User:Jramos1299/Female education in STEM

Contents

 * 1Current status of girls and women in STEM education
 * 1.1Overall trends in STEM education
 * 1.2Learning achievement in STEM education
 * 2Factors influencing girls' and women's participation and achievement in STEM education
 * 2.1Individual level
 * 2.2Family and peer level
 * 2.3School level
 * 2.4Societal level
 * 3Effects of Gender Disparities
 * 4Sources
 * 5References

Girls’ achievement seems to be stronger in science than mathematics and where girls outperform boys, the score differential is up to three times higher than where boys perform.

Individual Level

The question of whether there are differences in cognitive ability between men and women has long been a topic of debate among researchers and scholars. Some studies have found no differences in the neural mechanism of learning based on sex.

Loss of interest has been the major reason cited for girls opting out of STEM. However, some have stated that this choice is influenced heavily by the socialization process and stereotyped ideas about gender roles, including stereotypes about gender and STEM. Gender stereotypes that communicate the idea that STEM studies and careers are male domains can negatively affect girls’ interest, engagement, and achievement in STEM and discourage them from pursuing STEM careers. Girls who assimilate such stereotypes have lower levels of self-efficacy and confidence in their ability than boys. Self-efficacy affects both STEM education outcomes and aspirations for STEM careers to a considerable extent. In recent years, more women have been majoring in STEM, although we still continue to witness vast imbalances between men and women studying math, engineering, or science.

Effects of Gender Disparities

The prolonged consequence that erupts from consistent gendered stereotypes relating to women's inability to become successful in the field of STEM is developing a fixed mindset that they are not equipped enough to think critically or contribute valuable ideas in careers that are predominantly male workers. Stepping into a workplace where men outnumber women knowing that male co-workers expect lower capabilities from a woman working significantly causes women to undermine their skills and performance in their job. This in part is due to the representativeness heuristic- when people do not look the part, others are more critical of them. In a heavily male populated environment, men are more critical of women because they do not appear how the abstract representation in STEM fields typically appear. A study demonstrating the effects of construal level priming conditions between men and women, concluded that high construal levels facilitate the use of representativeness heuristic. In contrast, low construal conditions portrayed a decrease in the use of representativeness heuristic.

Societal level
Cultural and social norms influence girls’ perceptions about their abilities, role in society and career and life aspirations. The degree of gender equality in wider society influences girls’ participation and performance in STEM. In countries with greater gender equality, girls tend to have more positive attitudes and confidence about mathematics and the gender gap in achievement in the subject is smaller. Gender stereotypes portrayed in the media are internalized by children and adults and affect the way they view themselves and other. Media can perpetuate or challenge gender stereotypes about STEM abilities and careers. In a study conducted women who took exams with men performed worse than women who took exams with other women. Stereotype threat occurs when the individuals are aware that they may be judged based on a stereotype.