STEM PARADOX Trapped in the Glass Algorithm

The term STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) is widely used to promote women's participation in these fields. Global organizations like UNESCO and the UN actively push for gender equality in STEM.

- By Shweta Mahendra

Unfortunately, these initiatives are largely driven by a male-dominated world that still dictates the rules.

In my early career, I believed these efforts would create real change for women in STEM. But as the years passed, my definition of STEM transformed—from an empowering movement to something far more fragile: a stem of a tree.

Women in STEM are like stems hanging from a tree, vulnerable to the forces around them—pushed and pulled by internal and external pressures, just as a stem endures storms, rain, and wind. We are nourished by education and ambition, yet our growth is stunted by societal expectations, professional biases, and systemic inequalities. We always bend, weighed down by pressure and our own suffocating limitations.

Women in STEM compete fiercely in school and college, excelling against their male peers. They are the pride of their families—daughters and sisters who win against all odds. But this habit of winning doesn't last forever. As they step into the professional world, the compromises begin. Their priorities are reshaped by society, family, and workplace biases, forcing them into roles they never chose. The girl who once stood at the top of her class slowly learns to accept an invisible tech treadmill, running tirelessly yet never moving ahead.