The devil’s in the definitions: “There is no standard definition of a STEM occupation.”
A big part of the problem is defining these jobs. The BLS lists all occupations and you need to mine their breakdown to find what you want. The BLS defines STEM jobs as: “Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) occupations include computer and mathematical, architecture and engineering, and life and physical science occupations, as well as managerial and postsecondary teaching occupations related to these functional areas and sales occupations requiring scientific or technical knowledge at the postsecondary level.”
Using this definition, women made slight gains in computer science jobs in 2020, from 24.9% overall in Q1-2020 to 25.1% by Q4-2020, based on unpublished data the BLS sent me. A BLS spokesperson wrote me that unpublished data, “may contain estimates that do not meet CPS publication standards,” for quantity of people in a given job. Roberta Rincon, Ph.D, Senior Manager of Research at the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), told me it could also be because the BLS uses sampling surveys, so it’s not counting every job.
Related article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/joanmichelson2/2021/01/17/why-big-data-is-failing-women-in-stem-and-how-to-fix-it/?sh=22a6d38c266e
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