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Gender Tracking in Higher Ed

The small numbers of women working in some STEM fields deters female students from majoring in these subjects, setting up a vicious cycle.

Ǵexplainhowwomen arefunctionally steered into certain fields of study and out of others:Female students continue to encounter when it comes to the types of majors and future jobs they “should”pursue, including the notion thatscience and mathprogramsare better suited for men. Whenwomen do enter male-dominated fields, they encounterharassment and gender-devaluing.

  • Women do major in someSTEM fields, but their numbers arelower in the higher-paying areas: Women earn 60% of degrees in biology and life sciences, but only 20% of degrees in engineering and 19% of computer and information science bachelor’s degrees. Anof women who study engineering eitherdon’t enter the field or leave it once they do.
  • , not relating to science as part of their personal identity, gaps in perceived competence by others and themselves and challenging developing interpersonal relationships with peers as reasons for leaving science or math majors.
  • Ǵfind that bias against women is the strongest factor in women not pursuing traditionally male dominated degrees, including in many areas of math, science and technology.
  • dzor differences in treatment based on gender in STEM higher education have included:of women’s capabilities; gender-rolesuch as expectations of performing more service workthan male peers; receivingand fewer citations for their publications than male peers; andand other forms of harassment.
  • cite athat perpetuatemale domination– including the ways classes are structured and taught in college, such as use of authoritative teaching styles and communication, internship options where women are more likely to be tracked to more people-facing jobs and men to the more technical jobs; and unwelcoming or condescending interactions and treatment by faculty and peers.
  • male and Asian post-doctoral STEM candidates are rated as most competent and hirable, while Black female and all Latinx candidates are rated lowest.