About a month ago I posted my
opinion on an article about women missing out on computer science careers.
Today, I'm going to talk about an article discussing some ways to solve the
problem of the lack of women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and
Mathematics) careers.
The focus of the article was on a mentor program called Million Women Mentor.
It was created with the goal of creating a sustainable pipeline of women by
mobilizing and engaging one million men and women to serve as STEM mentors by
2018. The point of the program is to create a pathway for young girls to become
interested in STEM fields at an early age. It's also maintaining a woman's
interest in STEM. It's not enough to just get women to earn their degrees in
these fields, but helping them stay in those fields throughout their careers.
The program also aims to develop that path in different ways. Some ways to
create this path are face-to-face internships, online resources, internships,
etc.
I truly love this article because it's one solution that has been developed to
the problem of women's lack of participation in STEM fields. It shows what
people can do to help close the gap and also gives examples. What I especially
liked about the article was that it discussed not only getting women in these
careers, but also finding ways to make sure they stay there. Let's hope that
other initiatives such as this begin to arise more frequently.
Here is a picture with very interesting facts found on the article:
Click the link below to go to
the original article:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/bonniemarcus/2014/03/28/mentors-help-create-a-sustainable-pipeline-for-women-in-stem/
The title of this article is actually pretty self explanatory. The number of small businesses started up in Wisconsin is one of the lowest in the entire country. This article discusses the fact that in Wisconsin, 170 businesses were created for every 100,000 adults. This was a 0.08 percentage point decrease in entrepreneurial activity in the three years through 2013 versus the three years through 2003, which is one of the worst declines in the country.
There are some good news however. Wisconsin is doing better at creating high-tech start-ups. Software has been a strong sector and life sciences is coming back. Milwaukee is beginning to fix problem, but the start-ups have not yet gotten big enough to require venture capital.
The lack of Wisconsin entrepreneurship has consequences that go below the lack of new small businesses. These businesses are the ones that employ the most people. They are the heart and soul of our country's economy. More initiatives need to be implemented to ensure Wisconsin is no longer at the bottom.
To end on a positive note, in the last three years about 40% of the semifinalists in the Governor's Business Plan Contest, which attracts entrepreneurs with ideas or very early-stage companies, have come from the Milwaukee area.
Click the link below to go to the original article:
http://www.jsonline.com/business/wisconsin-among-worst-performing-states-for-entrepreneurship-report-finds-b99245006z1-254748071.html
Once again Forbes has released their list of America's most powerful CEO's who are 40 years old or younger. The list is compiled from the 20 publicly-traded companies with the highest market caps.
Although I wasn't expecting women to make up much of the list, I was surprised that out of the 18 CEOs listed, only one of them was a woman. Only 1 out of 18!
The articles discussed this phenomenon by stating that this is the second year in which Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer, 38, in on the list in 3rd place. She used to work at Google and is making big changes at Yahoo!. The article also talks about she has faced criticism for reigning in the company's longstanding work from home policy and for taking a shortened maternity leave after becoming CEO.
I'm very glad that least one woman made the list but I was disappointed in reading that she was criticized for her personal choices regarding her pregnancy. When it comes to business, although personal issues are often brought up, I don't think they should. Her pregnancy decisions are hers and that shouldn't be a factor when determining how successful she is as a CEO. Although the article didn't go into much detail about the other male CEOs, I didn't see them being noted for anything personal. It was all based on what they had done to get on the list which is what I hoped to see about Marissa.
Now we have to keep pushing for more women to make this list rather than just one.
Click the link below to see the original article:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kathryndill/2014/03/11/americas-most-powerful-ceos-40-and-under/
Just when we finally get a grasp on the income inequalities between men and women, new research is released that shows millennial women face the most inequalities in the workplace. According to this Forbes article, 42% of UK female employees between 18-34 years old believe they've faced barriers in the workplace because of their sex. This is compared to the 34% of females belonging to generation x and 26% of the baby boomer females. A very interesting topic that the article discussed was that in America, women tend to not report sexual harassment for fear that it will hamper with their career development.
These are two huge points that warrant discussion. First, why are younger women feeling more discriminated against than their older female peers in the UK than America? It's bad enough that women face inequalities in the job market against men, but now younger women entering the workforce are finding more discrimination.
The second interesting point that this article brought up was that women in the US tend to put up more with sexual harassment to protect their careers. Something definitely needs to be changed about this. Women should not have to put their safety at risk just to move up in the company. While we can complain about these problems all day long, just talking about them won't solve anything. For change to happen, people need to become educated and know that these issues are currently happening.
