Branching into STEM: Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

“Civil Engineering,” I say. “Statistics,” my roommate responds. Our dates pause for a second, before commenting that is not what they were expecting. This surprise is not uncommon and is frequently followed with comments about the male-domination of the field and questions about what it’s like to be one of few women in classes packed with men. 

Only half a century ago, women had very defined roles, particularly in the workforce. Women’s participation in non-traditional fields has become more widely accepted, and even encouraged. However, women’s participation in science, math, engineering and technology (STEM) fields is still extremely low. “Increased access has not led to major changes in the degree to which women receive the educational preparation needed to broaden their occupational choices. We believe the limited impact... is due in large part to learned behaviors resulting from classroom instruction which subtly teaches "appropriate" behavior for boys and for girls” (Scott and McCollum 174). Gender stereotypes and biases, beginning in childhood education, have a substantial effect on women’s entrance and success in STEM fields.

Practices that dissuade women to enter into science and math-based fields emerge in elementary school, and sometimes earlier. The way the teacher responds to female and male students, the way the classroom is arranged, and the socialization that begins in the classroom have an effect on how girls feel about STEM fields and their ability to succeed in them. “Girl's everyday interactions with teachers and with other students contribute significantly to the slow change that has occurred in sex equity" (Scott and McCollum 174). Many factors of teacher-student interaction and student-peer interaction are to blame. "Too often, classroom dynamics are laced with unconscious sex stereotypes, as when teachers spend more time with boys in math classes and more time with girls in reading classes" (Vandell).

Stereotypes formed in elementary school are constantly reinforced by teachers, which drives students to mistakenly believe they excel in a subject or do poorly in a subject. In an interview with a female high school calculus teacher, she expressed that she believes these reinforced stereotypes play a huge role, even into her Calculus classes, in how students perceive their ability to do math. She said that often many of her highest performing students in the class are females, but that frequently they would tell her that they didn’t think they were good at math. She also observed the opposite of her male students; many males who were performing at an average level felt that they were excellent at math. How can this affect women’s entrance into STEM fields? People want to do something they feel that they can succeed in. When girls feel they are not exceeding in math, they will not want to go into math-based fields. However, if they were able to see past the deeply-carved stereotypes and see their ability to excel in math, they may choose a different path.

The slow chiseling of a girl’s perception of herself and her abilities in STEM, and desire to go into, and stay in, those fields also take place outside of the education system. "Some [sociocultural factors] included socialization experiences in the family, school practices that discriminate against girls, and societal expectations that girls and women were not "supposed" to be high achievers, or at least on these measures" (Pollard 92). These societal expectations play a large role, especially if a young woman has managed to overcome the many factors dissuading her from childhood. Some may suppose that women just aren't as drawn to STEM fields. This could or could not be the case, but the facts are clear that women who are interested in these fields are not pursuing them. "While only males of low competence dropped out of math and science courses, females of high competence were often also dropping out. These young women had experienced a loss of self-confidence prior to any exhibited loss of performance in their math and science classes" (Brainard 135). It’s not that women don’t have the brains, or the ability- or even the desire- to succeed in these fields; it’s that they don’t feel like they fit in to the group or don’t feel like they can succeed. There are definitely some societal issues causing bright young girls to feel like they cannot succeed in these fields, resulting in few women beginning a degree, let alone finishing a degree, in STEM fields.

The reality is that most women will pursue careers such as education and the humanities. Statistics just as staggering as how few women participate in STEM, is the percentage of women going into Health Science and Education areas. Over 75% of people participating in postsecondary education in those fields are women (“Gender Equity in Education: A Data Snapshot”). These fields are considered more "useful" to women, because many feel that they are more pertinent in a woman's traditional roles of being a homemaker and mother. Because of this, women who go into fields considered non-traditional can often feel classified as a "career woman" or more feminist, even though that may not describe her. "Before (and even shortly after) World War II, the proper priorities for women were widely held to be marriage and motherhood first and science second, and good science was believed to be all-consuming. The notion that women could simultaneously be traditional mother and productive scientists seemed to be patently absurd" (Cole 121). I would argue that this mentality still exists. Almost without fail, when people ask what I'm studying and I respond "Civil Engineering," they'll ask "and what do you want to do with that?" My response, of "be a mom" often brings surprise and questions about why I would pursue engineering "just to be a mom." Sometimes I do find the lengthy schooling ahead and the difficult classes for my major somewhat discouraging, but I remember that not only will I have an excellent set of skills to get a job if needed, but I will acquire problem-solving, patience, and perseverance. These skills, learned through sticking with it in Engineering will benefit me, my husband, my kids, and many others in the future. Though not "traditional," STEM areas provide wonderful opportunities to acquire skills that prove to be more beneficial then they first may appear.   

Not only can a degree in STEM be beneficial to a woman, a woman can be beneficial to the science, technology, engineering and math fields. Christine Inkley, a Mechanical Engineering student at Utah State, said she feels it’s beneficial for women to be in Engineering because “we can provide a different perspective” (Inkley). When a field becomes dominated by one gender, it loses the strength of having the perspectives, strengths, and ideas that both genders can offer. The stereotypes assigned to certain areas of study can greatly limit that field because the group becomes so homogenized and that lack of diversity hinders the field due to limited personalities and perspectives. Stereotypes, such as those that women who participate in STEM do not want to be mothers, build the foundation on which the lack of women in those fields are built. These generalizations obligate women to enter certain areas of study and occupations because they feel pressure because of societal expectations, thus hindering the woman and STEM.

