Diversity in STEM: Government Efforts Attract Women to Tech

Government officials have emphasized the importance of workforce development and the need to diversify the workforce in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), leading to federal initiatives encouraging women to join the hundreds of open STEM-related jobs.

Despite the challenges, either personal or systemic, women are using myriad ways to find sustainable solutions. La’Naia Jones, CIO of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), told GovCIO Media & Research she’s tackling how to come together across the government to tackle this issue.

“Across every directorate, every organization, it’s all about teaming, collaboration, partnership and working together,” said Jones. “That transcends the directorates, the agencies across the federal government. It’s all about working together.”

Overcoming Personal and Systemic Challenges

In 2023, the State Department released its first-ever interagency strategy on global women’s economic security. The strategy acknowledged the lack of women in STEM fields due to economic and educational barriers, especially following the impacts of COVID-19 on the global workforce.

Initiatives like this and Department of Commerce’s Million Women in Construction pledge encourage private and government sectors to work toward a more equitable workforce. This pledge as well as the CHIPS Women in Construction framework have helped increase workforce development efforts to fill hundreds of jobs in the construction industry.

Lynelle McKay, chief portfolio management officer in the CHIPS Program Office at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), came out of retirement to help encourage women to work in STEM. McKay said successfully bringing back semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S. relies heavily on workforce development and growth.

“The only way to create a sustainable pipeline of qualified individuals is if we include everyone in the community, and women are a big part of that,” said McKay. “If you look at all the investments that are being made across the Biden-Harris administration, we have both a labor shortage and the ability [to integrate] qualified women to fill those STEM roles in the CHIPS for America programs.”

The story of Jessica Gomez details the path many women, especially minorities, are faced with. She holds many identities: woman, mother, Hispanic and CEO and founder of Rogue Valley Microdevices at the age of 26. Gomez’s company was the first women-owned factory to receive funding from Biden’s CHIPS Act.

Gomez’s path to STEM was not traditional. In an interview with GovCIO Media & Research, Gomez said she was homeschooled up until ninth grade. When she entered the classroom for the first time, she said her abilities in reading and writing were likely at a second-grade level.

Gomez discussed additional barriers she faced when it came to her college education. Working and simultaneously attending college full-time, she realized the lifestyle was not sustainable. Encouraged by her grandmother, Gomez did not give up and began looking for new opportunities.

“School was not the easiest, and I ended up sick and overworked and decided I need to try to tackle this in a different way,” said Gomez. “I’m going to work full time and go to school part-time and see if I can figure it out.”

Her full-time job was as a lab operator at a small fabrication plant making semiconductor chips. Gomez used on-the-job training and relied heavily on her mentors to hone her skills. She reflected on her journey to become the CEO and founder of Rogue Valley Microdevices. Her imposter syndrome can creep in from time to time, but she’s learned how to cope with the help of her mentors.

“Mentorship and having advocates and sponsors are so important,” said Gomez. “Having someone that recognizes your future potential is huge. I want [my employees] to grow and thrive and be successful.”

Balancing Collaboration and Innovation

The exclusion of diverse voices and perspectives hinders problem-solving and innovation. While often this is related to gender or race, employees can also experience age-related barriers in the workplace.

CIA’s Jones told GovCIO Media & Research diverse employee backgrounds provide a holistic team approach. Jones said junior officials may feel they’re not qualified to comment or offer ideas.

“It’s important to empower junior-grade officers because they might not feel as easy speaking up around others who have been there for years,” said Jones. “I feel that learning is complementary. I’m very cognizant of ensuring that our newer officers, or civilians that are working alongside, that we’re taking them with us.”

Empowering employees to build and maintain mentor-mentee relationships was key for Jones to accept and embrace technology. She said her skills and partnerships within the national security space wouldn’t be where they are today.

“Tech is disruptive, and it changes and evolves,” said Jones. “You have to keep up with it.”

Sustaining a Workforce for the Future

Workforce shortages, especially in STEM fields, have made it difficult for employers to retain talent. McKay said employers can create a sustainable workforce by partnering with one another to encourage more women to take STEM jobs and creating best practices to share across the board.

“It starts with the people, and it’s going to end with the people. We have to be able to address [the problem],” said McKay. “We want to have the support system there, not just requirements, but follow through on to ensure that we can help them attack some of the barriers.”

Another element to consider is encouraging primary school students to pursue an interest in STEM. Building up the confidence of young girls will yield a more diverse and sustainable workforce, said McKay. A study by the American Association of University Women found that by third-grade girls’ confidence in math drops compared to third-grade boys.

As women continue to fill dual roles as parents and employees, changes to the workplace are necessary. Gomez said with the cost of childcare increasing some women may feel they need to leave the industry. She joked that women won’t take their babies into the factory’s clean room to nurse, alluding to the lack of maternal-friendly spaces in fabrication plants.

“These really talented people end up leaving, and it’s very hard to kind of get back into it,” said Gomez. “I want to try to do is provide families that are coming into this into this industry options, so that they feel like they have the support to continue contributing and growing with our industry.”

With the funding Rogue Valley received under the CHIPS Act, Gomez plans to build a fabrication plant in Florida. The new plan will triple Rogue Valley’s capacity and has plans to include a childcare center.

Moving Forward Together

Overcoming challenges, fostering collaboration, promoting diversity and remaining agile will be key to a sustainable future workforce. Collaboration will need to extend beyond internal conversations and reach into interagency discussions.

“We want to encourage like-minded CEOs to address the pipeline, both the recruitment as well as the retention so that people are staying in those roles as they are progressing throughout their career and building their families,” said McKay.

As agencies adapt to new technologies and interact with an age-diverse workforce, Jones said agility, openness and flexibility remain integral.

“The mission will change; it will ebb and flow. There will be different topics, different focus areas,” said Jones. “But we cannot do anything without the people.”