Experiences of women in STEM: Personal narratives illustrating the fluidity and nuances of the STEM pipeline

Nicole Fairhurst, Rachel Sheffield and Rekha Koul
Curtin University, Australia

Rapid advances in technology have resulted in a worldwide drive to enhance science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workforces to remain internationally competitive and ensure economic prosperity. Despite this, there is ongoing debate about the best strategies for promoting STEM literacy and building national STEM competencies. Women continue to be under-represented within the Australian STEM workforce, impacting Australia's national performance and STEM pipeline figures. Several factors have been determined as crucial components impacting females' perceptions of the STEM fields, and their drive to pursue employment in these areas. One method for analysing these factors is to explore the personal narratives of women in STEM and STEM-related fields to determine which factors impact their engagement with STEM. Our research contributes to this ongoing debate by providing insight into the personal narratives of eight women who participated within the STEMinist Community of Practice (CoP) research project, and their fluid experiences of the STEM pipeline. This paper explores the key factors and experiences of the participants, including how their careers progressed over time; and related potential solutions for increasing the number of women in STEM. Additionally, this paper explores the criteria for being considered a 'STEM professional', and how this impacts the fluidity of the STEM pipeline for women. We utilised a qualitative narrative research design through the worldview of interpretivism and employed a storytelling methodology. Thematic analysis was undertaken, and four key themes emerged: influence, perception, self-perception, and community of practice. The research questions are answered through a series of vignettes providing a rich conception of participant experiences. Key recommendations from this article are the development of further communities of practice to empower women within STEM fields, and adjusting the criteria of STEM professionals to include STEM educators, to address STEM pipeline issues.
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Authors: Nicole Fairhurst (BEd Primary and MPhil - STEM Education) is a Level 3 educator and a PhD candidate (STEM Education) at Curtin University, Australia. Her research interests include STEM learning environments; student perceptions; pedagogy; and professional learning. Nicole is a sessional academic lecturer and contributes to numerous university research projects. Email: nicole.fairhurst@curtin.edu.au Professor Rachel Sheffield is an Professor in Science and STEM Education at Curtin University, Australia. She is a passionate science educator and Chair of the Curtin Academy (Teaching and Learning). Her research focus includes pedagogy, innovation including design thinking, sustainability and STEM education focused on iSOLT. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2385-6381 Email: rachel.sheffield@curtin.edu.au Professor Rekha Koul is Deputy Head and Lead of STEM Research Group, School of Education, Curtin University. Her expertise lies in the development, refinement, and validation of questionnaires; investigations of classroom environments on student outcomes; evaluation of educational programs; teacher-action research aimed at improving environments and evaluation of curriculum. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7356-0370 Email: r.koul@curtin.edu.au Please cite as: Fairhurst, N., Sheffield, R. & Koul, R. (2024). Experiences of women in STEM: Personal narratives illustrating the fluidity and nuances of the STEM pipeline. Issues in Educational Research, 34(3), 974-994. http://www.iier.org.au/iier34/fairhurst.pdf