Ask any woman working in the STEM field and she’ll tell you the “glass ceiling” blocking them from upper-level jobs is real. Despite high-profile exceptions like General Motors CEO Mary Barra — a trained engineer — women managers in math- and science-based organizations are few and far between.
At the U.S. News & World Report STEM Solutions Conference in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, a panel featuring two women leaders in STEM agreed: It takes more than training as an engineer, or scientist, or mathematician, to figure out how to shatter the glass.
“You have to be a strong scientist, first, then you have to be a strong leader, which is hard for a women,” said Xiaochun Luo, PhD., group vice president and chief science officer for Avon Products. But mentorship, she added, is critical, as well as working for an organization that “truly has a heart” and believes women can rise to the top.
The panel, “Closing the Management Gender Gap,” explored the lack of women in STEM leadership roles in corporations and private industry. Moderated by Mimi Lufkin, the chief executive at National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity, the panel featured Luo, a trained chemist; Teresa B. Vanhooser, deputy director of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center; and General Motors’ John Calabrese, vice president for global vehicle engineering.