Women Veterans in STEM

Challenge

The roughly 2 million women veterans living in the United States face unique challenges in transitioning to civilian life after their military careers end. This includes difficulty securing jobs in STEM fields, despite the fact that many women veterans possess skills that are highly transferable to STEM careers.

EDC launched and 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 initiative’s goals are to raise the visibility of services for women veterans, galvanize industry and academia to support women veterans in thriving in the civilian workforce, and widely disseminate findings to propel positive changes for women

Key Activities

The key activities for the Women Vets in STEM initiative follow:

Produced a white paper series that synthesizes existing information about the current state of women veterans in STEM
Held a convening that, through thought-provoking and generative sessions, developed recommendations for academia, industry, and public policy to strengthen the pipeline from service to STEM for women veterans
Held a webinar series to spotlight key issues facing women veterans and disseminate convening findings and recommendations
Developed and produced a video featured in the 2022 National Science Foundation STEM For All Video Showcase

Impact

Published the Women Veterans in STEM Convening Proceedings report that provides a detailed look at the event and its findings
Produced three recommendation reports to support key groups in strengthening the pipeline from service to STEM for women veterans: employers and professional organizations and associations; policymakers, government agencies, and Department of Defense; and institutions of training and higher education institutes
Disseminated recommendations, with the goal of reaching over 500 key leaders from across the country to help build pathways for women veterans in STEM