Senior Hillary Yang is both a co-president for the Computer Science Honors Society and on the leadership team for the Cyber Patriot club. Yang said in these computer science spaces, she is often one of few women present.

“I’ve definitely had experiences where I’ve walked into a room for a computer science (CS) club and just stayed for like three minutes and backed out because the environment felt so hostile because I didn’t really look like anyone,” Yang said.

Yang is not alone in feeling isolated as a woman in male-dominated fields and positions. In STEM fields in particular, female representation is lacking. In 2024, women made up only 28.2% of the STEM global workforce.

Notably, Accounting teacher Stacie Phillips said she was discouraged from pursuing a STEM career as a teenager.

“When I was (in) middle school (and) high school, (I was) really good at math, (but) no one said to me that I should be an engineer or a computer science major.” Phillips said. “A male computer science teacher looked right at me and said ‘that’s for boys.’”

Progress

But despite her experience, Phillips said she believes that society has come a long way. 

“In today’s society, if a young woman was interested in computer science, no one would say those words to her,” Phillips said.

This insight is supported by data. As of 2023, women have made significant inroads in 38% of majority-male professional jobs such as computer scientists, physicians, lawyers and judges.

Yang said she sees this reflected in her experience in computer science.

“CS is pretty notorious for not being very welcoming to females, but I think just reaching out more (and) connecting with the other females, like the girls in my various clubs (is helpful),” Yang said. “So for example, for Cyber Patriot, my team is almost half, it’s like 50/50 so three girls and three guys, which is like, unheard of in the club’s history.”

Emma Langlais, TechHOUNDS vice president and junior said she also found this demonstrated through her time in engineering.

“I hope to help the team excel in the competition with our robot design, while also teaching students valuable skills,” Langlais said. “I also hope to help foster a strong community of students who build each other up and are always willing to help out, and I hope that energy continues into the years after I graduate.”

Representation

Yang said that she sees representation as crucial to breaking down barriers in male-dominated fields.

“Once you get into that cycle of inclusivity and having more representation, it just kind of carries forward, like more girls will be motivated to try out for these positions and to join the club,” Yang said. “I ran this coding competition a couple of years back and I decided to establish this entirely new prize category for female competitors, which I think was just an example of a little thing that you can do. I wasn’t even the head director, I was just managing sponsorships and logistics, but I think that was just something that was so important, and it can incentivize people to join which is always important.”

Langlais said she has experienced varying acts of sexism as a woman in STEM and believes future female representation is necessary to continue overcoming obstacles for women in male-dominated fields.

“Some examples of this (sexism) include having my technical skills doubted, being talked over by peers, being described as overly emotional and bossy, and being stereotyped because of my gender,” Langlais said. “I think it’s important to remember that once a barrier has been broken down, whether that be in a club or somewhere else, you and those who will come after you have to continue to work to keep them down to preserve opportunities for those impacted by the barriers.”

Leadership

In addition to increasing representation, Yang said she works as a leader to include and encourage female members of her clubs.

“I just kind of make an effort to check in more with the female members, to see how they’re doing, because I know how exclusionary some of these clubs can feel, even just as a beginner, a newcomer, on top of being a woman can be pretty difficult,” Yang said. “Making sure that every member feels seen and no one is falling behind is pretty important to me.”

For her part, Phillips said she tries to reach out to female high school students taking Accounting, to encourage and support them.

“I try to be very specific with my young women in the room, to tell them that they’re doing well, tell them to keep trying,” Phillips said. “(I) tell them that it’s okay to try and fail, so that they will incorporate more risk-taking into their lives.”

Langlais said as the TechHOUNDS vice president she has made an effort to increase hands-on involvement for club members.

“I think success for a female leader who has successfully broken a barrier in her club looks like making a lasting impact on her club and positively shaping the experiences of students in those clubs,” Langlais said. “In creating a second team (TechPUPS), we now have the ability to give more members hands-on experience. I’ve especially noticed that this has helped strengthen the community of TechHOUNDS, which makes me really happy to see students collaborating and teaching each other skills that they’ll use for the rest of their life.”

Ultimately, Phillips said she encourages female students to see themselves as leaders.

“Don’t let anyone else tell you what you are or are not good at, or what traits make a good leader and what traits do not,” Phillips said. “If you are working for the good of all and you are trying to move your company forward, you are a good leader.”