I remember the first time I walked into a DEVPSU meeting, a ten-week course designed to help Penn State students strengthen their programming abilities. I was shocked. All I saw were rows and rows of male students. I found the nearest seat and tried to make myself seem as obscure as possible. At my high school, there were actually more female students in my STEM classes than male students, so I was unaccustomed to being a minority. However, by the middle of my first semester I found myself barely noticing the lack of women in my classroom unless I explicitly thought about it.
Everyone knows that there is a lack of women in STEM, and virtually every university has a program to encourage female participation in STEM. Penn State has a plethora of resources for female engineers, including the Women in Engineering Program, Society of Women Engineers, and Women in Computing. Despite these efforts, however, the amount of women studying engineering remains low. In the 2017-2018 school year, only 19.4% of those that received engineering degrees at University Park were female (“Undergraduate Degrees Awarded”).
Many studies try to answer the question of why female participation in STEM remains low despite recent efforts to encourage women to study such fields. While these studies oftentimes produce differing results, overall the data consistently reports that women are just as capable of studying such fields as men. A recent meta-analysis found that girls actually performed better than boys in math in primary schools, and there was no difference in performance in secondary school. Biologically, women are just as qualified to study STEM subjects as men.
Another study conducted by The International Student Assessment found, however, that high-achieving male students score on average nineteen points higher than high-achieving female students on a given math exam. After analyzing the findings it was determined that the females who took this test experience much higher anxiety than the males (Gjersoe). It seems as if women are less confident in their abilities in STEM, affecting their performance and therefore limiting their participation in STEM subjects.
One of the largest factors that leads to this lack of confidence is stereotypes. In more gender-neutral countries, such as Sweden and Norway, there is no math gender gap, whereas in countries such as Turkey the math gender gap remains (Gjersoe). A study by Lin Bian, Sarah-Jane Leslie and Andrei Cimpian found that starting at age six, girls are more likely to play a game they can win by “working really hard” rather than a game where the player must be “really smart.” Many girls have the innate sense that they are capable of working hard, however, they believe they are not as qualified as boys.
The female tendency for perfectionism also leads to this lack of confidence. Just one look at an airbrushed model is enough to see that women are told they need to be “perfect.” Studying STEM, especially computer science, however, requires failing. Learning to code involves the discomfort of not knowing the answer right away. Girls need to be taught that this that discomfort is natural, and that it brings awareness to the girl that she is being challenged and is learning (Choney).
Another factor that results in the few women studying certain STEM fields is a lack of exposure to the field. There is much greater gender equality in the number of men and women receiving degrees in subjects taught in high school, such as biology and math. The National Science Foundation found 40% of bachelor degrees in math and statistics awarded in 2014 were given to women. Very few high schools offer classes in subjects such as engineering or computer science, however. In 2014, less than 20% of those who received computer science degrees in the United States were women. This percentage is actually less than what it was in 1995 (28.5%)! By exposing more girls to fields such as computer science and engineering at a young age, participation in these fields can increase.
In addition the lack of female role models prevents female students from envisioning themselves in a STEM field. From a young age, all young students are taught about prominent male scientists such as Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, and Isaac Newton. Female scientists, such as Marie Curie and Ada Lovelace, are hardly discussed. By teaching more about female scientists, girls can have more role models to look up to as they study STEM. The amount of female STEM teachers should also be increased. A study conducted by the University of North Carolina found “a positive and significant association between the proportion of female math and science teachers in high school and young women’s probability of declaring a STEM major. There was no link between teachers’ gender and the probability of picking a STEM major for young men” (Loewus).
In the classroom, students, male and female, should be given more opportunities to be exposed to a variety of career fields to learn what they are actually like, so they do not have to rely on incorrect stereotypes. The ability to fail and experiment should be emphasized in the classroom, as failing and learning from those failures is a crucial part of any STEM career. Lastly, by providing more diverse examples of what a scientist or engineer resembles, children will be more prone to think that they are truly capable of studying STEM.
Sources
Bian, Lin, et al. “Gender Stereotypes about Intellectual Ability Emerge Early and Influence Children’s Interests.” Science Magazine, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 27 Jan. 2017, science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6323/389.full.
Choney, Suzanne. “Why Do Girls Lose Interest in STEM? New Research Has Some Answers – and What We Can Do about It.” Microsoft News, Microsoft, 13 Mar. 2018, news.microsoft.com/features/why-do-girls-lose-interest-in-stem-new-research-has-some-answers-and-what-we-can-do-about-it/.
“Field of Degree: Women.” WMPD in Science and Engineering, National Science Foundation, 2017, www.nsf.gov/statistics/2017/nsf17310/digest/fod-women/computer-sciences.cfm.
Gjersoe, Nathalia. “Bridging the Gender Gap: Why Do so Few Girls Study Stem Subjects?” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 8 Mar. 2018, www.theguardian.com/science/head-quarters/2018/mar/08/bridging-the-gender-gap-why-do-so-few-girls-study-stem-subjects.
Loewus, Liana Heitin. “More Female Math and Science Teachers Increase Likelihood Girls Pursue STEM.” Education Week – Rules for Engagement, 9 Mar. 2016, https://goo.gl/JWpoVw
“Undergraduate Degrees Awarded.” Penn State College of Engineering, Penn State, 2018, www.engr.psu.edu/facts/undergrad-degrees-awarded.aspx.
I think it is really important that there is more female representation in the STEM field. It might not seem like a big problem, but not teaching about female scientists and only male ones does have an impact on female students. We need strong females role models to look up to that show us we can do anything a man can do. I think it is really interesting how society’s attitudes towards males and females can impact how females perform academically. Great post!