scholarly journals Strategies for Bridgering Gender Gap in Science, Technology and Mathematics (STM) Education for National Development

Author(s):  
Lydia Markus
2021 ◽  
pp. 073112142110286
Author(s):  
Jennifer Ashlock ◽  
Miodrag Stojnic ◽  
Zeynep Tufekci

Cultural processes can reduce self-selection into math and science fields, but it remains unclear how confidence in computer science develops, where women are currently the least represented in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). Few studies evaluate both computer skills and self-assessments of skill. In this paper, we evaluate gender differences in efficacy across three STEM fields using a data set of middle schoolers, a particularly consequential period for academic pathways. Even though girls and boys do not significantly differ in terms of math grades and have similar levels of computer skill, the gender gap in computer efficacy is twice as large as the gap for math. We offer support for disaggregation of STEM fields, so the unique meaning making around computing can be addressed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (6) ◽  
pp. 881-898 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin McPherson ◽  
Bernadette Park ◽  
Tiffany A. Ito

Self-to-prototype matching is a strategy of mental comparisons between the self-concept and the typical or “representative” member of a group to make some judgment. Such a process might contribute to interest in pursuing a science career and, relatedly, women’s underrepresentation in physical science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (pSTEM) fields. Across four studies, we measured self–scientist discrepancies on communal, agentic, and scientific dimensions, and assessed participants’ interest in a science career. The most consistent predictor of science interest was the discrepancy between self and scientist on the scientific dimension (e.g., intelligent, meticulous). Study 4 established that students with larger self–scientist discrepancies also had less accurate perceptions of students pursuing science, and that inaccuracy was related to lower science interest. Thus, students with lower science interest do not just perceive scientists differently from themselves but also erroneously. Discrepancy and inaccuracy together explained a significant portion of the gender gap in pSTEM interest.


2021 ◽  
pp. 016235322110445
Author(s):  
A. Kadir Bahar

Analyzing the test scores of more than 10,000,000 students who participated in the Advanced Placement (AP) math exams from 1997 to 2019, this study examined the direction and magnitude of the trend in gender disparity by race in participation in and top achievement on AP Calculus AB, Calculus BC, and Statistics exams. The results of this study indicated that, in general, females’ representation in all three AP exams increased significantly. Although the findings indicated that the female-to-male ratios (FMRs) in participation in the AP math exams increased significantly from 1997 to 2019 and favored females for all races, the gender disparities among top achievers for all math exams are still substantial. The relationships between the FMRs in participation and top achievement for all AP math exams were also analyzed within races, and the possible impacts of these findings within the context of the underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields were also discussed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inoka Amarasekara ◽  
Will J Grant

YouTube has become the second most popular web search engine (see Alexa.com ) and the primary website for individuals and organisations to freely distribute video content. Popularity statistics indicate that Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics–related content is of significant interest to YouTube audiences, yet analysis of the 391 most popular science, engineering and mathematics–themed channels reveals a conspicuous absence of female communicators, with the hosts of just 32 of these channels presenting as female. To help understand potential causes of this gap, analysis was conducted on popularity indicators and audience sentiments of 450 videos from 90 Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics–related channels. Female hosted channels were found to accumulate more comments per view, and significantly higher proportions of appearance, hostile, critical/negative and sexist/sexual commentary.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samira Ibrahim Islam

Middle East Region is home to more than 400 million people, representing 5% of world population, and boasts aworkforce of 103 million scattered across 22 countries (Lord, 2016). Sixty five percent of the populations are youngaged 25 or under, which puts growing stress on educational, health and social systems. Over the last decade, mostMiddle East countries put into action many reforms for women’s rights and sensitivity toward gender issues. Currently,almost all Middle East countries have ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination againstWomen (CEDAW). Many nations in the Region shown strong commitment to uplift education and make themaccessible to all eligible women. There was also substantial increase in the allocation of funds for education in nearlyall Middle East nations. For a balanced national development, women are needed in the various areas where theirfunctions are most suitable. In principle, there are equal opportunities for both genders but social perception andprejudice determine which types of employment are particularly suitable for women or men. Several renowned MiddleEastern women are Physicians, Chemist, Physicist, Engineers, Doctors, Judges, Lawyers, Journalist, Poets, Novelistand even Legislatives (Islam, 2017)


Author(s):  
Jessica Sandoval-Palomares ◽  
Heraclio García-Cervantes ◽  
Alan David Blanco-Miranda ◽  
Didia Carillo-Hernández

Science, technology and innovation are elements to respond to the challenges that must be faced, such as, among others, climate change, renewable energies, the nutrition of humanity, health and the administration of resources. Currently, women have a low percentage of representation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics majors, STEM, for its acronym in English; the gender gap persists in the labor issue, where companies are required to allow women to enter leadership positions. The ONU, to respond to this evident disparity, in 2015 establishes an international day to recognize the important role it has in science and technology, which is proclaimed on February 11 as International Day of Women and Girls in the Science. This research analyzes the perception of women who were trained in STEM careers, with the purpose of knowing their perception in six aspects, namely; Perception of their academic training, ability to learn and solve problems in STEM areas, social, educational or family support, academic training, satisfaction in their work and the work environment, gender stereotypes and the analysis of the skills or competencies required.


2020 ◽  
pp. 036168432096512
Author(s):  
Colleen Cowgill ◽  
Leah Halper ◽  
Kimberly Rios ◽  
Phoenix Crane

Interventions designed to increase women’s participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines sometimes emphasize the STEM gender gap. Drawing upon optimal distinctiveness theory, we hypothesized that interventions overtly emphasizing women’s minority status in STEM might lead to less interest in STEM relative to interventions with subtler references to women’s minority status. In Study 1, women who viewed a STEM recruitment presentation drawing direct attention to the STEM gender gap showed lower implicit identification with STEM compared to those who viewed a presentation referencing gender through images alone. In Study 2, women’s greater feelings of unwanted distinctiveness in STEM following a presentation emphasizing the enduring gender gap (relative to one emphasizing the closing gender gap) had a significant indirect effect on their interest in STEM. In Study 3, women who viewed information about the gender distribution of a STEM company expressed less interest in the job when the same information was framed in terms of a continuing gender gap (vs. women’s growing representation), due to reduced feelings of belonging and increased feelings of unwanted distinctiveness. The present findings indicate that those designing STEM interventions targeting women should do so in ways that not only make women feel welcomed into the discipline but also do not place undue emphasis on women’s underrepresentation. Additional online materials for this article are available on PWQ’s website at http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/suppl/10.1177/0361684320965123


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 314-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefanie Gisler ◽  
Anne E. Kato ◽  
Soohyun Lee ◽  
Desmond W. Leung

We wholeheartedly agree with Miner et al. (2018) that industrial and organizational (I-O) psychologists should take a lead in addressing gender inequity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. The focal article is particularly timely in light of the recent controversial “Google memo” (Damore, 2017), in which a senior software engineer endorsed the same individual-level myths regarding the gender gap in STEM that were critiqued by Miner et al. (2018). However, we caution against painting all STEM fields with the same broad brush. We argue that it is critical for I-O psychologists to be aware of important differences between STEM subfields, as these distinctions suggest that a “one-size-fits-all” approach may be inadequate for addressing existing gender disparities in STEM. In order to be maximally effective, interventions may need to emphasize distinct issues and target different points in the career pipeline depending on the specific STEM subfield in question.


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