he UNESCO Institute for Statistics estimates that only around 30 percent of researchers worldwide are women. Similarly， according to the Economics and Statistics Administration of the US Department of Commerce only 24 percent of STEM jobs are held by women， with individual disciplines like Engineering having a significantly worse gender bias. There's also extensive literature on biases against women in STEM， affecting all aspects of academia， including hiring， publishing， citation counts and teaching.
Given these disheartening statistics， it is clear that there is still a long way to go before we can even start thinking about gender equality in STEM. Why is it that I， a man in STEM， am writing about this？ Because to me these statistics also show another thing: men， who are dominating these fields， have an obligation to support women in STEM and help level the playing field. But how can men help to facilitate change and support women in STEM？ All the things I try to implement are the result of listening to women—who sacrificed their spare time to educate me—and taking their advice. Thus， maybe the single best， most actionable thing is this: step back， shut up， give women space， and listen to them.
What can this look like on a more concrete level？ Ask yourself about your own environments:
is it men， including me， who are taking up all the airtime at meetings？ Chances are that this is the case， as women are interrupted more often than men and speak significantly less at professional meetings. So take a break and let others speak.
This becomes even more important in the context of organizing conferences， events or communities at large， as representation matters. Achieving a 50:50 gender split at conferences is still not a given. Try to consult speaker databases that relate to your topic of interest.
Furthermore， look at who is participating not only at your co-organized conferences， but also at your communities at large， be it a research project or a lab you are running. Do you end up having a homogenous， male participant base？
If you are not the one setting the official rules for the communities you are involved with，you can still play your part in supporting women in STEM. Ask the organizers about their gender balance amongst the presenters and decline the invitation if it is a manel. Be explicit about your reason for declining and ideally even offer them a list of women they should ask to present.
You can similarly push conference organizers and project leaders to adopt a code of conduct if they haven't done so already. And lastly， there is an opportunity for you to speak instead of listen:it is important that unacceptable behaviour should be called out by everyone， not only the targets of it， especially as men face fewer negative consequences than women for doing so. So， step in when you observe inappropriate behaviour as well as sexist jokes and assumptions. Don't be quiet in these situations， but speak out and offer support.
This is by no means a complete list of things that men can and need to do to support women， inside and outside STEM. It does not magically solve all structural biases inherent in the current STEM environment. But I believe it makes for a good start for improving oneself， including me: take some steps back， listen to women who have all the unwanted experience in how STEM fails them， and learn how you can make a difference. Only then can you help the world of STEM to become a better place for all.
聯合國教科文組織統計研究所估計：全球僅有約30%的研究人員為女性。類似地，據美國商務部經濟統計局統計，科學、技術、工程和數學（STEM）崗位僅24%由女性佔據，像工程這類學科的性別偏見還要嚴重得多。還有大量文獻反映STEM領域對女性的偏見，影響著學術界的方方面面，包括錄用、發表論文、論文引用次數以及教學。
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