Women interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics degrees sometimes feel as if they are outnumbered by the population of men dominating the field.

STEM is a program at Cosumnes River College for students in majors revolving around STEM. Sarah Jones, 20-year-old engineering major, thinks that women sometimes feel outnumbered in majors that are dominated by men. They also feel that once they graduate with a degree, some companies may not hire them because of the fact that they are women.

“I feel that women maybe feel as if they couldn’t do a STEM degree, because men are usually the ones that fulfill these roles in society, but that is changing everyday and I hope that more women are able to see that they can do as well as any man in a STEM degree,” said Jones.

“It’s not fair sometimes that we [women] have to work twice as hard to seem that we are serious about the career that we want.” Jones said.

Different majors of STEM at CRC are dominated by men, such as engineering and technology, while others are not as dominated, such as different science majors. According to National Girls Collaborative Project, in 2016, 35.2% of chemists were women. This was the largest field that women worked in. The smallest field was mechanical engineers where only 7.9% of them were women.

“Since my major is in science, there are a lot of women that are interested in that field and I do not have to compete with men so much. Women that are in engineering or technology, I think they would have a harder time competing with men in those fields,” said 22-year-old biology major Kimberly Smith.

“I think some women are interested in STEM degrees without even knowing, because they feel they as women may not be able to do the job or do not want to compete with men,” said Smith.

Some women, like 19-year-old mathematics major Ashley Williams, likes the challenge of competing with men and will take any challenge that comes to her.

“There is always going to be a challenge with any major that you pick, so don’t let challenges stop you from going after the degree that you want to pursue,” said Williams.

Williams offers advice to women saying, “Don’t be intimidated by challenges, go after what you want and if it is what you’re supposed to have it will all work out.”