Tales of Thriving: Identifying the Underpinnings of Women\u27s Success in STEM Careers

Women remain underrepresented in U.S. science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. Prior research enumerates many challenges that women experience in STEM and suggests interventions that enhance women’s exposure to STEM, technical acumen in STEM, or offer STEM community. Identifying what enables women to thrive in STEM is a novel approach to extending these efforts using a strengths-based approach. I thus conducted a case study focused on understanding the experiences of successful women in the STEM workforce. Findings revealed three core characteristics to women’s STEM success: synergizing self and science, science career advancement and mastery, and being a STEM change agent. Characteristics varied relative to women’s career levels and work settings. Findings broaden the literature by revealing what galvanizes women for success from within the STEM pipeline. Results can also be used to inform future efforts that aim to advance gender inclusion and equality and suggest implications for what may broadly enable various underrepresented individuals to succeed in STEM fields