Research Report: Women Still Disadvantaged in STEM Enrollment
Peer-reviewed research continues to provide us with lots of information about gender gaps in education – from classroom practices to the ways in which individuals select majors and career pathways. Research also has the capacity to provide new perspectives on things we already know (or think we know). This week, Lauren breaks down a new article in the American Educational Research Journal about gender gaps in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) which finds that girls who qualify for university-level STEM programs tend to opt for other pathways.
How was this study set up?
A team of Australian researchers used a large dataset (more than 10,000 respondents) to test the notion that women, seeing themselves as underrepresented in STEM fields, elect alternate college and career pathways. This study makes at least one unique contribution to the field when it comes to understanding why women leave STEM: it adds into the equation a host of psychological and engagement variables. The authors suggest the absence of those variables in prior research, “is concerning given that expectancy-value theory (EVT) and related research provides a strong theoretical basis to suggest that motivational processes such as interest and enjoyment of STEM subjects, and positive self-beliefs in STEM, are likely to be integral in the decisions of young women to study STEM” (p. 3). Specifically, the research team includes as a predictor Expectancy Value Theory, which “explains gendered educational choices as a result of gender differences in students’ expectancies for success and their valuing of STEM.” What does that mean? It means that students’ expectancies for success values associated with academic success are often learned and shaped in classrooms which, in turn, inform college and career choices.
What did this study find?
Girls are more likely than boys to enroll in life sciences rather than physical sciences.
Girls’ higher verbal achievement detracts from their positive beliefs about math achievement, regardless of their math achievement scores.
Young men and women rate equally the same seven reasons for discontinuing university STEM studies and the rank order of those reasons is the same.
Two thirds of the gender gap between boys and girls remains even when achievement and expectancy values have been accounted for.
Boys report wanting to study STEM because of the possibility of financial gain while girls report wanting to study STEM because of a concern for society or for the environment.
Young women independently reported gender as a barrier to entry into and success in STEM fields
The authors suggest that, while gender does not appear to be a causal factor in students’ decisions to study STEM, it appears to be related to sorting mechanisms at the school level as well as to students’ self-concept in salient academic subjects like math and science. Thus, while previous research has suggested that underrepresentation of women in STEM fields has suppressed the flow of women into those fields, this study suggests a set of alternate mechanisms which result in a “leaky pipeline.” Girls are, the study found, more likely to take STEM classes in their senior year of high school than boys who have similar abilities, beliefs, and values. The key here is that those things – abilities, beliefs, and values – vary with gender. The authors posit then that it is not gender which predicts differentiated STEM election by gender, but the cognitive and academic variables associated with gender.
What does this mean for me?
This research shows that the gender gap is perhaps more complex than originally thought. Major differences is the factors that prompt continued engagement with STEM are different based on gender, and those are often learned or solidified in classrooms (most of the study took place with 15-year-olds). Early adolescence, then, is a critical time for young women to have positive experiences in STEM, to receive information about the social and environmental benefits of STEM, and – still – to see themselves represented among STEM professionals.
-Lauren