Gender, STEM & Career Interests
Girls achieve comparable or even superior academic credentials in math and science compared to boys during their formative years. Yet despite great advances in some areas of science such as biology, the gender gap remains significant in many occupations in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math. Research reliably finds that prior academic achievement explains little of the gender gap in STEM majors. This suggests that innovative educational programs, although often effective in changing enrollment and performance in science and math courses, have not been broadly effective in altering girls’ and women’s career choices. Our team is interested in exploring and understanding factors that impact an individual’s pursuit of STEM careers.
Factors We Examine
In our work we examine a number of factors that might account for why educational programs haven’t been more effective in altering girls’ and women’s career choices. Here are a few:
• Social-contextual influences such as classroom and school environment
• Culturally shared explicit gender stereotypes
• Implicitly held career gender stereotypes and identities
• Personal attributes, such as perceived abilities and self-efficacy for math and science
• Life goals, especially those related to work, marriage, and family
In addition, we focus on how these influences are affected by the interests and needs of girls and women at different time points in schooling.