As of 2023, the total number of Nobel Prizes granted in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields was roughly 622 and of those, only 26 have been awarded to women. STEM fields have historically excluded women at all levels with increasing impact at the higher levels of the career ladder (NSF, 2010). To address the stark gender gap in many organizational spaces including STEM, organizations have turned to diversity training with undetermined effectiveness (Devine & Ash, 2022). Through this qualitative study, and taking a positive organizational scholarship perspective, we investigate allyship behaviors that lead to women’s belonging in STEM spaces using a job crafting and appreciative inquiry framework to guide our questions. Through our analysis and findings, we uncovered the impact that leaders had on women’s experiences of belonging, the specific ways that connecting with others led to women’s experiences of belonging, and the specific behaviors that led to women’s experiences of authentic belonging. Through this study, we answer the call for a more behavior-based, long-term intervention focus of inclusion that can serve to facilitate women’s authentic belonging in STEM fields. Keywords: gender, STEM, qualitative, inclusion, belonging, job crafting
