On November 8 (National STEM Day) last year, U.S. Senators Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) launched the new Women in STEM Caucus, a bipartisan group that works to advance women’s participation in science, technology, engineering, and math education and careers.

The caucus provides a forum for discussion and legislative collaboration about how to increase women’s participation in STEM-related fields.

“The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is so pleased that Senators Rosen and Capito Moore are once again showing their support for women in STEM by establishing the bipartisan Senate Women in STEM Caucus,” said Karen Horting, executive director and CEO of the Society of Women Engineers. “The issues females face in the STEM workforce are plentiful and complicated.”

As the first former computer programmer in the Senate, Senator Rosen’s office regularly spotlights Nevada Women in STEM who are role models and breaking barriers in their fields to inspire young girls and women to pursue STEM education and careers.

Senator Capito has advocated for more female involvement in STEM through legislative efforts. She also launched West Virginia Girls Rise Up. Since launching the program, Senator Capito has hosted STEM-focused Girls Rise Up events with NASA Astronaut Peggy Whitson, IBM, and NASA Astronaut Loral O’Hara.

In February 2022, the bipartisan Senate Women in STEM Caucus hosted a panel discussion on women in the STEM workforce. The panel brought together leading women in business, academia, and government to better understand the unique and evolving challenges that working women in STEM have faced during the pandemic.

SWE’s Karen Horting opened the event by sharing data points that shine a light on the gender inequity that exists in the STEM workforce. For instance, in 2018, only 22 percent of engineering degrees at the bachelor level were earned by women; one year later, women only made-up 13 percent of the engineering workforce.

Senator Rosen, a former computer programmer, expressed her hope that the Caucus will “serve as a forum for discussion and ideas for expanding access for women to STEM careers.” Senator Capito expressed that now is a “critical time to support policies that help women face these challenges and make it easier to both reenter and thrive” in the STEM workforce.

Dr. Rolanda Johnson Wilkerson, senior director and Fellow Beauty Care at P&G Beauty emphasized the importance of research funding at universities when it comes to attracting women to STEM careers, especially at underfunded schools, such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Wilkerson added that affordable and quality childcare is needed to keep those women in STEM. “So many women have to make a choice when it comes to quality childcare and pursuing a STEM profession especially during this hard time,” said Wilkerson. This sentiment was echoed by all panelists.

Senators Rosen and Capito referenced the Building Blocks of STEM Act, legislation that they introduced and was passed last year. The bill, which was endorsed by SWE, would create and expand upon STEM education initiatives at the National Science Foundation (NSF) for young children, including new research grants to increase the participation of girls in computer science.

Senator Rosen also stressed the importance of “returnship” programs and highlighted the STEM RESTART Act that provides funding to STEM businesses to offer robust and paid internships for mid-career workers seeking to return or transition into the STEM workforce. This piece of legislation is based on the work of SWE’s STEM Re-entry Task Force.