By Amna Zeb and Pedro Mateo
Women from low-income and marginalized groups are less likely to pursue STEM than their higher-income male and female counterparts (Mau, 2018, p. 247). The lack of STEM extracurriculars in high school causes a widespread disinterest in female pursuit of further education and careers in corresponding fields. On the other hand, male students were generally unaffected by the absence of STEM co-curriculars (Miller, 2018, p. 3). A noticed trend among several sources is the tendency of women to express an interest in STEM when they visually observe the presence of female mentors such as teachers and professors (Stearns, 2015, p. 18). This trend extends beyond an academic setting to the workforce, with women tending to choose career paths with higher concentrations of female peers and mentors over male-dominated ones (Perez-Felkner, 2014, p. 11).
In order to minimize the gender gap, increasing the visibility of female mentors such as professors and creating women-centered college support groups is essential to facilitating higher levels of self-confidence among STEM students. As a result of providing a variety of academic and social support systems, the STEM gender gap would decrease as women would be more empowered to enter male-dominated fields (Stearns, 2015, p. 18). Additionally, increasing the availability of STEM extracurriculars at academic institutions would further reduce the gender gap. Since participation in STEM competitions and a female student’s pursuit of a complementary field are positively correlated, encouraging engagement in such co-curriculars would provide students with substantial opportunities of resonating with STEM outside of the classroom (Miller, 2018, p.1).
Since student interest in STEM is heavily influenced by academic opportunities, having an appropriate range of available courses in high school and college would facilitate a greater output of STEM majors into the job market. Additionally, the continued lack of mentorship resources within academic institutions would cause the current gender gap in STEM to increase. Since men alone cannot fulfill the demand for STEM professionals, without policy intervention, the STEM gender gap will continue to widen and eventually lead to the U.S. comparatively falling behind in producing innovations on a global scale.
While the majority of the available research is centered around co-ed schools, it would be interesting to see if women attending all-girls institutions gravitate towards STEM fields at higher rates. Additionally, the correlation between the retention rate of a student’s STEM interest and the impact of support groups such as parents, teachers, or mentors is an important factor that needs to be researched further.
In our college STEM courses, we noticed a gender disparity between the number of female and male peers and therefore had very different experiences. As a male student, I (Pedro) felt more comfortable in my Economics courses and more connected to the composition of more males in my class. Alternatively, as a woman in STEM, I (Amna) have often felt alienated by the lack of female peers and professors.
From this research, we gained insights into some of the determining factors behind the persistence of the gender gap in STEM fields. One of the most important trends we learned about was the impact mentors and parents have on a woman’s gravitation toward a potential career in STEM (Hall, 2011, p. 9). After this project, our worldview shifted because we realized how lasting the consequences of the gender gap can be and how deep-rooted these issues are in society.
Works Cited
Hall, C., Dickerson, J., Batts, D., Kauffmann, P., & Bosse, M. (2011). Are We Missing Opportunities to Encourage Interest in STEM Fields?. Journal of Technology Education, 23(1), 32-46.
Mau, W.-C. J., & Li, J. (2018). Factors influencing stem career aspirations of underrepresented high school students. The Career Development Quarterly, 66(3), 246–258. https://doi.org/10.1002/cdq.12146
Miller, K., Sonnert, G., & Sadler, P. (2018). The influence of students’ participation in STEM competitions on their interest in STEM careers. International Journal of Science Education, Part B, 8(2), 95-114.
Perez-Felkner, L., McDonald, S.-K., & Schneider, B. L. (2014). What happens to high-achieving females after high school? Gender and persistence on the postsecondary STEM pipeline. Academia, 1(1), 1-49. https://www.academia.edu/568702/What_Happens_to_High_Achieving_Females_after_High_School_Gender_and_Persistence_on_the_Postsecondary_STEM_Pipeline?auto=citations&from=cover_page
Robinson, M. (2003). Student enrollment in High School ap Sciences and Calculus: How does it correlate with stem careers? Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, 23(4), 265–273. https://doi.org/10.1177/0270467603256090
Stearns, E., & Bottia, M.C., & Mickelson R.A., & Moller, S., & Valentino, L. (2015). Growing the roots of STEM majors: Female math and science high school faculty and the participation of students in STEM. Economics of Education Review, 45(1), 14-27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2015.01.002