The Leadership Lab for Women: Advancing and Retaining Women in STEM through Professional Development

Abstract

Innovative professional development approaches are needed to address the ongoing lack of women leaders in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers. Developed from the research on women who persist in engineering and computing professions and essential elements of women’s leadership development, the Leadership Lab for Women in STEM Program was launched in 2014. The Leadership Lab was created as a research-based leadership development program, offering 360-degree feedback, coaching, and practical strategies aimed at increasing the advancement and retention of women in the STEM professions. The goal is to provide women with knowledge, tools and a supportive learning environment to help them navigate, achieve, flourish, and catalyze organizational change in male-dominated and technology-driven organizations. This article describes the importance of creating unique development experiences for women in STEM fields, the genesis of the Leadership Lab, the design and content of the program, and the outcomes for the participants.

Gender Diversity in STEM Disciplines: A Multiple Factor Problem

“…As it has been stated in the introduction, one of the barriers facing women is the lack of a strong support network in the workplace, experiencing even gender bias at some point. This action is aligned with research initiatives such as the Leadership Lab [49], designed with the focus of increasing and retaining women in STEM professions. The main activities under this objective are the following:…”

“…They established a set of participants, from different fields, and realized a series of interviews which were used to search for patterns. In Reference [49], a research-based leadership development program is presented, designed with the aim of increasing and retaining women in STEM professions. This program targets women which are already in professional environments and its outcomes are evaluated based on the feedback from the participants.…”

Challenges and supports for women conservation leaders

“…These include transformed hiring practices, organizational analyses of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), trainings, mentoring programs, role models, championing by senior leaders, women's groups, and peer support. The utility of different support structures has been extensively debated, especially regarding how women's needs vary with inequalities of race, class, and age (Healy et al, 2011) and the tensions between organizations' responsibilities to change and expectations placed on women to navigate unequal systems by themselves (Van Oosten, Buse, & Bilimoria, 2017). These types of support structures can be beneficial to all employees, but are widely recognized as being particularly necessary for people who are disadvantaged in the workplace by social, political, and economic systems of privilege such as gender, as well as race/ethnicity, class, disability, and so on (Shore, Cleveland, & Sanchez, 2018).…”

Integrative taxonomy identifies a new stingray species of the genus Hypanus Rafinesque, 1818 (Dasyatidae, Myliobatiformes), from the Tropical Southwestern Atlantic

“…The specific epithet is in honour of Bertha Lutz, a pioneering Brazilian woman zoologist, who was also involved in feminist issues and (Blickenstaff, 2005;Van Oosten et al, 2017).…”