CLEVELAND — The number of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields has fallen flat recently after years of growth, according to researchers. The number of women working in computing, for example, dropped seven points between 2000 and 2016 and those researchers said gender bias is part of the reason why. 

What You Need To Know

  • Andrea Fields is a champion for women and minorities in STEM fields

  • Women account for roughly one-third of bachelor's degrees in STEM fields

  • Gender bias plays a role in limiting the advancement of women in STEM careers, researchers say

Andrea Fields has been studying STEM since high school. Now an engineer and consultant, she said she's hoping to pass on that love off for learning. She is a leader at Northeast Ohio Stem Ecosystem (NEOSTEMECO), a collaboration of organizations that help connect young people to programs that will give them a head start in their careers. 

"NEOSTEM gave me the opportunity to expose more students to it as well as the different events they host," she said.

Fields is a champion for women in STEM fields, and said she has found ways to use her voice to support missions like this one.

"I then got this opportunity to do this cool thing called a Ted talk," she said. "The Ted talk kind of continued to launch my career and I traveled internationally to do things like this with other people."

Fields said sometimes she only had to look around the room to see why voices like hers are needed. 

"It’s very common for me to be one of one in that space, so not having someone that either looks like you physically to just even having another female in the room to even having another minority in the room," she said.

According to the publication "Best Colleges," women have been facing unique challenges when pursuing stem careers. The organization found stereotypes about women's abilities start early, impacting girls as young as 3 or 4 years old. While women earn more bachelor's degrees than men, they only account for 36% of STEM bachelor's degrees. Men hold four out of five degrees in engineering and computer science. 

Fields said she agrees that gender bias does follow women into STEM careers.

"Your ideas tend to get overlooked or not as equal to your counterparts," she said.

That’s why she said she's committed to helping girls achieve, even creating her own nonprofit organization called Lyf.

"I created the nonprofit to help a younger version of me that I’ve never met," she said. "I’ve always wanted to be able to give younger women girls the chance to find that on their own and then be able to nurture that and give them the tools to be able to navigate challenging spaces later in life."