Asian Americans in STEM: Perceptions vs. Realities

As part of the Asian Connections Affinity Group's spotlight month, Hang Loi explores the perils of harmful stereotypes on AAPI and suggests ways to move forward to unleash this community’s potentials.
Asian Connections Affinity Group
[social_warfare]

Perception is powerful and can be harmful when it is incorrect.

In the United States, Asian Americans are often labeled the “model minority,” a myth that characterizes their perceived collective success. This concept has been used divisively since the end of WWII to minimize the role of racism in the struggles of Black Americans and other minority groups. Despite a rich history of contribution as vital builders of the U.S., including the thousands of Chinese workers who constructed the transcontinental railroads in the 1860s and the segregated Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team whose bravery distinguished them as the most decorated in the history of the U.S. military, Asian Americans are still perceived as not-from-here, the “perpetual foreigners.” At a population of 24 million with ancestral roots from at least 20 countries, Asian Americans are also far from the common monolith depiction, representing both the most economically affluent and the most impoverished. Asian Americans are increasingly significant drivers to the country’s economy as consumers and job creators, staving off labor shortages in not just technology and professional arenas, but also in food services, health care, agriculture, and the arts.

The misperceptions associated with Asian Americans create harmful stereotypes that make the diverse experiences of this community invisible, present barriers to opportunities, and mask the need for actions to unlock this group’s potential. Though well-represented on college campuses and at the entry level, Asian Americans face the longest odds of advancement in the workplace as the least likely group to be promoted to management. Asian American women face the double challenges of gender and racial biases.

Our collective challenge is to learn more about this incredibly diverse group of Americans, who are the nation’s fastest-growing demographic, and find ways to address the different disparities faced by the community. What a win for everyone when this potential is unleashed!

Asian Americans in the Workplace

Let us look at the high-level data that feeds this stereotype. An April 2021 Pew Research report shows that 54% of Asian Americans ages 25 and older hold at least a bachelor’s degree, well above the U.S. average of 33%. At 7% of the U.S. population, Asian Americans account for 11% of undergraduate and graduate STEM degrees, while also comprising 13% of the STEM workforce. In aggregate, Asian men working in STEM are more highly paid (127%) than their counterparts who are white (100%), Hispanic (83%), and Black (78%). The gender pay gap among STEM workers holds true for Asian women, who are compensated $0.86 for each dollar Asian men are paid.

On the surface, Asian Americans in STEM seem to face few challenges in the workplace. However, these top-line data points do not tell the whole story.

Defining Asian Americans … Not So Simple

The model minority myth boxes in Asian Americans with adjectives such as “smart,” “quiet,” and “self-sufficient,” as found by a 2021 poll. These assumptions might bode well when pursuing high-demand entry positions that fit within the stereotype of Asians making good tech workers, but they also limit the freedom for Asian Americans to pivot careers or grow into roles that require more leadership responsibilities. This generalization freezes one’s thinking and ignores the vastly diverse experiences of Asian Americans.

According to the most recent U.S. Census data:

  • Asian Americans have ancestral origins from at least 20 different countries. The top five are Chinese (excluding Taiwanese), Asian Indian, Filipino, Vietnamese, and Korean.
  • The chart below from a 2021 McKinsey article further presents Asian Americans in three geographic subgroups: 35% East Asians, 35% Southeast Asians, and 27% South Asians. With immigration policies continuously shifting, the current composition is far more diverse than it was 30 years ago.
  • Many Southeast Asians (Vietnamese, Hmong, Laotian, and Cambodian) arrived in the 1970s-1990s as refugees. This contrasts with immigrants from South and East Asia who typically came to pursue professional degrees and work under H1B visas.
  • Though many of the 22 million Asian Americans are U.S. born, some as part of multi-generations who arrived decades or even centuries earlier, the majority at 57% is foreign-born. This fact, against the 14% immigrants overall, explains the 105% population growth between 2000 and 2022 and makes Asian Americans the fastest growing demographic.
  • The population growth of Asian Americans is an increasingly significant driver to the country’s economy, staving off labor shortages in all sectors including food services, health care, technology, and agriculture.

