As a woman with a chemical engineering degree, I have become accustomed to the shocked looks and the comments that I receive being a woman Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) professional. Although, I have pursued a nontraditional STEM career path; I realize that the percentage of women in STEM careers, especially African American women is very low in comparison to men. Women are almost 46.5 percent of the workforce, but for most STEM disciplines the percentage of women in those fields are 30% or below. Those numbers get lower when it comes to career paths in the engineering disciplines. STEM is still a white male dominated field, but I hope that I’m doing my part to change that along with all the other initiatives to encourage girls to pursue STEM careers.
I don’t believe that my name is gender neutral. Tokiwa is a very feminine name; even though it is commonly used as a surname in its country of origin Japan. However since starting my business I’m amazed how often in email correspondence people are addressing me as Mr. Smith instead of Ms. Smith. I’m not certain of the source of the assumption that I’m male and not female. Statistics show that the majority of businesses in this country are women owned businesses. Does the assumption come based on the fact that in our country most positions of leadership in organizations are held by men? Does it come from the fact that although I’m a social entrepreneur since I’m interacting with STEM professionals, which is a still a male dominated field, to help me accomplish the mission of my organization?
In our society so many assumptions are made based on the fact that most positions of power are historically held by Caucasian men. However, I wonder with the changing demographics of our nation are women, especially women of color, holding more positions of power and leadership in businesses in all sectors especially entrepreneurship and nonprofits. In corporate America, the statistics for women in executive and board positions is less than 20 %. There are 10 million women owned businesses which means about almost 50% of the businesses in this nation are owned by women. Women owned businesses are growing at a rate twice of those owned by men. However, African women own an average of 16 % of all businesses in various industries.
In the nonprofit sector, the statistics of women in leadership is worse than other sectors, especially for women of color. Although women make up almost 70% of the workforce, which is about the national average, most of those positions are staff positions. Almost 80% of the nonprofit workforce is Caucasian. Therefore most of the nonprofit executive and leaders are Caucasian males. Therefore, it seems as if an African American woman as an executive and social entrepreneur in the nonprofit sector isn’t a common occurrence.
Whatever the reasons for this mistaken identity, I am learning to be more understanding and patient about it as I get older. I have learned to professionally thank the person for their prompt response to my email or reaching out to me and let them know that I’m actually Ms. Smith not Mr. Smith. Most people are apologetic about the error and make the correction quickly. As I was laughing with my dad about the most recent incident, he reminded me that it probably won’t be the last time it happens. It is just an example that in life and business, people make assumptions. There is nothing we can do to prevent assumptions; all we can do is correct them in a courteous manner when they are made.
