Category: STEMeducation

By: Drew Britt

In the United States and the rest of the world today, there continues to be a large gender gap in STEM education. Through my research, I found that women are significantly underrepresented in STEM courses, majors, and occupations, and in most cases, the gap continues to grow. While most of the statistics surrounding this gender disparity relate to higher education and STEM careers, the problems that cause this increasing gender gap begin as early as middle school. Beyond that, women also face many challenges in college and in their professional life which cause them to either pursue other college degrees or leave their STEM jobs. These factors include but are not limited to, gender bias, unequal opportunity, wage gap, stereotypes, and hiring malpractices.

Policies other than those that currently exist such as diversity training must be put in place in order to close the gender gap. A possible policy would be to set quotas on the number of women STEM businesses must employ in their company or in a given year. If there are not enough women to fulfill these quotas, it will encourage more women to pursue the STEM field knowing there are opportunities out there for them. Along with these quotas, a policy should be set in place for females to be paid equally to their male counterparts if they are performing the same role in the STEM field.

If we don’t act now, we will face several consequences for having such a large gender gap in STEM education. If we continue to have qualified women drop out of the STEM pipeline or choose other fields because they feel they don’t belong, technology and engineering companies will lack a female perspective on products and in turn, fail to meet the needs of female consumers. In addition, the United States in particular needs as many women in STEM as possible because we must increase the number of students graduating with a STEM degree by 33% to keep up with the demand for professionals in STEM fields (Master et al., 2020).

1. What policies have been put in place so far that have helped close the gender gap in STEM education and careers?
2. How can high schools, universities, and businesses be incentivized to promote and create a welcoming environment for female participation in STEM to expedite the closing of the gender gap?

The gender gap in STEM education is frustrating to me because I have two sisters who are pursuing STEM majors. It is unfair for them to have to face significantly more challenges in their education and career than their male counterparts solely because they are women. Although I am not going into the STEM field, my research has given me new perspectives which will hope me promote female inclusion in my own field of study as I continue through my career.

Throughout my research, I have learned that although there has been an increase in the gender gap in some instances, we as a country and world are still far from where we need to be. The perspectives of women in STEM are extremely important as diversity in the workplace leads to higher production. In addition, qualified and educated women in STEM deserve to be compensated equally to their male counterparts as their contributions also hold extreme value in the field. While it may be easy for those not involved in STEM to see the gender gap in the field, it exists and will only continue to have a negative impact on our daily lives if we do not work to close the gap.

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Sources

Master, Allison, and Andrew N. Meltzoff. (2020). “Cultural Stereotypes and Sense of Belonging Contribute to Gender Gaps in STEM”. International Journal of Gender, Science and Technology 12 (1):152-98.

Moss-Racusin, Corinne A. (2018). “Gender Bias Produces Gender Gaps in STEM Engagement.” Sex Roles 79, no. 11–12 (December 2018): 651–70.

Friedmann, Enav, and Dorit Efrat-Treister. (2022). “Gender Bias in Stem Hiring: Implicit In-Group Gender Favoritism Among Men Managers.” Gender & Society,  089124322211379.

Nadeem, Reem. (2021). “STEM Jobs See Uneven Progress in Increasing Gender, Racial and Ethnic Diversity.” Pew Research Center Science & Society.

Sarah D. Herrmann, Robert Mark Adelman, Jessica E. Bodford, Oliver Graudejus, Morris A. Okun & Virginia S. Y. Kwan. (2016). “The Effects of a Female Role Model on Academic Performance and Persistence of Women in STEM Courses.”  Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 38:5, 258-268.

“83% of women leave their STEM careers: We’re changing that.” (2015).

“The stem gap: Women and girls in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.” (n.d.). AAUW : Empowering Women Since 1881.

Bureau, U. C. (n.d.). “Women are nearly half of u. S. Workforce but only 27% of stem workers.” Census.Gov. González-Pérez, S., Martínez-Martínez, M., Rey-Paredes, V., & Cifre, E. (2022). “I am done with this! Women dropping out of engineering majors.” Frontiers in Psychology, 13.

Blog Post 

by Caroline Post & Katie Soucy

Through our research, we have confirmed that a gender gap does exist in STEM education. Women make up about half of the labor force in the United States, however, they hold less than 25% of STEM jobs (Beede et al., 2011). As you may expect after hearing that statistic, women hold a disproportionately low share of undergraduate STEM degrees (Beede et al., 2011). Even women with an undergraduate STEM degree are less likely than their male counterparts to work in the STEM field (Beede et al., 2011). In recent years, women have surpassed men in the number of bachelor’s degrees earned, however, the number of women holding STEM degrees remains low. This suggests that part of the problem lies in the educational system. Through our research, we have learned that girls shy away from competitive environments (like STEM classes) much more than their male counterparts (Niederle & Vesterlund, 2011).

Based off of our research, we believe policies reducing competition and increasing single-sex classroom opportunities could improve the issues we have described. For example, college STEM courses could give tests with ID numbers instead of a name (to hide gender) on them so that students do not feel they are competing with the other gender when the professor is grading. Also, requiring science and math classes to offer single-sex classroom options at the secondary-level in school could help improve these issues based on some of our research findings.

Without intervention, gender differences in STEM education will continue to exist, causing women to be underrepresented in STEM classes and STEM occupations. As a consequence, inequality in these classes, majors, and fields will persist. Further, certain STEM occupations (doctors, engineers, etc.) are commonly high-paid in comparison to other fields. If women continue to be underrepresented in STEM education and occupations, the current gender wage gap may be perpetuated.

