Thriving in a Male-Dominated Workplace (HBR Women at Work Series)

2

To Succeed, Women Need More Visibility

by Shelley J. Correll and Lori Nishiura Mackenzie

Companies in male-dominated industries are failing to retain their female employees. A study by Jennifer Glass of the University of Texas at Austin and her coauthors found that women leave STEM fields at dramatically higher rates than women in other occupations.1 After 12 years, 50% of women in technical industries, predominantly engineering and computer science, had switched to other fields; 20% of other women professionals had done the same.

The highest-profile losses in tech are those at the senior level. These women often are less satisfied with their careers, perceive that they are unlikely to advance at their current organizations, or believe they ...