OSPE - The Voice - June 2018 - 25

FEATURE

Do Women (and Men) Really Face Barriers
to Advance Their Careers?
Survey Says.......... Yes.
T

he December 2017 edition of The Voice introduced OSPE's
1. "Feeling disrespected and undervalued by managers,
co-workers, contractors, and/or clients."
'Breaking Barriers for Women in STEM' project funded by
Status of Women Canada (SWC). As part of the project, a survey
2. "Lack of mentorship opportunities and/or role models."
was launched to gather grass-roots perspectives from men and
women towards challenges they face in advancing in their
Whereas for men, the most common response is, "I haven't
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) careers. The
faced any challenges that make advancement difficult."
response was tremendous, with almost 3,000 men and women
There is no disputing the fact that challenges exist for
STEM professionals who responded - and we want to thank
female professionals in STEM workplaces. The critical question
those of you who took the time to share your thoughts!
however, is how do women overcome these barriers? And more
For women who are successfully working in STEM positions,
importantly, how employers can alleviate these challenges to
a large majority of those we interviewed and surveyed for the
create equity between women and men in the workplace? This
Breaking Barriers project are very satisfied with the actual
is at the heart of OSPE's project - OSPE wants to find ways to
engineering work they perform, however, many more challenges
facilitate the breaking down of these barriers.
exist that women face
differently from men. One
Table
Workplace
Challenges
Advancement
-
Figure
Workplace
Challenges
to
Comparisons
by
Figure 2:
2:1:
Workplace
Challenges
to Advancement
Advancement --to
Comparisons
by Gender
Gender (N=2802)
(N=2802)
question on the survey
Comparisons by Gender (N=2802)1
of STEM professionals
% Female % Male
is particularly revealing.
50%
50%
When asked, 'What
40%
40%
challenges have you
faced at work that made
30%
30%
it difficult for you to
20%
20%
advance in your career?'
10%
10%
significant differences
0%
0%
a re
d e m on s t r at e d
between men and women
5
6
7
9
10
11
12
13
1
4
2
3
8
respondents.
As indicated in Table 1,
men and women identify
haven't
any
that
make
difficult.
11 IIFeeling
haven't faced
faced
any challenges
challenges
that
make advancement
advancement
difficult.
disrespected
and
undervalued
by managers,
co-workers, contractors, and/or clients.
different
challenges
are
22 Hours
Hours
of
work
are too
too long.
long.opportunities and/or role models.
Lackof
ofwork
mentorship
don't
adequate
on
job
of
opportunities.
to advancement. Two
don't receive
receive
adequate
on the
the
job training
training
of professional
professional
development
opportunities.
33 IIFeeling
that
I get paid
less
than colleagues
ofdevelopment
the opposite
gender doing the same work.
Taking
a
leave
of
absence
has
resulted
in
a
setback
in
my
career.
Taking
a
leave
of
absence
has
resulted
in
a
setback
in
my
career.
4
4
Work
culture
and
job
demands
compete
with
family
and/or
community responsibilities.
challenges were statistically
5
Having
aa fewer
opportunities
for
work
colleagues.
5
Having
fewer
opportunities
for field
field
work than
than other
other
colleagues.
Feeling
that
I
have
weak
professional
networks.
tied as the top choices for
66 Experiencing
harassment/bullying.
Experiencing
harassment/bullying.
Experiencing
discrimination.
women:

1
Note: Differences between female
and male responses are statistically
significant for each challenge as well as
"no challenges". Over all challenges, Chisquare test significance is <0.005.

77
88
99
10
10
1111
12
12
13
13

Feeling
underemployed
and
using
my
skills
their
capacity.
Feeling
underemployed
and not
not and
usingnot
my STEM
STEM
skills
toSTEM
their full
full
capacity.
Feeling
underemployed
using
myto
skills
to their

full capacity.

Experiencing
discrimination.
Experiencing
discrimination.
Experiencing
harassment/bullying.
Feeling
that
II have
weak
networks.
Feeling
that
haveopportunities
weak professional
professionalfor
networks.
Having
fewer
field work

than other colleagues.

Work
culture
and
compete
with
and/or
community
Work
culture
and job
job
demands
compete
with family
familyin
and/or
community
responsibilities.
Taking
a leave
ofdemands
absence
has resulted
a setback
in responsibilities.
my
career.
Feeling
II get
less
of
opposite
doing
work.
Feeling
that
get paid
paid
less than
than colleagues
colleagues
of the
the
opposite
gender
doing the
the same
same or
or lower
lower level
level
work.
I don'tthat
receive
adequate
on the job
training
ofgender
professional
development
opportunities.
Lack
of
opportunities
and/or
Lack
of mentorship
mentorship
opportunities
and/or role
role models.
models.
Hours
of work are
too long.
Feeling
disrespected
and
by
managers,
co-workers,
contractors,
and/or
Feeling
disrespected
and undervalued
undervalued
bythat
managers,
co-workers,
contractors,
and/or clients.
clients.
I haven't
faced any
challenges
make
advancement
difficult.

June 2018

Figure
Figure 6:
6: Summary
Summary of
of How
How STEM
STEM Women
Women Professionals
Professionals Overcome
Overcome Workplace
Workplace Challenges
Challenges (N=958)
(N=958)

THE VOICE

25



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of OSPE - The Voice - June 2018

Table of Contents
OSPE - The Voice - June 2018 - Cover1
OSPE - The Voice - June 2018 - Cover2
OSPE - The Voice - June 2018 - Table of Contents
OSPE - The Voice - June 2018 - 4
OSPE - The Voice - June 2018 - 5
OSPE - The Voice - June 2018 - 6
OSPE - The Voice - June 2018 - 7
OSPE - The Voice - June 2018 - 8
OSPE - The Voice - June 2018 - 9
OSPE - The Voice - June 2018 - 10
OSPE - The Voice - June 2018 - 11
OSPE - The Voice - June 2018 - 12
OSPE - The Voice - June 2018 - 13
OSPE - The Voice - June 2018 - 14
OSPE - The Voice - June 2018 - 15
OSPE - The Voice - June 2018 - 16
OSPE - The Voice - June 2018 - 17
OSPE - The Voice - June 2018 - 18
OSPE - The Voice - June 2018 - 19
OSPE - The Voice - June 2018 - 20
OSPE - The Voice - June 2018 - 21
OSPE - The Voice - June 2018 - 22
OSPE - The Voice - June 2018 - 23
OSPE - The Voice - June 2018 - 24
OSPE - The Voice - June 2018 - 25
OSPE - The Voice - June 2018 - 26
OSPE - The Voice - June 2018 - 27
OSPE - The Voice - June 2018 - 28
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OSPE - The Voice - June 2018 - 34
OSPE - The Voice - June 2018 - 35
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OSPE - The Voice - June 2018 - 38
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