STEMM Learning and Career Orientation - MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the STEMM Learning and Career Orientation. Answer: Introduction: The number of women in STEMM fields such as science, technology, engineering, medicine, and mathematics remain underrepresented in the diverse fields. Over time, there have been fewer women in the fields that were dominated by men. The fields were perceived o be a preserve for males despite the growing numbers of women drawing their minds in the endeavors. Despite of the growing number of women in the field, there continues to exist a problem causing significant delay in their pick up to the STEMM subjects. The society is responsible towards the formation of culture and the gender role separation through perception. Popular culture plays a critical role through the way it represents different genders in the mainstream media. The reality of girls growing up while experiencing and watching powerful position such as doctors and neurosurgeons on television promotes a stereotype that raises the notion of the careers as male-oriented (Be, Henriksen, Lyons, and Schreiner 2011). Therefore, it is evident that the popular media plays a critical role towards the formation of culture in the society. Individuals who continue to watch the same and perceive it as right risk losing the focus towards elevating girls to the highest levels. Besides, teasing affects the ability of women participation in the STEMM subjects .As children grow in school the notion a male child is given when taking courses perceived to be weak and leaving one of the STEMM aside leads to a lot of ridicule which aligns male children to the difficult courses while women preferring the weaker subjects offered in the societys perceived subjects. Eventually, it becomes difficult for individuals to adjust in future thereby remaining in the subjects where comfort was viable compared to the ridicule one would get (Byars?Winston 2014). Consequently, the kind of reactions given tends to form the future career of individuals. The few that succeed to overcome the effects of ridicule manage to pursue the courses leading to successful enrolment into the STEMM careers. Children, irrespective of their gender need to be encouraged towards pursuing their career of choice. No amount of intimidation is supposed to prevent them from achieving their dreams. However, the lack of encouragement coming from parents more so, on the girl child leads to lack of interest forcing the children to pursue courses according to the perceptions of the society (Whalen and Shelley II, 2010). The situation leads to the formation and reality of few women in the STEMM courses based on what the society allowed through the popular media thus resulting into the scenario observed in the present society (Sadler, Sonnert, Hazari, and Tai 2012). With encouragement, children can perform and overcome the formations of the society with ease. On the other hand, the existent stereotypes in the society that drive the perception of inequality between the abilities of men and women results into the case of fewer women in the STEMM courses and eventually in their respective careers. The unconscious beliefs and biases on the girl child tend to become powerful than the opposite thought on the potential of women in these subjects (Nugent, Barker, Welch, Grandgenett, Wu,and Nelson 2015). The strong beliefs on the negative stereotype tend to contribute immensely to the case where individuals fail to follow their dreams but rather opt to abide by the societys perception on the reality. Such issues lead to the poor situation which leads to a selective judgment that impedes women from achieving their dreams. Besides, the lack of mentorship on the part of women is responsible for the low numbers of women in the respective subjects and subsequent careers. Children, right from the tender age need to be mentored by their respective women that have succeeded previously to become participants and professionals in the STEMM related subjects (Morgan, Isaac, and Sansone 2001). In such a scenario, the ability and presence of such mentors to speak to the girl child on their potential leads to their empowerment which results in subsequent success and enrollment into the male perceived subjects. Therefore, the situation is responsible for the menace experienced owing to the poor culture and lack of sufficient mentors to see the girl child towards success through participation. Moreover, the lack of commitment by the government in promoting the true nature of truth by allowing women into the STEMM courses during enrollment leads to the disparity experienced in the present times. The government through the department of education needs to motivate individuals towards equal education and expressing the fact that women can perform equally and even more than the boys. It is deceiving to give one gender an upper hand despite the truth experienced from the few women working in the public and private sector (Jerrim and Schoon 2014). In this case, the government fails to largely advocate for women towards promotion of their affairs and in initiating a balance in the thoughts and perceptions of the ability of individuals in the society. The government and authorities in the education department can be held liable for the same. In other instances, the recruitment and selection processes of organizations lead to the growth in perception of the case. The biased cases in recruitment where men are taken in large numbers as opposed to the case of women create the societal notion of the lack of acceptability thus leading to a discouraged lot of women (Leslie, Cimpian, Meyerand Freeland 2015). Recruitment processes need to be transparent and set a considerable amount of slots to be filled by women. By so doing, the society would go slow on the perception that women cannot outshine or work equally with their counterparts in the STEMM subjects and subsequent careers (Henriksen, Dillon and Ryder 2015). The lack of commitment from the recruiting authorities to change the perception remains a let back to the realization of matching numbers in the STEMM related careers and courses. Men need to be encouraged to perceive the non-STEMM courses to allow for their inclusivity to leave some of the chances available for women. The lack of energy to stimulate the same by the educators and parents leads to the growth of cultural perception on the ability of women (Freeman, Marginson and Tytler 2015). In this respect, it becomes difficult to create the notion that all courses and careers existent can be carried out by both gender thereby drawing the possibility of a balanced participation in courses and their subsequent careers (Eccles and Wang 2016). The presently working women workforce in the perceived difficult subjects have managed to perform tremendously thus raising the possibility of a cultural change. Therefore, the lack of encouragement and willingness to promote inclusivity in the diverse sectors of the economy gives room to the bias. The media plays a crucial role in promoting the status quo surrounding the situation. The media fails to impact the positive image by highlighting the presence of women in the careers sufficiently. The situation leaves a considerable number of individuals with the lack of information that would cause a positive influence to their careers. The failure leads to the present numbers that illustrate lack of commitment from the concerned individuals (Diekman, Weisgram, and Belanger 2015). The situation is saddening despite the recent changes that to some extents express their commitment through the girl child programs to encourage both genders on exchanging the careers towards posterity. Lack of support and willingness to the feminism actions by both women and men leads to the un-matching numbers of individuals in the courses and respective careers. Women, through several advocacy groups tend to promote the positive agenda of empowerment (Diekman, Brown, Johnston, and Clark 2010). However, their efforts are met with resistance in some nations due to the already created images that impede growth in the sector. Consequently, the lack of commitment by the concerned parties leads to the poor state where women tend to remain in the careers with less pressure and ridicule from their counterparts. The continuous discouragement leads to change in attitude and dedication levels thus limiting the ability to pursue own careers. On the other hand, the levels of harassment on women in the career from the male dominated professions tend to act as a discouraging factor to the existence of a peaceful growth in the numbers of women in the subjects and careers . Sexual harassment remains a common issue in the careers where the male professionals to some extent harass their counterparts on sexual lines (Clark Blickenstaff 2005). Consequently, due to their low numbers, women find themselves vulnerable and in worse case leads to discouragement which amounts into an exit in a career in the STEMM division. All the hard work to achieve the career goes into a waste as individuals move to the careers that drive utmost comfort in them. The cases present the effects of negative bias on women where the strength and ability of the boy child are glorified far beyond those of the girl child. The results discourage the development in education and career of women as everyone makes shape of the societys created perceptions. The results to the case indicate a negative energy even to those that grew their resilience and energy to pursue the male-dominated careers. The results indicate the lack of mentorship and willingness by the educators and employers to gather their efforts towards promoting the women in STEMM careers. The situation calls for a necessary adjustment to the case to allow for a positive development and steady growth in the number of women participation in the STEMM courses and their respective careers. 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