who here is not a math person?” Without fail, several hands shoot up faster than if I had asked, “Who wants free money?”

It turns out that most people are well aware of their own relationship to STEM fields and may see themselves as a math, science or “STEM” person, or, commonly, not a STEM person. Researchers like me call this kind of self-identification a “STEM identity,” and almost everyone has one. Although any given........

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