Staying Power: How Mentorship Supercharges Women's STEM Careers.

“I want to build my confidence and find clarity in where I’m going.”

That line came from one of our STEMAZING mentoring programme applicants and is a common theme we see in our data. It speaks volumes.

Behind every statistic about gender diversity, there’s a real human story and stark reality: getting women into STEM isn’t enough. We must do more to ensure they stay in STEM and thrive.

There are many systemic and systematic changes that must happen to create more inclusive spaces for women in STEM. Numerous organisations have highlighted the challenges that persist, for example, research by Speak Out Revolution to ‘Design Her In’ [1] highlights 10 key areas for STEM employers to focus on and Faye Allen’s book Building Women [2] describes the challenges and examples of lived experiences in the Construction industry including guidance for companies and individuals.

Alongside the much-needed policy and structural change, in our experience there is a simple solution that is often under-estimated but has the power to create transformational change, one human story at a time - and that is mentoring for women in STEM including allies.

But this can only have the impact we need if it’s done at scale, consistently and effectively in a way that benefits both mentees and mentors.

What They’re Really Looking For

Recent studies show that over 70% of Gen Z and millennial professionals actively seek mentorship to support their career growth, confidence, and workplace belonging [3].

Adobe's “Future Workforce Study” [4] reinforces these findings, noting that 83% of Gen-Zers say a mentor is crucial for their career, yet just over half actually have one, underscoring the potential mentorship gap.

We analysed the survey responses from women in STEM who applied to our STEMAZING structured mentoring scheme. Their roles ranged from undergraduates and apprentices to mid-career women already in management positions. While their backgrounds varied, their needs were strikingly aligned.

Common themes around lack of female role models to look up to, or even just to engage with at work with at all, the sense of not belonging, lacking confidence, lacking network, and not knowing where to go next for their career progression.

What our data tells us

Every data point tells a compelling story of why women in STEM are looking for a mentor.

Some shared clear ambition for growth and for a mentor to help them get there. Others were more raw - expressing uncertainty, frustration, or a strong desire to feel less alone.

When we looked closely, four key themes emerged: career direction, confidence building, networking, and skill development.

Career direction came up the most, over 50% of women mentioned it directly. They were navigating big decisions: What happens after the PhD? How do I get promoted? Where is my future in this industry? In male-dominated environments, where senior female role models are rare, these questions can feel overwhelming.

Networking was nearly as common, with 49% responses pointing to it. But this wasn’t just about climbing the ladder. Women spoke of wanting connection and support opportunities, to hear from others who had been through similar challenges and could help them feel seen, understood, and less isolated.

Confidence building was mentioned specifically in almost 40% of the responses. In general, that can sound intangible, but it showed up in specific ways. Women described not wanting to speak up in meetings, feelings of imposter syndrome, seeking reassurance and support to build credibility.

41% of respondents identified skill development as a goal. Often cited were communication, leadership, and personal branding. Not because these women lacked ability, but because they wanted to know how to speak up, set boundaries, and make their presence felt in rooms where they were often the only woman.

These four categories are not isolated issues. Most women brought up more than one in a single application for a mentoring opportunity. Their words painted a picture of intelligent, capable individuals looking for reassurance, tools, and guidance to help them thrive in environments that weren’t built to support them.

Figure 1 - Heatmap of Mentorship Needs

This heatmap visualises how the four main mentoring needs: Career Direction, Networking, Confidence, and Skill Development overlap with each other. Each square shows how many women mentioned both categories at once in their survey responses.

These intersections reveal that most women are not facing isolated challenges. Instead, they’re navigating multiple, interconnected areas of need. Someone might be asking for mentorship in career direction but also struggling with confidence and looking to build professional networks at the same time.

What does mentorship look like in practice?

Mentorship is about empowering the mentee to help themselves, but this can be done in different ways on a full spectrum of indirect to direct support. It is being able to ask powerful questions and really listen. It’s sharing experience and perspective in a way that the mentee can relate to. It’s holding the mirror up and raising self-awareness. It is creating a shared path of deep discovery and development. It’s offering healthy challenge in a safe space. It’s opening doors. It’s connecting, empathising, empowering, inspiring, growing, learning from each other.

Sometimes it’s big: helping someone shift industries, land a new role, or decide between two career paths. But often, it’s the seemingly small things that matter most for individual women.

It might mean encouraging a mentee to speak up in a meeting where they’re the only woman. Helping them rehearse a difficult conversation with a colleague. Validating their decision to challenge a biased comment. Empowering them to see their strengths. Or simply reminding them they belong in the room, even if they’re made to feel otherwise.