Copy and paste the link below to access the original article:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jmaureenhenderson/2014/03/11/when-it-comes-to-workplace-sexism-millennial-women-suffer-most/
-A slow US economy
-Women excluded from the best jobs in the country
-Damage to US companies due to lack of diversity
What do those 3 things have in common? If you guessed results from lack of women in computer science careers, you're absolutely correct!
This article discusses some of the numbers of the lack of women in computer science/technology related careers. Here are some of them:
*US universities will graduate about 400,000 computer scientists between 2010 and 2020. During this time, 1.4million US computing jobs will open up. There's a gap of about 1million jobs.
*Those 1million jobs would pay $500billion in wages.
*Women make up not even 1/5 of computer science graduates.
*4 of the 20 top-paying jobs for women are in computing.
*In computing, about 1/4 of workers are female.
These statistics are mind blowing. Women make up half the population but don't even come close to making up that percentage in the computing world. With technology advancing at the extremely high pace it is, women can't afford to not be part of it. It's a huge piece of the economy that women aren't participating in and it has got to change.
The article calls for another "Rosie the Riveter" movement. If you recall, this movement was when women entered the workforce in factory jobs during World War II to make up for the men being away at war. Another such movement should be happening now with the gap of skilled workers needed to enter the computing world. Instead of forcing employers to export the jobs, import workers, or worst yet, leave the positions empty, women should be the ones taking these positions.
I couldn't admire Maria Klawe more after reading the article. She's the president of Claremont Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California and a computer scientist who has boosted the female CS enrollment to 43% at the school. This number is amazing and should be happening all across the country, not just in one college.
I'm not sure what about computing doesn't catch a woman's interest. They're high-paying jobs and extremely flexible. What more could a woman wanting to raise a family ask for? A lot of money and a lot of flexibility as to how to make it!
I completely agree with this article that more women should be obtaining degrees in computer science and similar degrees so they will be able to partake in all the amazing jobs that will be available. Just as the article puts it, the time for a movement to take place is NOW! Maybe not by Rosie the Riveter, but by Peggy the Programmer.
Copy the below link to go to the original article:
http://www.mercurynews.com/mike-cassidy/ci_25224467/women-missing-out-lucrative-careers-computer-science
I have never ridden on a motorcycle because I am too afraid, I'm not scared to admit it. I have witnessed too many accidents and heard of too many tragic stories to convince me to hop on top of a moving machine without anything protecting my body.
My fellow women counterparts however, feel very differently than I do. Female motorcycle ownership rose to 12.5% in 2013 from 10.5% in 2009. Although it is obvious that motorcycle riding is a male dominated activity, I must say that I am proud women are taking a bigger part in the sport.
Motorcycle riding may not sound like it has much to do with economics, but it shows the continual struggle for women to be equal to men. When their participation in the sport increases by just a little bit, it is worthy of noting. Although women have a LONG way to go before fully becoming equals in motorcycle riding, progress is definitely being made.
Copy the link below to see the original article:
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/business/248555701.html
As someone who has struggled financially at a job making minimum wage and living paycheck to paycheck, I thought I would completely support a minimum wage increase nationally. Yes, it's definitely difficult to make ends meet while only making the minimum $7.25 (in Wisconsin) per hour, but there are so many more issues that need to be considered before this gets passed into law.
By making the proposed $10.10 per hour, an average full-time worker could expect to make $404 before taxes on a weekly basis. I'm not saying they'll be rich, but it's a definite improvement from the $290 they'd be making weekly at only $7.25 an hour. Although it all appears promising when you look at the numbers, there's much more.
If a high school senior can see that they're able to make that amount of money by getting a job anywhere, what motivation will there be to attend college? Sure, nobody wants to make less than $400 (when you consider taxes) a week for the rest of their lives, but it's definitely a starting point. It's not going to turn them into millionaires, but if a McDonald's worker is making the same amount as an office receptionist, there's no incentive to go to college.
Yes, increasing the minimum wage will help those in extreme poverty be able to fight back a little better but there is a lot more to this discussion than just the numbers. I've only provided one other thing to take into consideration, the motivation and incentive to do better, but rest assure that there are many many more points.
Copy the link below to see the original article:
http://www.jsonline.com/business/national/in-connecticut-obama-to-spotlight-minimum-wage03056428caef4012979f4e9e8b9e720b-248504201.html
