Women in STEM - Part 2

Author: Arlene Vinion Dubiel

In last week’s blog, we shared some facts and figures demonstrating the need for more STEM graduates to meet workforce demands in the next decade. Closing the gender gap can meet this demand. But why do we have a gender gap in the first place? In this blog, we will identify factors that contribute to the gender gap, and factors that do not. 

Math aptitude

Traditionally, it has been said that boys are better at math than girls and that this is one reason that girls do not pursue STEM careers. Are males better at math than females? To answer this question, let’s look at testing data. 

The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is given to 15-year-old students in 64 countries around the world every three years. It measures math, reading, and science literacy. Data from 2012 reveals that females scored on average, about 2% lower than boys in math. Similar results were shown in 2018 data with boys scoring, on average, 5 points higher than girls. The difference in math scores by gender varies around the world with females in 14 countries having higher scores, on average, than males.

“It is not that girls perform poorly in math, rather they are much better at reading.”

Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) assesses fourth and eighth grade students around the world every four years. Fourth grade boys scored significantly higher than girls on the math portion of the test in 2015 demonstrating that the difference in math scores starts in grade school. However, this trend again varies by country with girls scoring significantly higher than boys in some countries.  

Looking closer to home, data from the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) taken in 2019 has recently been released. This assessment is given to 4th, 8th, and 12th graders around the United States every 2 years. Notice in Table 1 that females scored lower than males by a difference of 3 points in 12th and 4th grades. There was no difference in mathematics scores for 8th grade students by gender. 

Taking all this data into account, we can say that males do, sometimes, score slightly better than females on mathematics assessments, in some countries around the world. In other words, the data does not support the traditional view that there is some natural or biological math ability that causes boys to be better at math than girls. Indeed, there is little to no difference between genders. Rather, math tests scores appear to be influenced by local, cultural factors. 

There is a larger story that comes to light when we look at testing data by gender. Notice the reading scores from the 2019 NAEP in Table 1. Females consistently score higher than males and the gap in scores increases as students progress through school. Data from 2012 PISA shows a similar trend where females around the world outperform males in reading by over 30% of a standard deviation. So, while boys may sometimes outperform girls in math, girls outperform boys in reading by a much larger margin! According to a recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), girls’ advantage in reading, rather than a deficit in math, can explain the gender gap in STEM occupations. It is not that girls perform poorly in math, rather they are much better at reading. 

Confidence in math ability

Traditionally we hear that girls lack confidence in their math ability and this could contribute to the STEM gender gap. Research supports this idea with women self-assessing their math ability less positively than men. The question then becomes whether this relationship between self-confidence in math ability and STEM career is correlative or causative. 

Men think of themselves as “math people” more so than women. This is likely due to the relative differences in math and reading test scores between genders as suggested by the PNAS study by Breda and Napp. Men tend to score higher on math tests than on reading tests. Women who score well on math tests are likely to score just as well on a reading test. Therefore, she will most likely not think of herself as a “math person” since she is better at reading. So perhaps it is not lack of confidence in math skill, but rather being better at something other than math. 

To explore this concept further, Weeden, Gelbgiser, and Morgan followed over 300 students from sophomore year of high school in 2004 through early careers in 2012. They looked at possible reasons for why the women in the study went into STEM careers. They found that self-assessed math ability in high school had little effect on whether a woman then studied STEM majors in college and pursued a STEM career. (Summary of study and statements from Kim Weeden found here.) In short, the data does not support a causative relationship between self-confidence in math ability and whether or not a woman pursues a STEM career. 

STEM career perceptions

Another prevailing idea for why women do not pursue STEM careers is the perception that these kinds of careers emphasize work over family. Anecdotally, there is some truth to this, but one wonders if it is any different from any other professional occupation. The Weeden, Gelbgiser, and Morgan study purposely measured the value of family over work and found little difference between men and women in their work-family orientation. Furthermore, there was little effect on whether or not a woman chose a STEM career based upon her work-family orientation. However, we cannot deny that the “culture of overwork” often found in STEM workplaces could be one factor contributing to women leaving these careers. (See the AAUW publication “Solving the Equation”)

Given the evidence above, we know that there is no biological difference between men and women when it comes to the ability to be successful in STEM careers. For further proof, look at the many women who have clearly succeeded in math and computer science fields like Ada Lovelace, Grace Hopper, and Maryam Mirzakhani. We also know that factors like confidence in math ability and family-work orientation do not play a significant role. So what does contribute to women choosing to study STEM and engage in STEM careers? According to Kim Weeden and colleagues, it is the occupational plans that girls have in high school. If a girl sees herself having a STEM career while in high school, she will most likely have a STEM career after college. In short, “to reduce gender differences in STEM major persistence and completion...we need to entice more women to plan to enter science-related occupations.”

This is where we, as teachers, can affect whether women pursue careers in STEM. We can help students see that science and math can be fun and rewarding endeavors. We can encourage our students to think of possible careers in STEM. This will be the focus of next week’s blog: ideas to help promote STEM occupations. 

Gender bias

I would be remiss if I did not mention one other factor that contributes to why women may not go into STEM careers and why some eventually leave these careers - the presence of gender bias - associating STEM with men rather than women. The presence of this bias is the reason that we still talk about boys being better at math than girls despite all evidence to the contrary. As a woman who studied science in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, I do have personal experiences with explicit gender bias - although fortunately not from individuals who had power over my career. I am not alone as almost all of my female colleagues have their own personal stories that reveal overt bias against them in the workplace. While explicit bias appears to be diminishing as more women engage in STEM careers, implicit bias still exists. 

Project Implicit from Harvard University examines different kinds of implicit bias. One test, Gender - Science, examines the association of female or male with liberal arts or science. According to Solving the Equation by AAUW, “men who major in engineering and computing have relatively strong implicit biases associating men with science.” (p. 3) This bias can affect how men in these fields interact with their female colleagues thus contributing to women experiencing various actions like microinequities (p.38). I encourage you to look at this test and examine your own possible biases of gender and science as recognition is the first step towards removing bias.

Recognize what does and does not affect women’s intent to pursue STEM degrees and occupations. It is not test scores or perceived math ability. Rather it is whether women see themselves having careers in STEM - and this is something that we as STEM teachers can influence. 

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