Based on a recent poll I ran in my online community for women in STEM, the number 1 reason women leave their STEM careers is:
The culmination of subtle stressors due to being a minority.
For most women, it's not one big negative encounter that causes them to leave their industry. It's the small but constant biases that they face each day.
These biases might be as small as:
not being invited to the regular morning coffee run,
unintentionally being excluded from conversations that she can't relate to,
being asked to be the scribe at meetings (instead of taking part in discussion) because her handwriting is neater,
adopting different behaviours to fit in.
Some of these things can seem so small that women dismiss their own negative feelings towards these situations. They certainly wouldn't want to make a big deal out of them either.
The problem is that these small behaviours are the ones causing women to leave. If leaders and managers don't acknowledge them, they are turning a blind eye to gender inequality. If women don't speak freely with other women about these challenges, they help to proliferate the cultural problem.
What do the leaders in your workplace do to encourage inclusive behaviours?