International Women's Day: N.S. women stand up to bridge gender gaps in STEM

There are many women both on campus and in the labs at Halifax's Mount Saint Vincent University.

“I think we’re working together to get rid of those unfortunate gender gaps,” said biology student Ale Torres.

The industries with the biggest gender gaps are in STEM — science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Statistics Canada data shows three-quarters of people in those jobs are men.

Amid the test tubes and microscopes at the university, researchers find support from each other.

“I like learning about the development of organisms. So what goes on pre-birth, and how we all get into this world,” said PhD student Paige Drake.

The question of why the gender gap exists looms over the heads of scientists like Dr. Tamara Franz-Odenaal with the Research Council of Canada.

“If you start looking at the stats, you start seeing that the percentage gets less and less with each level (up),” said Franz-Odenaal.

She believes childhood stereotypes and recruitment biases play a role, as do micro-aggressions in the workplace -- something she’s trying to combat.

“We talk about inclusion in our meetings. We talk about how to support each other. I run surveys to understand the experiences of my trainees.”

Surveys by Actua Canada, a Canadian charity that delivers science, engineering, and technology education programs to young people, reveal problems start early.

“Girls are still reporting to be half as confident in science and technology fields,” said Jennifer Flanagan with Actua Canada.

“Perhaps more alarming and something we can take action on is that girls are having about half the number of opportunities to participate in hands-on science.”

At Mount Saint Vincent, women are not only using their positions to research, but to role model.

“What we’re doing helps us to bridge that gap between men and women,” said research assistant Tracy Alice Apienti.