MIT Solve

Step 2

Our Solution

Training Diverse Women in STEM for Emerging Technologies

Our solution's stage of development:

Pre-Seed

Our solution:

Technology is pushing forward innovation and sustaining ongoing development in emerging areas, and there is a pressing need for inclusion that has not been successfully addressed. Our solution is to train and develop Black women, who make up less than 3% of STEM workers for leadership positions in these areas.

Our pitch:

Our development programs provide the training necessary for diverse women with traditional STEM degrees to rapidly transition into emerging technologies such as AI, IoT, VR and cyber security, while leveraging their previous experience and preparing them for leadership. Our solution includes both in person and virtual sessions that prepares women with technical backgrounds to get the education necessary to become subject matter experts in these industries far faster that waiting on the next generation of workers to advance.

More diverse leaders in this field are needed in order to impact significant and long lasting change of the inclusion of women and people of color into all areas of technology. It is critically important that girls and women around the world have both role models, mentors and champions in the workplace of the future that look like them. Organizations with more women executives are not only better performing, but necessary to increase the pipeline of women in fields such as STEM. By training diverse women already in technical roles to become leaders, the entire ecosystem, from girls to women, benefits. Women scientists and engineers understand the challenges of working in male dominated fields and can better prepare others wanting to learn how to excel in management and entrepreneurship.

Our network of BWISE chapters and women around the world consists of experts and thought leaders in corporate, government and academia that are focused on engaging and empowering girls and women everywhere to join this digital revolution. We have members from Europe to Africa, who are poised to become leaders in their own countries, impacting the lives of underrepresented people around the globe. By creating more diverse workers globally in emerging technology fields, we can help reduce financial inequities by gender and be better prepared for the workplace of the future.

The problem:

In order for women and girls of all socioeconomic backgrounds to use technology to fully participate and prosper in the economy, we must first develop the framework for this to occur. This means we must have in place more women and people of color to ensure this is happening from the very top of the food chain. With diverse senior leadership across all areas of STEM, inclusion of these underrepresented groups will stall and eventually fail. And with the coming societal changes and workplace needs, this is a problem that is too big to fail, something must be done now.

Why our solution will solve the problem:

The 2015 U.S. News/Raytheon STEM Index found a “slight uptick in STEM-related education and employment activity in the United States compared to 2014. But the raw data show gaps between the men and women and between whites and minorities remain deeply entrenched—and, in some cases, have even widened.” Annually, more than 25,000 Black women obtain undergraduate degrees in STEM, however, only 75,000 are working in these fields and less than 5,000 are in senior management roles. Studies show that professional development and mentorship are keys to retaining and attracting women and minorities in STEM and our BWISE program offers both.

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