The roughly 2 million women veterans living in the United States face unique challenges in transitioning to civilian life after their military careers end, including difficulty securing jobs. Many women veterans possess skills that are highly transferable to STEM careers. Yet women veterans can find it difficult to break into STEM fields.
EDC is leading the Women Veterans in STEM initiative to increase access to STEM education and training for women veterans, easing their transition from active duty and boosting their earning potential. The goals of the initiative are to raise visibility of services for women veterans, identify strategies to galvanize industry and academia to support veterans in thriving in the civilian workforce, and widely disseminate findings to propel positive changes for women veterans.
The key activities for the Women Vets in STEM project follow:
- Produce a whitepaper series that synthesizes existing information about the current state of women veterans in STEM
- Hold a March 2021 convening that, through thought-provoking and generative sessions, will result in recommendations for academia, industry, and public policy to strengthen the pipeline from service to STEM for women veterans
- Hold a webinar series to spotlight key issues facing women veterans and to disseminate the convening findings and recommendations
- The convening will engage 75+ researchers, policymakers, STEM industry leaders, leadership representing universities and community colleges, nonprofit organizations, federal agencies that serve veterans, and women veterans to address this issue through an intersectional lens.
- The webinar series will reach over 300 key stakeholders from across the country who are interested in learning about and contributing to conversations about women veterans in STEM.