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While the number of women in STEM has steadily increased since 1970 — when they only made up 4% of the industry’s workforce — that number is just 27% today. Deloitte Insights reported that one in four leadership positions at large global technology firms were held by women in 2022.

This all sounds promising, but compared to the overall proportion of women in the workforce, it would be remiss to say this is sufficient. Moreover, only one in 20 of those women in leadership are women of color. So what needs to be done to create more inclusivity and increase opportunities for women in STEM?

Pursue and promote an inclusive culture

Inclusivity touches every aspect of culture. It can be difficult to know where to start when building an inclusive culture, but it’s important to understand what the overarching goal is: Making all employees feel that they can bring their authentic selves to work and are set up to be successful in their roles. This is an ongoing process that can be supported through a number of strategies, but here are a few that I have found particularly impactful as a mentor, leader and woman in tech.

Articulate a vision for diversity and inclusion

Define clear success criteria for what a cross-functional inclusive culture looks like at your organization. Similarly, ensure that everyone — from leadership and hiring managers to interviewers and individual contributors — is aware of how inclusivity and diversity positively affect the bottom line. Making this clear is important to gain buy-in and is often not something easily comprehended. Particularly across global teams, make sure everyone can answer the question, “Why do we at this company care about diversity and inclusion?”

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