These moments of support are more than symbolic, they’re backed by research.A 2023 Harvard Business Review study found that women in technical meetings are twice as likely to be interrupted and 60% more likely to have their ideas ignored, especially when they’re the only woman in the room [5].

Mentorship in these contexts isn’t about “fixing” the mentee, it’s about supporting them to succeed in systems that were not built for them whilst at the same time creating the groundswell of awareness and impetus of the structures and systems that do need fixing.

One of the most important insights from our own survey is that mentorship doesn’t always have to come from someone of the same gender. Many women welcomed the idea of male mentors, so long as those men brought real support, empathy, and advocacy. A good mentor listens without judgement, amplifies when others speak, and shares practical tools - not just encouragement. Involving male allies as mentors gives individual men an insight into the challenges and brings them into the solution in a tangible way that has mutual benefits for them.

This isn’t just anecdotal. A 2022 study in the journal Gender and Education found that structured mentoring programmes significantly increased retention of women in STEM by building a stronger sense of belonging, boosting self-efficacy, and fostering career clarity [6]. The women interviewed in that study repeatedly said that having someone who believed in them, and made time for them was what got them through moments of doubt and disconnection.

Mentors also benefit. Research published in Nature Reviews Psychology (2024) shows that mentors, especially male ones, report improved emotional intelligence, stronger communication skills, and a deeper understanding of the structural inequities that shape STEM careers [7]. Many of them described becoming more inclusive team members, managers, and advocates as a result. This is the power of reverse mentoring, and every mentoring relationship can have an element of reverse mentoring.

That kind of awareness doesn’t just help one mentee. It can reshape how meetings are run, who gets heard, and what voices are valued across whole organisations and industries.

Mentorship isn’t a soft skill; it’s a lever for change.

The Business Case for Mentoring

Mentorship isn’t just a nice thing to offer. It’s a strategic investment with measurable impact.

Companies that embrace mentoring see better retention, faster promotion, and stronger talent pipelines. According to the World Economic Forum and Art of Mentoring, structured mentoring programmes increase retention and promotion rates among women and minority employees by 15–38% [8][9].

And it’s not just about HR metrics. Teams with gender-diverse leadership consistently outperform others. Studies by McKinsey and Deloitte have shown that organisations with diverse leadership are more profitable, make better decisions, and are more innovative. Inclusive workplaces are also more resilient and more attractive to the next generation of employees [10][11].

Mentorship plays a direct role in building those teams. It helps women not just survive but thrive and rise. And it helps companies future-proof their workforce by creating environments where everyone has a chance to succeed.

A Shared Solution

At STEMAZING, we believe real change comes from equipping mentors with the tools and confidence to make a lasting impact. Open to all genders, our STEMAZING Mentor Training programme is designed for anyone who wants to level up their skills and become a truly effective mentor for women in STEM.

The training is fully flexible delivered through bite-size, on-demand videos that fit around busy schedules. Participants gain practical tools to enrich their mentoring conversations, from building trust and setting goals to navigating difficult discussions. Monthly Mentor Circles offer peer support and space for reflection, helping mentors grow in confidence, empathy, and effectiveness.

Whether you’re new to mentoring or looking to deepen your approach, STEMAZING provides a unique programme to help you level-up as a mentor and be the change we need to see.

Visit www.stemazing.co.uk/mentoring for more information and to apply as a mentor or mentee.

Written by:

Delia Stemate (STEMAZING Intern)

Jesha Soni (STEMAZING Data Manager)

Alex Knight (STEMAZING CEO)

References

1. Speak Out Revolution, Design Her In Campaign

2. Building Women by Faye Allen

3. Deloitte. 2025 Gen Z and Millennial Survey.

4. Adobe Future Workforce Study

5. ‘Why Women in Tech Still Get Interrupted’, Harvard Business Review, Johnson, C. and Kark

6. ‘Mentorship and Belonging in STEM: A Qualitative Study of Early-Career Women’, Gender and Education, Brewster, L., Ortiz, N. and Simmons, L

7. The impact of cross-gender mentoring on empathy and inclusive leadership in STEM Nature Reviews Psychology, Martinez, L., Reardon, J. and Singh, M

8. Art of Mentoring (2023) How Mentoring Impacts Diversity and Inclusion

9. World Economic Forum (2022) Why Mentoring Can Be the Key to Gender Equality in the Workplace.

10. Diversity and Inclusion Report. Deloitte.

11. Diversity Matters Even More. McKinsey & Company