Notes on Being a Black Woman in STEM: A Review of Existing Research Concerning the Experiences of Black Women Pursuing Undergraduate STEM Degrees

This chapter focuses on the experiences of Black undergraduate women, with an emphasis on factors that hinder and help to promote their successful progression to STEM degrees. In doing so, the chapter explores existing research concerning how their experiences may be shaped by their gender and race, as well as the combination thereof. The chapter begins with some important contextual information to frame the discussion of literature that follows. This entails defining STEM as a concept, as well as a discussion of the national STEM policy agenda. The second section of the chapter provides a thematic review of current higher education literature concerning Black women’s experiences in STEM, detailing frameworks that are common in the literature and covering issues such as the complexities of race-gendered stereotypes in STEM, along with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Black women’s STEM experiences. The third section of the chapter proposes a conceptual framework that combines the literature concerning Black women’s challenges pursuing STEM degrees and their sources of support to better understand how both can ultimately impact their STEM success. The chapter closes by highlighting important limitations in existing research and offering suggestions for future work.