
After decades of social progress towards equality, women are still under-represented in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), particularly at advanced career stages and in leadership. Strikingly, women hold just 24% of tech jobs and 18% of STEM leadership roles (Development Dimensions International Inc., 2017).
Our second annual symposium on March 8th in 2019 attracted over 125 participants and focused on identifying and mitigating implicit bias, a key obstacle to STEM diversity and inclusion. During the 2019-20 academic year, we continue to fill the mentoring gap for local early-career women in STEM with the second iteration of STEM Circuits. We will also host a 3rd annual Chicago Women in STEM Symposium on Tuesday, March 10th, 2020 on the Chicago campus of Northwestern, where our focus will be on promoting tomorrow’s women leaders in STEM.