Interviews of Spanish women in STEM: a multimedia analysis about their experiences

Abstract

The gender gap in the STEM sector is not only in higher education but also in the professional sphere. The percentages of women completing higher education in STEM, working in the sector and moving up in the organisation are lower than those of men. This work presents a qualitative study of multimedia data carried out in Spain during 2020. The aim is to analyse the experience and perspectives of professional women in the STEM sector. Twenty-one women from different organisations and qualifications, all associated with science, technology, engineering and mathematics, participated in the study. The study has been developed within the framework of the project W-STEM - Building the future of Latin America: engaging women into STEM. The video interviews were analysed using the qualitative data support software webQDA. After defining the categories and categorising the discourse, a classical content analysis was carried out. The results obtained reveal the need to invest more energy in strategies to raise the profile of women in the sector. All of them feel a strong attraction for their studies and their profession, however, they think that the path is difficult and there is little visibility. Furthermore, all the participants encourage girls to try out STEM careers if they feel they are their vocation.