This issue impacts us on a personal level in many different ways. For example, one of us went to an all-girls school, which relates directly to our research. On the other hand, the other went to a private co-education school. Our high-school experiences have impacted both of us in many different ways. One of us did not face sexist challenges in our classes, for example, competing with other males, whereas the other was in a competitive environment with other men in high school.

Through our research, we learned about many factors that alter women in higher roles, more competitive firms, and getting higher pay. Learning about all these factors will help be aware of them in our future careers and within different companies. The research also suggests that we create more outlets for women pursuing STEM-related fields. Our research shows that people aren’t purposefully going out of their way to put women down in related fields; instead, firms need more policies and implications regarding gender differences.

Two research questions of interest based on the patterns/issues observed are:

Teachers and parents frequently undervalue girls’ math skills, resulting in low self-esteem and low personal aspirations. How do we train parents, educators, and society to stop underestimating women? 

If money is an issue, do parents prefer sending their sons to private all boys schools over their daughters because of getting their utility back? What child would they / do they prioritize?

Infographic

Sources

Beede, D. N., Julian, T. A., Langdon, D., McKittrick, G., Khan, B., & Doms, M. E. (2011). Women in STEM: A gender gap to innovation. Economics and Statistics Administration Issue Brief, (04-11).

Booth, A. L., Cardona-Sosa, L., & Nolen, P. (2018). Do single-sex classes affect academic achievement? An experiment in a coeducational university. Journal of Public Economics, 168, 109-126.

Koniewski, M., & Hawrot, A. (2021). Are single-sex schools more effective than the coed ones? The effect of single-sex schooling on achievement among female adolescents in Catholic schools. Research Papers in Education, 1-22.

Niederle, M., & Vesterlund, L. (2011). Gender and competition. Annual Review of Economics, 3(1), 601-630.

Park, H., Behrman, J. R., & Choi, J. (2018). Do single-sex schools enhance students’ STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) outcomes?. Economics of Education Review, 62, 35-47.

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

By: Ava Boloyan and Isabella LaBonia

In reviewing the previously published literature surrounding Women of Color and their persistence in completing a STEM degree at the undergraduate level, it was found that such women often felt unwelcome and uncomfortable in the classroom setting. These feelings of discomfort were often associated with enrollment in a predominantly white institution (PWI), as such environments had lower percentages of students of color enrolled. Additionally, data, as shown below, highlights that women of color tend to earn the least at the same position as a white man, making completing a STEM degree appear as an insufficient investment for their future. Furthermore, studies found that these women also found it helpful to have a mentor who was also a woman throughout their undergraduate studies. One efficient policy amendment could be to instill early orientation programs for women who are prospective STEM majors entering college. Programs like these could match women with mentors and connect them to other students to create a sense of community on campus. If this topic is ignored in higher education, women of color will continue to lose interest or fail to complete their STEM degrees. However, with such policy amendments implemented, women of color will feel welcomed and connected with their peers and professors, making it more accessible for women to complete their STEM degrees. Throughout the research, two major questions come to find based on the patterns and issues observed within the topic. Our focus is on women of color in their undergraduate education experience, but the first pressing question is whether or not these results differ between specific races. With that as well, it would be interesting to discover how results differ from men of color, white men, and white women. The second question of interest would be how availability and quality of mentorship play a role in results.

These issues don’t impact either of us personally because we have not experienced them in our education as we are not women of color and also not focusing on STEM majors. However, we have seen the impacts it can have on some of our close friends and peers, and the general results mimic what we’ve observed in our institution and others.

Overall, some of the most interesting findings relate to how despite the higher likeliness of women of color in pursuing a STEM major, there’s a higher likeliness of dropping out. It is also evident the differences in the experiences of undergraduate education. This reveals discrepancies and societal barriers that we hope to work towards eliminating in the future.

The bar chart, featuring statistics from the Pew Research Center, highlights the earnings discrepancies between women of color, men of color, and Caucasians in the workplace. Black women tend to make only $57,000 compared to white men earning $90,000 for the same position. This infographic can be tied to the fact that many women of color fail to complete their STEM degree, as it provides lower earnings and may not view attaining a STEM degree as worthwhile.

Works Cited

Espinosa, L. (2011). Pipelines and pathways: Women of color in undergraduate STEM majors and the college experiences that contribute to persistence. Harvard Educational Review, 81(2), 209-241.

Ong, M., Smith, J. M., & Ko, L. T. (2018). Counterspaces for women of color in STEM higher education: Marginal and central spaces for persistence and success. Journal of research in science teaching, 55(2), 206-245.

Nadeem, Reem (2021). “STEM Jobs See Uneven Progress in Increasing Gender, Racial and Ethnic Diversity.” Pew Research Center Science & Society (blog).

Tate, E. D., & Linn, M. C. (2005). How does identity shape the experiences of women of color engineering students?. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 14(5), 483-493.

Johnson, D.R. (2012). Campus Racial Climate Perceptions and Overall Sense of Belonging Among Racially Diverse Women in STEM Majors. Journal of College Student Development 53(2), 336-346. doi:10.1353/csd.2012.0028.

Viveka Borum, & Erica Walker. (2012). What Makes the Difference? Black Women’s Undergraduate and Graduate Experiences in Mathematics. The Journal of Negro Education, 81(4), 366–378. https://doi.org/10.7709/jnegroeducation.81.4.0366