Growing up in India, Anjana Susarla was surrounded by scientists and engineers.

“My mother, she was a chemistry professor,” she said. “So that was what inspired me to get into STEM.”

Susarla is now a professor of responsible AI at Michigan State University. She studied mechanical engineering in college, and there, she said, there were two women in a class of 80. That was in the 1990s.

Sheer numbers tell us that, to this day, men are much more likely than women to go into careers in science, technology engineering and math — collectively called STEM. 

Though it’s changing, women hold just 34% of positions in those fields today. And despite all the efforts that have gone into getting more girls and women into STEM, there’s still a persistent gap in interest. The gap is much larger for tech, engineering and math than it is for science.

Gallup just did a big survey of Gen Z — that’s people between 12 and 26-years-old — and found that 85% of boys and men say they’re interested in a career in STEM, compared to 63% of girls and women. 

For much of her career, Susarla at MSU says she’s often been one of the only women in the room. She thinks lack of representation is a big reason so many girls and women still don’t go into STEM.

Zach Hrynowski at Gallup, says their research backs that up.

“The extent to which a young person says that they have a role model dramatically increases the likelihood that they say that they want to pursue a STEM career,” he said.

This new survey of Gen Z also shows that girls are much more likely than boys to say they don’t think they’d be good at science or math. 

“That is concerning to us, especially because of all the work that’s gone into bringing young women into the fold of STEM,” Hrynowski said.

Some of that work has made a difference. 

Tarika Barrett, CEO of Girls Who Code, said girls who’ve gone through one of their programs are seven times more likely to major in STEM, and girls of color are nine times more likely. 

“So much of this is that these girls’ first learning spaces are critical,” Barrett said. “Positive and supportive environments, sustained interest, they definitely drive persistence.”

And she says getting more women — and people of color — into tech is going to be critical to making the technology that shapes so much of our lives more equitable.