Girls and Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics

The Oxford Handbook of Women and the Economy, 2017

Researchers from economics, sociology, psychology, and other disciplines have studied the persistent underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This chapter summarizes this research. It argues that women’s underrepresentation is concentrated in the math-intensive science fields of geosciences, engineering, economics, math/computer science, and physical science. Its analysis concentrates on the environmental factors that influence ability, preferences, and the rewards for those choices. The chapter examines how gendered stereotypes, culture, role models, competition, risk aversion, and interests contribute to the gender STEM gap, starting in childhood, solidifying by middle school, and affecting women and men as they progress through school and higher education and into the labor market. The results are consistent with preferences and psychological explanations for the underrepresentation of women in math-intensive STEM fields.

Researchers from economics, sociology, psychology, and other disciplines have studied the persistent under-representation of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This chapter summarizes this research. We argue that women's under-representation is concentrated in the math-intensive science fields of geosciences, engineering, economics, math/ computer science and physical science. Our analysis concentrates on the environmental factors that influence ability, preferences, and the rewards for those choices. We examine how gendered stereotypes, culture, role models, competition, risk aversion, and interests contribute to gender STEM gap, starting at childhood, solidifying by middle school, and affecting women and men as they progress through school, higher education, and into the labor market. Our results are consistent with preferences and psychological explanations for the under-representation of women in math-intensive STEM fields.

Atlantis Highlights in Social Sciences, Education and Humanities, 2022

Despite recent progress in narrowing gender gap in enrolment in math courses and relative achievements therein, girls and women still remain underrepresented when it comes to formal education in math-intensive academic fields such as engineering, mathematics, technology, and science, often referred to as STEM. Capacity to undertake a job and also the drive to put scientific and mathematical aptitude to use are both included in career paths. Individual variations in cognitive capability and motivation are impacted by a variety of sociocultural variables. The authors have presented six explanations for girl's inadequate representation in math-intensive STEM professions after analysing academic researches carried out in last three decades in domains of education, economics, sociology, and psychology: (a) preconceptions and biases based on gender, (b) field-specific ability beliefs, (c) lifestyle values or work-family balance preferences, (d) professional inclinations or desires, (e) comparative cerebral capabilities, and (f) cognitive aptitude. The study goes on to discuss sociocultural and biological causes for reported gender differences in motivational and cognitive factors, as well as the evolutionary period(s) during which each variable became most important. Authors concludes with evidence and scientific-proof based research, policy and practise suggestions for improving STEM inclusivity, and gives recommendations and directions for forthcoming researches.

Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 2013

Nearly 20 years later, I am once again receiving phone calls and emails from educators, except now it is about the lack of girls in STEM academies. This is despite President Obama's "Educate to Innovate" campaign, which cites as one of its three goals to ". . . expand STEM education and career opportunities for underrepresented groups, including women and girls. "

Gender and Education, 2020

Females have been discouraged from taking science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) classes during high school and college, resulting in limited access to high-paying STEM careers. Therefore, these females could miss opportunities for these high-paying careers. The rationale of this research was to quantify the relationship between the number of STEM classes the sampled females took, the number of female role models they had during high school and college, their career choices, and salaries. The theoretical construct was based on Erikson's social developmental theory, which postulates a relationship between earlier life events and later life events, and Acker's masculinity theory, which postulates that females in traditionally male fields may be uneasy performing functions opposite to what they naturally perform. Key questions examined the relationships between STEM classes, role models, career choices, and salaries. The sample was a stratified random sample (n = 48) of female alumnae of 4 universities, born after 1980. Data were collected from a designed online instrument, validated by a pilot. The data were analyzed with a multiple regression and an analysis of variance. The findings revealed a significant relationship between the number of STEM classes, career choices and salary. However, there was no significance found between the numbers of role models, career choices and salary The implication for social change is that by making scholars in the fields of education and management aware about the relationship between the number of STEM classes taken, career choices, and salaries, females can be more encouraged to become interested in STEM courses earlier in life, making it more likely they will choose STEM careers This can be accomplished through scholarly journals, which hopefully will improve perceptions of the STEM abilities of females.

Polis, 2017

Changes and instability in the pathways that women follow in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in terms of both education and employment have become a major issue of national and international debate. Despite a growing number of women at the university and post-university levels (doctorate research programs, PhDs) in STEM fields, there still appear to be old and new composite inequalities in female trajectories of study that continue in their professional careers. Through an analysis of various data sources regarding women's participation in these fields of study and employment, the paper analyzes if and how phenomena of gender-based polarization in scientific fields are decreasing over time, if women's professional and study paths are being reconfigured and, finally, whether there is a trend toward greater gender equity or if, conversely, expansion processes are accompanied by new polarizations between different STEM fields. Taking into account the differences between STEM disciplines, our empirical analysis reveals a differential expansion that maintains the persistence of inequalities based on both gender and social background.

Frontiers in Psychology, 2019

2018