Innovation New Jersey
  • Home
  • Our Coalition
    • Contact Us
  • News
  • Resources
    • State Supports
    • Federal Supports
    • Higher Ed Supports
  • Join Us

Innovation News

Everything Innovation. Everything New Jersey.
Follow us and stay connected.

Why are there so few female-led STEM businesses? Hint: It's not a pipeline problem

4/28/2018

0 Comments

 
Washington DC - According to Tina Reed, Women occupy too few leadership positions among STEM businesses, including healthcare companies,  but it's not a pipeline problem, according to newreport from the Association for Women in Science. Instead, the report says, there are systemic issues in the science and tech world—including the programs meant to help early-stage entrepreneurs and foster venture capital investments—making it harder for women to rise to the top. "We are still lacking in businesses led by women. It's even worse for women of color," said Bahija Jallal, Ph.D., Association for Women in Science National Governing Board president, about the innovation landscape. 
The healthcare sector remains in flux as policy, regulation, technology and trends shape the market. FierceHealthcare subscribers rely on our suite of newsletters as their must-read source for the latest news, analysis and data impacting their world. Sign up today to get healthcare news and updates delivered to your inbox and read on the go.

Less than 4% of venture capital is awarded to women-led businesses and less than 1% is awarded to women of color, the report points out. Of 225 biotech companies that have had IPOs in the past four years, 17 were led by women. 

The report comes in the midst of a national conversation about women in the workplace. This lack of women in STEM leadership came into stark focus when STAT reported earlier this year that the number of male speakers at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference outnumbered the total number of female CEO speakers. They further reported on the specific challengesfemale entrepreneurs faced while trying to secure investments at the conference.

The problem often starts with the very programs meant to help startups, the report says. 

Entrepreneurship programs and investors often attribute low enrollment of female founders to a "pipeline" problem, but data shows there are plenty of women who are capable, according to the report, which examined AWIS' STEM to Market Program in a study funded by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

"If you're not in the business of keeping track of this pipeline of women, it's easy to make an offhand remark that there aren't enough out there," said Melinda Richter, the Global Head of Johnson & Johnson Innovation, known as JLABS. "We've shown there are plenty of women out there but they are not recognized."

Bootcamps, which often have inflexible time commitments and are meant to weed people out, often cut women out because more outside responsibilities traditionally fall on their shoulders. Investor groups often follow patterns and invest based on a gut feeling, which is often based on a level of comfort or familiarity.

Jallal, who is the president at MedImmune and executive vice president for pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, said she knows firsthand that there is plenty of female talent being trained in STEM fields.

"If you look at the number of women in college, we're almost at 50/50," Jallal said. "When you look in companies, as in academia, you don't have a problem at the start. But as you get higher and higher, that's where the issues happen."

Often that happens because of unconscious bias, Richter said. "We have to create systemic change throughout the value chain of getting innovation to the market," she said.

At the JLABs accelerator program, for example, nearly a quarter of its CEOs are female compared to the industry standard of less than 1% because it measures whether its programs are successfully supporting female leaders, Richter said. They also work to ensure at least 1/3 of speakers and mentors in its education programs are women and that stories of success also include women to help model what female participants can also achieve, Richter said. 

Data shows this is crucial for improving the business of innovation.

"If we look at the patient population around the world, we have a very diverse representation of different ethnicities," Richter said. "And if we don't have innovators that represent that patient population, the best solutions won't make it to that patient population. It's in our best interest to make sure we're cultivating innovation from different voices."
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Do not miss a single innovative moment and sign up for our newsletter!
    Weekly updates


    Categories

    All
    3D Printing
    Academia
    Acquisitions
    Aerospace
    Agriculture
    AIDS
    Algae
    Alumni
    Animals
    Architecture
    Astrophysics
    Autism
    Awards
    Big Data
    Bioethics
    Biofuel
    Biomedical
    BioNJ
    Bioterrorism
    Bit Coins
    Brain Health
    Business
    Camden
    Cancer
    CCollege
    Cellular
    Centenary
    Chemistry
    ChooseNJ
    Climate Change
    Clinical Trials
    Cloud Tech
    Collaboration
    Computing
    Congress
    Coriell
    Council On Innovation
    Crowdfunding
    Cybersecurity
    DARPA
    Defense
    Degree
    Dementia
    Dental Health
    DOC
    DOD
    DOE
    Drew
    Drones
    Drug Creation
    Einstein's Alley
    Electricity
    Energy
    Engineering
    Entrepreneurship
    Environmental
    FAA
    Fairleigh Dickinson
    FDA
    Federal Budget
    Federal Government
    Federal Labs
    Federal Program
    Finance
    Food Science
    Fort Monmouth
    Fuel Cells
    Funding
    Genome
    Geography
    Geology
    Global Competition
    Google
    Governor Christie
    Grant
    Hackensack
    HackensackUMC
    Healthcare
    Health Care
    HHS
    HINJ
    Hospitals
    Immigration
    Incubator
    Infrastructure
    International
    Internet
    Investor
    IoT
    IP
    IT
    Jobs
    Johnson & Johnson
    K-12
    Kean
    Kessler
    Legislation
    Logistics
    Manufacturing
    Medical Devices
    Med School
    Mental Health
    Mentor
    Microorganisms
    Molecular Biology
    Montclair
    NAS
    Neuroscience
    Newark
    New Jersey
    NIFA
    NIH
    NIST
    NJBDA
    NJBIA
    NJ Chemistry Council
    NJCU
    NJDOLWD
    NJEDA
    NJEDge
    NJHF
    NJII
    NJIT
    NJMEP
    NJPAC
    NJPRO
    NJTC
    Nonprofit
    NSF
    OpEd
    Open Data
    OSHE
    OSTP
    Parasite
    Patents
    Paterson
    Patients
    Perth Amboy
    Pharma
    POTUS
    PPPL
    Princeton
    Prosthetics
    Ranking
    Rare Disease
    R&D Council
    Report
    Resiliency
    Rider
    Robotics
    Rowan
    Rutgers
    SBA
    Seton Hall
    Siemens
    Smart Car
    Smart Cities
    Software
    Solar
    Space
    SSTI
    Startup
    State Government
    STEM
    Stevens
    Stockton
    Subatomic
    Supports
    Sustainability
    Taxes
    TCNJ
    Teachers
    Telecom
    Therapy
    Thermodynamics
    Transportation
    Undergraduate
    USEDA
    Verizon
    Video Game
    Virtual Reality
    Water
    WHO
    William Paterson
    Women In STEM
    Workforce Development

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.