How Childcare Can Bridge the Gender Gap In STEM

Parenthood concerns have disproportionately affected female retention in STEM careers due to gender stereotypes. Compared to their male counterparts, counterparts, women were 20% more likely to leave a full time STEM career after the birth or adoption of a child with a total of 43% of women doing so. This inequality needs to be addressed to alleviate growing issues in research including a male bias. Our proposed solution is to encourage more tech companies to invest in on site daycare facilities. The institutions with better childcare facilities have twice the number of female faculty in STEM. This offers a number of benefits for the economic productivity of the company, development of children, and representation of women in the field.