Asian Americans in STEM: Perceptions vs. Realities

Though many are aware that Asian Americans are overrepresented in technical fields, there is a lack of knowledge about overrepresentation in low-paying or service-oriented occupations such as manicurists, cooks, and health care. Hence, this community has the distinction of having the widest income disparity; its members are both the most affluent and the most impoverished. This fact is hidden when data is aggregated into one monolithic group called Asian Americans. Several Asian subgroups do not fit the model minority mold. In fact, Southeast Asians’ underrepresentation in STEM is exemplified in these findings:

  • Filipino students are nearly 60% less likely to major in STEM fields than other Asian American students.
  • Female Asian American students were 46% less likely to major in STEM than their male counterparts.
  • Vietnamese and Thai students were more likely to choose a STEM major when enrolled in a two-year college, and those odds dramatically decreased when they enrolled in a four-year school.
  • Compared to other Asian American students, Filipino, Vietnamese, and Thai students scored lower on average in 12th grade math courses, an achievement that is linked to pursuit of STEM majors.
  • Chinese, Indian, and Sri Lankan students were the most likely to enroll in highly selective universities and choose STEM majors, a trajectory that is correlated to those whose parents had attained graduate degrees. At 70%, this rate is double the percentage of Vietnamese and Thai students whose parents received graduate degrees.

Being grouped as Asians and overrepresented in STEM according to standards set by the National Institute of Health, Southeast Asians are also denied recognition and miss out on fellowships, grant funding, and educational opportunities afforded to underrepresented groups. One example is Kao Lee Yang, a Hmong American working toward a doctorate in Alzheimer’s research, who found she was not eligible for the Gilliam Fellowship that her university (Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison) had nominated her for because she did not qualify as underrepresented — even though she had never met another Hmong American scientist.

Asian Americans in STEM: Perceptions vs. Realities

A report from the Center of American Progress found that the gender wage gap varies widely by race and that women of color suffer the most, with the greatest seen in the subpopulations of the Asian American Pacific Islander communities. The higher wages for Taiwanese, Indian, and Malaysian women are attributed to their employment in STEM occupations and holding higher education degrees beyond bachelors.

The Perpetual Foreigner

In the U.S., many individuals with an Asian-presenting appearance have been asked at one time or another “Where are you really from?” It is a reflexive follow-up question with the word “really” added, and it telegraphs the bias that no matter their history, it is assumed that Asians and Asian Americans are visitors who do not belong here. This misperception can limit inclusion into work groups and exclusion to opportunities, not dissimilar to the experience of women in the workplace even when they are well-represented at the entry level. The lack of support contributes to feelings of isolation, unfair lack of recognition for their contributions, and mental health degradation. Adding to these challenges are deeply rooted culture values that may be at odds with misplaced expectations at work. Asian Americans, particularly East and Southeast Asians, perceive lower inclusion than their White peers.

Success Limited is Potential Limited

In U.S. STEM occupations, the median pay for Asian men is 127% that of White men, and Asian women are paid 133% compared to white women. However, this top-line view does not recognize that Asian Americans often hold higher levels of education beyond bachelor’s degrees and thus command higher pay. When adjusted for educational attainment, Asian Americans in high-wage fields (those with a median wage above $100,000 a year) make just $0.93 for every dollar earned by their white colleagues. The earnings gap is correlated with Asian Americans’ underrepresentation at higher-paying manager levels, despite more education and higher representation at entry into the workplace. This persistent inequity was discussed in Harvard Business Review’s article “Asian Americans Are the Least Likely Group in the U.S. to Be Promoted to Management.” It was pulled from a study by the Ascend Foundation, “The Illusion of Asian Success,” that also found that Asian American women have a statistically less chance to advance in the workplace than Black and Hispanic women. This group faces the double whammy of the glass ceiling and the “bamboo ceiling,” a concept discussed by Jane Hyun in “Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling.” The bias from being stereotyped as the model minority means Asian Americans are seen as good workers yet not good leaders, thus locking out opportunities for upward mobility and limiting this group’s potential. Think of women being highly represented in education, but far fewer hold leadership roles as department chairs, deans, and university presidents. Think also of Black athletes in professional sports (e.g., football, basketball), but far fewer are coaches, managers, and team owners. The inequities of Asian Americans advancement in the workplace pervade multiple industries and cross both private and government sectors.

