Explaining Gender Inequality in the Sciences

In fact, 15-year-old boys are far more likely than girls to fall behind in school, according to a recent OECD report, which found that six out of ten students who failed to achieve baseline proficiency in maths or the sciences were boys. Subsequent research revealed that, as compared to their female classmates, adolescent boys spend less time on homework, more time on video games and have an overall negative impression of school.

Why, then, does gender inequality persist in the science, technology engineering and maths (STEM) sectors?

Where are the Women in STEM?

?Given that girls increasingly outperform boys in secondary school and are more likely to enrol in university, most people might reasonably expect to see significant numbers of women pursuing advanced studies in maths, engaging in high-level research and leading technology companies, yet recent statistics collected by the EU’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation says otherwise. Just 41% of researchers and engineers in Europe are women, according to a 2021 report, while the UNESCO Institute for Statistics concluded that only 30% of the world’s researchers are women.

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A closer look at the data gives some insight as to when women begin moving away from careers in STEM. While female students now outnumber men at universities throughout Europe, they make up less than 40% of the graduating class in all scientific fields, and only 28% in basic and applied sciences. In 2019, women counted for only 33% of high-tech manufacturing and knowledge-intensive high tech workers in Europe.

The attrition rate in engineering, in particular, presents an especially dire example of what education experts call “the leaky pipeline problem” - the progressive decline of women and minority groups in STEM fields at each stage of the educational system. While 45% of female students obtain degrees in scientific or technical subjects, a mere 20% go on to pursue further study in engineering. And while female students comprise 33% of engineering students amongst European universities - up from 24% in 2015 - nine out of ten engineering faculties fail to qualify as co-educational[1]?. Put another way, while the number of women pursuing further study in engineering has increased, the proportion of women to men at most universities remains so unbalanced, that the average female student is likely to find herself one of only three or four women in a graduate seminar or lab of ten students.

Why Do Women Leave STEM?

Governments around the world have taken note of the leaky pipeline and rushed to plug the holes, rolling out a range of programs and initiatives to address gender bias in maths and sciences and improve girls’ confidence. But while these efforts have certainly paid off - the number of women pursuing higher education in STEM fields has increased in the last ten years - women continue to be underrepresented at the professional level.

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One 2016 study conducted in the US may explain why: the study found that, even when equally- or better-qualified than their male peers, women were often sidelined from “real” work - given administrative or managerial tasks unrelated to actual research or engineering work. Describing their experiences as newly-qualified junior engineers, women reported that, “[M]en were assigned interesting problem-solving tasks where they could develop their analytic and technical skills, while women were often assigned jobs sorting papers, copying, collecting equipment, writing notes, and coordinating[.]” Faced with the prospect of having to fight twice as hard for interesting and fulfilling work or accept a diminished career trajectory, many women opted to leave the field entirely.

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Parents and families can also play a role. While many countries embrace gender equality as a foundational value and have invested in laws and policies designed to ensure access to education and leadership opportunities for women, the reality remains that, for many, traditional ideas about gender roles can influence how parents discuss careers with their children.

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A mother might encourage her son to attend medical school to become a surgeon, for example, while urging her daughter to pursue a nursing degree. A young girl with an aptitude for maths might be advised by a favourite grandparent to become a teacher, rather than an astronaut, and parents may shrug off a daughter’s high test scores in maths as irrelevant because, “[S]he really has to work for it. It doesn’t come naturally to her,” according to advocate and educator Vanessa Vakharia, founder of The Math Guru podcast in an interview with BUST magazine. Conversely, those parents might also regard their daughter’s declining interest - and marks-?in maths and sciences as a “normal” part of female development, rather than a cause for concern.

?The attitude that it’s both normal and acceptable for girls to dislike maths is particularly harmful, according to Vakharia. Because teens turn to peers to validate and reinforce group identities, groupthink that holds as self-evident that girls can’t “do” maths and science leads even those with higher-than-average skills to doubt their abilities or gravitate towards more socially acceptable, “feminine” areas of study.

Studeo: Closing the Gap

At Studeo, we’re working hard to make high-quality study support accessible for all students, regardless of gender. Our unique app offers a number of features designed to improve maths skills and confidence:?

●?????Students can learn and complete online education courses within their own timeframe as compared to traditional learning. They can learn through their own devices, anytime and anywhere.

?●?????Studeo adapts to the new generations and provides all the programs in a digitalized way, they use mathematics and new technology in their daily lives.

●?????Retention rates are higher with online learning : timed exposure continually re-exposes students to information at spaced intervals,building memories with high levels of storage strength

To learn more about how Studeo can assist in developing maths skills and confidence, contact us today.