CNN Business: The secret to closing the nation’s skills gap

Siemens USA CEO Barbara Humpton writes about how moms could close the STEM gap. Several Siemens Technical Scholars, honored through a Aspen-Siemens partnership, are mothers finding success in middle-skills programs.

To find more programmers, scientists and engineers, we don't have to wait for the future generation of workers to come of age. The women raising them could be the best candidates. For years, Americans have been talking about the growing skills gap: 7 million science, technology, engineering and math jobs are predicted to open by 2028, according to the labor market analysis firm EMSI, and employers fear there won't be enough skilled workers to fill them. Americans have been talking, too, about how closing the gender gap is crucial to solving this problem. While women constitute nearly half the US workforce, they hold just 29% of STEM jobs.