The gender gap in academic and corporate positions in STEM fields is the topic of the first Brown Bag Lunch Lecture of the fall semester sponsored by Women in STEM.

The talk by Rajini Rao, professor of physiology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, will take place from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sept. 14 in the Honors College, 107 Capen Hall, North Campus.

It is free and open to the public.

Although women outnumber men in receiving undergraduate degrees — and there is near parity at the doctoral level — these numbers decline dramatically as women pursue academic or corporate positions in science, technology, engineering and math fields.

While women represent 49 percent of those obtaining doctorates, they fill only 39 percent of postdoctoral positions and 32 percent of full-time faculty positions in STEM fields, according to figures from the National Science Foundation.

And of these full-time faculty members, only 12 percent are promoted to full professor and a mere 6 percent are members of the prestigious National Academy of Science.

In ther talk, Rao will discuss many of the issues underlying these statistics, including structural problems in academic hiring and the role of stereotype threat and unconscious bias.

She also will outline steps that institutions can take to promote gender equity, diversity and inclusion in STEM fields, and discuss how to change the culture and climate of sexism in society, how professional organizations can help and how men can be allies.