Stereotype threat is “being at risk of confirming, as self-characteristic, a negative stereotype about one’s group” (Stroessner). The effects of stereotype threat are huge. “In education, it can also lead students to choose not to pursue the domain of study and, consequently, limit the range of professions that they can pursue” (Stroessner). Stacie Gregory, a PhD student at Utah State, conducted research regarding women in the Engineering Department. She wanted to study the occurrence of stereotype threat in the department. She explored if stereotype threat was contributing to the lack of female students in the college, and the even more miniscule graduation rate for women in the College of Engineering. She expressed finding that the stereotype threat caused women, as the minority, to feel they had to “prove” themselves in their classes. This caused women who were performing at an average, or even above average, level to feel they were not succeeding.

Some of the factors Gregory discussed in relation to stereotype threat included interaction with male students, feeling isolated from other women in the department, and very importantly the woman’s interactions with her teachers. A possibly unforeseen effect of so few women graduating in STEM fields is that the male-domination present even among professors and teachers in those fields. The repercussions of this can have a detrimental effect on women trying to gain their education in STEM. Women who are already outnumbered by their male peers, struggle to feel comfortable asking questions and seeking help from male professors. When women don’t feel as comfortable asking questions as their male peers do, it can having damaging effects on their feelings about their success and their overall ability to succeed in those courses. Stereotype threat resulting from teacher-student interactions can occur when women feel that they don’t relate to these professors, or feel they are outwardly discriminated against by their professors. Some examples Gregory used included professors using only the pronoun “he,” a lack of effort to get to know students and connect with them, and addressing the class as if they were all male.

Gregory’s interest in studying this topic resulted from her experience with stereotype threat. She had graduated in engineering, and even practiced engineering for a few years, but due to the male-dominance of the field she quit because she never felt she “fit in” or was accepted into the group. So, she went back to school for another degree, this time studying Engineering Education, not because she did not like her career but because she felt out of place. She said that finding out about stereotype threat, and studying it, helped her understand why she felt the way she did and better deal with it. She hopes to educate more women in fields such as Engineering about this threat, so that they can cope with it, and feel empowered in their ability to succeed in the field.

As a female student majoring in Civil Engineering, I have experienced many of these same things, even early in my educational career. I excelled in math and science throughout junior high and high school; I did my elementary school science fair projects on concrete. It seemed Engineering was just the thing for me. But, I quickly found myself in engineering classes filled with men, with only a couple of other women. I found myself feeling the need to prove myself in the field, and finding myself feeling I had failed when I performed at an average, or even above average level. I quickly became discouraged and found myself wondering whether or not I should continue to pursue Engineering. Then, I participated in Gregory's study, in which we discussed stereotype threat and as she asked questions about how I felt about the field. I found that my feelings were common to other women in the field, and that there were ways to be successful despite them. I believe that educating girls, women, parents, and educators about stereotype threat for women in STEM fields can help more women go into and succeed in these fields.

It is clear. It’s not that women do not have to opportunity to succeed in STEM fields, or the opportunities to participate in the fields. Fifty-seven percent of postsecondary students are women. The percentage of girls and boys taking, and passing, AP tests are nearly equal. However, women made up less than 25% of students in STEM programs nationally in 2009-2010 (“Gender Equity in Education: A Data Snapshot”). Stereotyping and the resulting stereotype threat causes women to feel they are not succeeding or can’t succeed.

Works Cited

Brainard, Suzanne G. and Linda Carlin. “A Longitudinal Study of Undergraduate Women in Engineering and Science.” Frontiers in Education Conference, Vol. 1. 1997. 134-143. Web.

Cole, Jonathan R. and Harriet Zuckerman. “Marriage, Motherhood and Research Performance in Science.” Scientific American. 1987. 119-125. Web.

Inkley, Christine. Personal Interview. 15 April 2014.

Mahoney, Mark P. "Students' Attitudes Toward STEM: Development of an Instrument for High School STEM-Based Programs." The Journal of Technology Studies (n.d.): 24-34. Web. 1 Apr. 2014.

Office for Civil Rights, and U.S. Department of Education. "Gender Equity in Education: A Data Snapshot." (2012): n. pag. Web. 1 Apr. 2014

Pollard, Diane. “Gender and Achievement.” Gender and Education. Eds. Sari Knopp Biklen and Diane Pollard. Chicago, IL: NSSE, 1993. 90-106. Print.

Scott, Elois and Heather McCollum. “Making It Happen: Gender Equitable Classrooms.” Gender and Education. Eds. Sari Knopp Biklen and Diane Pollard. Chicago, IL: NSSE, 1993. 174-190. Print.

Stroessner, Steven, Catherine Good, and Lauren Webster. “ReducingStereotypeThreat.Org.” Reducing StereotypeThreat.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 April 2014.