The groups, which include STEM with Her (Jakarta), Femme in STEM (Bandung, West Java), Jakarta Society of Women Engineers (Jakarta SWE) and West Nusa Tenggara Society of Women Engineers (NTB SWE), are trying to break stigmas and norms that still hamper women’s participation in the fields.

One of the stigmas is that STEM fields are regarded as a male domain requiring physical exertion and working in dirty and dangerous environments. Saskia Amalia Aryono, the founder of STEM with Her, believes that more exposure to female role models could help break the stigma.

“I’m lucky that I have had role models since I was a child because my mother and aunt are engineers. But many people, including family members, are still discouraging girls from choosing STEM because they’re girls. I want young girls to believe the STEM world is also their world,” she said.

Besides showcasing female role models, STEM with Her aims to introduce STEM to teenagers aged 10 to 15 through workshops.

Feb. 11 marks the international day of Women and Girls in Science and has become a reminder of the staggering gender gap in STEM fields in Indonesia and worldwide.

Women’s participation around the world in STEM remains underrepresented. Only two out of 10 women become professionals in STEM areas, while three out of 10 women are STEM researchers, according to UNESCO data in 2018.

Even though more women students take STEM majors in universities, Statistics Indonesia (BPS) revealed in 2017 that only 30 percent of productive-age women worked in STEM industries.

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STEM fields are regarded as a male domain requiring physical exertion and working in dangerous environments.

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Social norms that have held women back include patriarchal values that place a woman’s role solely in the home, early marriage and the societal expectation for women to have children.

Hastu Wijayasri, an information technology student at Sunan Kalijaga Islamic University, said it was also common for Indonesian women who had a higher position in the workplace than their husbands to put the brakes on their careers.

She actively promotes STEM by running a coding boot camp for people with disabilities in Yogyakarta.

The Jakarta Society of Women Engineers also reaches out to young girls.

“With hands-on experience, not only the method is more engaging, but it also stimulates the student to do analytical thinking,” said Jane Nawilis, Jakarta SWE cofounder.

She added that the perception that STEM subjects were hard was because critical thinking was not nurtured at school while it was the basis of STEM.

Jane said the STEM industry needed more women to create more diverse solutions to problems. Meanwhile, Saskia said that more women were also needed in higher positions to help other women in the working team feel safer and more comfortable.

Limited support offered to women working in STEM may affect retention in the fields, mostly due to difficulties faced in maintaining a balance between family responsibilities and professional life, Jane said. The Jakarta SWE provides a support system for women engineer members through knowledge and skills sharing and mentorship
opportunities.

“We can’t always find a female coworker at the office, let alone a female mentor. Also, when we have problems with our work or any problems at the office, including harassment, while most of the coworkers are male and it's uncomfortable to talk to them, we can reach the group,” Jane said.

Besides family responsibilities, a common problem faced by women engineers is being underestimated by coworkers.

“For example, when we have a meeting, we are mistaken as the secretary. Or when we pitch an idea, they don’t believe us, while a man will be praised for coming up with the same idea,” Jane said.

This often leads to women in STEM fields feeling even more insecure, and if not well supported, they will be more prone to leaving the industry.

According to a report on gender inequality in education, employment and entrepreneurship by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), gender differences in the STEM workforce could be more influenced by psychosocial aspects such as motivation, confidence and perseverance than by one’s ability or performance.

Another study by UNESCO said even when females perform better in mathematics and science, they may experience higher anxiety toward these subjects than their male counterparts.

Feri Salsabila, who founded the NTB SWE last year, said she was glad that the group had become a platform for its members to share stories and discuss problems in the workplace. (aly)

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