NASA gives $5 million to Women's Colleges to Address Gender Gap in STEM

As part of the Biden/Harris initiative, seven Women's Colleges and Universities (WCUs) will receive more than $5 million in funding from NASA to conduct research and create strategies that increase the retention of women in STEM degree programs and careers.
The Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP) of the organization created the opportunity for women's colleges and universities to help them overcome obstacles and start careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
The primary goals of this award are to close the gender gap that exists in the US and to highlight the diverse experiences that women have in STEM fields, both in higher education and the workforce.
According to a National Center for Education Statistics report, women earn 59% of undergraduate degrees, compared to men's 41%, but only 10% of women's degrees are in STEM fields. This gender gap in education and the workforce is also mentioned in the report.
This is not just limited to education; women make up about 47% of the workforce overall, but only 27% of them work in STEM fields, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Less than one in every twenty women of color who work in STEM fields are engineers or scientists. At NASA, women make up 26% of the scientists and engineers.
While creating these programs, gender, race, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and other identities that might have an impact on students' careers were taken into account. A manual with instructions and other important details has been given to the women's colleges that received the prize money.