Agency Variation in the Employment of Women in U.S. Federal STEM Jobs: The Impact of Female Supervisors

Abstract

This article provides an assessment of the employment of women in STEM occupations in the U.S. federal government. Women are underrepresented in STEM fields in the U.S. federal service, but their levels of employment vary markedly between departments and agencies. Women also quit federal STEM jobs in disproportionately large numbers, compared with men, and compared with women in other professions, and they resign at varying rates depending on the department or agency. We examine the impact of the presence of women in STEM supervisory positions on these patterns using a two-staged instrumental variable model. Our findings suggest that larger proportions of women in supervisory positions in STEM fields may help to produce higher levels of employment of women, but the presence of women as STEM supervisors has no observable impact on the rate at which women quit STEM jobs.