  • Asian American scientists were funded at the lowest rate per submission by the National Science Foundation and were less likely than white or Hispanic researchers to receive the prestigious NIH R01 awards.
  • Asian-descent Americans comprise 21% of biomedical faculty but just 7% of biomedicine’s most prestigious research prizes. 90% of awardees are white. – University of California, San Francisco study by physiologist Yuh Nung Jan.
  • Asian American doctors, overrepresented in medicine, are left out of leadership. – Statnews, July 2023, from analyses by Charles Day, orthopedic surgeon at Henry Ford Health System.
    • Asian Americans make up 13% of orthopedic faculty at U.S. medical schools but hold just 5% of chairs.
    • Asian American physicians held more than 20% of faculty positions but less than 11% of chairs.
    • The accounting of medical school deans combines Asian American doctors and white doctors as one group called “non-underrepresented,” so it wrongly projects that Asian American doctors hold many dean positions. Astoundingly, between 1997 to 2008 there were no Asian American deans in U.S. medical schools.
    • In its 176-year history, the American Medical Association has had only one president with Asian ancestry.
  • Asian Americans are well-represented in law — they comprise more than 10% of the graduates of the top 30 law schools — yet “have the highest attrition rates and lowest ratio of partners to associates among all [racial] groups.” – 2017 study coauthored by Goodwin Liu, associate justice of the California Supreme Court. Published by the Yale Law School and the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association.
  • Goldman Sachs reported that 25% of its U.S. professional workforce was Asian American, but only 15% of its U.S. executives and senior managers, and none of its executive officers. – Goldman Sachs 2021 diversity report.
  • While over 20% of the associates in many of the larger accounting firms were Asian American, very few were being promoted to the partner level. – Ascend Foundation.
  • Advancement in the federal professional workforce is similar to private industries. The 9.8% participation of Asian Americans saw only 4.4% at the highest federal level.
  • Asian Americans account for 9% of senior vice presidents but just 5% of promotions from senior vice president to the C-suite. Asian American women make up less than 1% of these promotions. – McKinsey’s Women in the Workplace 2021 survey of more than 400 large organizations across the United States.

Asian Americans in STEM: Perceptions vs. Realities

Closing the Gap

The narratives of Asian Americans are complex and not well understood, both outside the communities and within. It is confusing to be both overrepresented and underrepresented. Asians often are reluctant to raise the issues of underrepresentation and advancement when the needs of other groups to even gain entry (such as into STEM) are much more dire and urgent. The model minority myth, as well as the recent Supreme Court overruling the use of race in college admissions, can have a divisive effect, pitting Asian Americans against Black and Hispanic Americans. Even so, inequities and bias due to preconceived notions about gender, race, or identity hurt everyone and limit society’s progress. Asian Americans believe we can work together to support all underrepresented groups while simultaneously investing in removing inequities and unfair systemic barriers. It is only then that collective success can be realized. These are some things we can all advocate for:

  • Disaggregate the data – Better insights into the Asian American diaspora enrich the narrative, help define the challenges, and enable more effective solutions.
  • Share the data – Asian American challenges are invisible to those outside and within the community, let alone leaders and policymakers. Talking about the issues creates bridges to understanding and pathways to address advancement and equitable opportunities.
  • Teach Asian American history in school – Asian Americans have been in the U.S. for 200 years and contributed to building this great nation. Broadened and deepened narratives will tear down the perpetual foreigner misperception.
  • Include Asians and Asian Americans in diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging strategies in the workplace – The inequities faced by Asian Americans are diverse and similar to other underrepresented groups. On one hand, access to education and health care are needed to elevate some subgroups and encourage STEM careers. On the other hand, the difficulties to advancement due to the proverbial “glass ceiling” along with the “bamboo ceiling and walls” are common to challenges that women face.
  • Sponsor Asian Americans at workUnleashing potential requires helping hands. Leveraging this motivated talent pool benefits everyone, especially in STEM fields where demand for innovation, ingenuity, and leadership is higher than ever.
  • Support Asian Americans in life – The model minority that does not need help is a myth. Everyone needs support, especially those most reluctant to take it.

Additional Resources

You can subscribe to the Asian Connections Affinity Group’s email updates by logging into your member portal and scrolling to Communication Preferences. They also have a Linktree with links to all of their social media accounts.

Author

  • Hang Loi

    Hang Loi (she/her) completed a 34-year career with 3M Company where she was a senior technical leader and DEI champion who chaired the company’s Employee Resource Group for Asian heritage employees. A child refugee from Vietnam, she is a proud Asian American and lifelong learner who continuously strives to expand her global citizenship perspective. She is an engaged advocate for gender equity, STEM/STEAM education, and diverse/equitable/inclusive representation in the workplace. Hang holds dual degrees in Chemical Engineering and Music from Case Western Reserve University and is on the Board of Directors for the Case Alumni Foundation.

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