RUNNING HEAD: THE LACK OF WOMEN REPRESENTED IN STEM

The Lack of Women Represented in STEM

Noelle Baumeister

Arizona State University

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RUNNING HEAD: THE LACK OF WOMEN REPRESENTED IN STEM

Abstract

This is a persuasive essay highlighting the misconceptions about the underrepresentation of

women in stem-based jobs. Opposing viewpoints are addressed and refuted based on evidence

from prior research. Summed up, women are just as capable as men to occupy a high

authoritative stem position in the workplace, but are discouraged from stem jobs from a young

age, are forced to prove themselves more than their male peers and feel judged or mistreated in

the workplace.

Keywords: Women, STEM based jobs, gender bias, engineering

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RUNNING HEAD: THE LACK OF WOMEN REPRESENTED IN STEM

A critical issue being tackled by our society is the gender pay gap. The fact that women

occupy the same jobs as men and do not get paid the same amount of money for doing the exact

same job. For example, only one in seven women are engineers. Some may believe that this is

due to the fact that women are not as smart as men, or are not “cut out” for a job such as

engineering. In fact this is not the case, women do not occupy as many STEM jobs due to

constant discouragement from a variety of people throughout their entire upbringing and

education. Gender stereotypes are being instilled into students brains at young ages that

determine their trajectories for future jobs. Teachers, parents and peers are constantly swaying

girls mindsets on their interests and making them question their academic abilities. Therefore

leading to a lack of interest in pursuing STEM based jobs.

Many believe that girls are consciously not choosing to pursue STEM jobs, such as

engineering and computer science, when in reality they are discouraged from the start. I propose

to counteract this issue, that teachers, parents and major influencers, like social media, end this

stereotype by giving all genders an equal opportunity to pursue any career they show interest in.

Reversing the gender stereotypes surrounding STEM jobs will give girls the confidence to

believe they are capable to occupy these jobs. This change must start from the beginning of

students schooling by teaching girls and boys that they can thrive math, science and STEM jobs

if that is the career path they choose.

There are many gender bias opinions that state that girls are just simply not “cut out” for

STEM based jobs, or that “the academic culture of these fields is more masculine” (Galvin,

2016). Some people may also believe that women are too emotional or have other duties, like

children, that prevent them from holding these more powerful, authoritative jobs. According to

Climate Control: Gender and Racial Bias in Engineering, an african american women states that

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RUNNING HEAD: THE LACK OF WOMEN REPRESENTED IN STEM

“My colleagues assume I am a slacker because I have children” (Li, Rincon, Williams, 2017). In

our society women and men have different priorities, women need to direct more time and effort

to their children while men can focus more on work. The difference in priorities is often

misunderstood by colleagues and can make the workplace a harsh and judgemental. These

women work twice as hard, coming to work on holidays and weekends to catch up on work, but

colleagues do not see this extra amount of work they put in to their job. Another opposing

viewpoint on this topic comes from teachers. Teacher unknowingly will praise boy students for

doing well in math and science courses, but not girls. According to Choney, one girl states she

“remember[s] math teachers praising the boys regularly, but the girls – not so much” (Choney,

1970). Math and science teachers praise boys for answering difficult questions more than girls

deteriorating their confidence in these subjects. Some teachers may even purposefully call on

boys to answer difficult questions when girls may also be raising their hands. These issues may

also be simple misunderstandings caused by ignorance on this topic.

Some may believe that women cannot be engineers because of the time commitment it

takes. Women straight out of college often do not face the time constraint, but once a women

engineer has children the playing field changes a little bit. The women must then leave her job

for a couple of months on maternity leave, which can set her far behind on work. Granted, at

times a mother may have to choose her children over her job, but that does not mean she is not

committed to her job by any means. These women then work during their free time to make up

the time they lost providing for their children. This does not make them “unfit for the job” or a

“slacker”, this makes them determined and hard working because they are doing double the

amount of work then their colleagues.

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RUNNING HEAD: THE LACK OF WOMEN REPRESENTED IN STEM

The issue of underrepresentation of women in Stem can be boiled down to one time

period in a girls life, her childhood. According to Choney, the main reasons girls stray away

from pursuing Stem as a career path is due to “peer pressure, to a lack of role models and support

from parents as well as teachers, to a general misperception of what STEM careers look like in

the real world” (Choney, 1970). Girls growing up are either exposed to STEM careers being a

masculine job or there is a lack of female role models in the field to show them that occupying a

Stem job is possible for a girl. The lack of role models children see of women in stem jobs makes

them believe it is not a realistic career goal for them to pursue. According to Galvin, pursuing a

career in stem is the stem field is represented to students in a way that is “incompatible with the

way that many women see themselves” because the idea of a woman engineer is surrounded with

negative stereotypes (Galvin, 2016).

Peer pressure is another huge indicator of a girls interest in school which can then project

her future career choice. According to Chiang in the article Why Do Girls Lose Interest in

STEM?, she states that “ ‘It wasn’t popular for girls to be smart or interested in challenging

subjects within STEM’ ” (Choney, 1970). At the time in a girls life when they need to be taking

classes and preparing for college, they are greatly influenced by their peers opinions to

purposefully not take classes that are “masculine”. Even though a girl may be interested in taking

an advance science or math course, they refrain to avoid backlash from their peers. The gender

stereotypes determine that “ being ‘a boy’ means acting and behaving in ways that are the exact

opposite of being ‘a girl’ ” (Shelton, C., Francis, B., & Valkanova, Y. 2007). Society creates a

stigmatism that boys and girls should act the exact opposite of one another, so if boys are

interested in math and science, girls should not be. Finally, a lack of support from teachers and

parents during their childhood can greatly determine girls trajectories for future career paths.

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RUNNING HEAD: THE LACK OF WOMEN REPRESENTED IN STEM

During anyone’s childhood, the biggest influences on their viewpoints is their parent and

teachers. If parents are teachers are subconsciously teaching kids that only boys are cut out for

stem based careers, children pick up on these subtle clues. Girls are raised to be perfect in every

aspect of their lives, while boys on the other hand are expected to make mistakes. In addition, a

phrase often used in our society is “boys will be boys” which is a phrase used to excuse boys for

making mistakes, there is no girl equivalent to this phrase. When it comes to raising a boy versus

a girl, “ ‘Boys are pushed to take risks: girls are not’ ” (Choney, 1970). Girls have an immense

amount of pressure placed on them to be feminine and conform to gender norms, choosing a

profession dominated by males take a strong willed person with lots of support. If a girl does not

have this support she can be easily discouraged from pursuing a male dominated career, such as

engineering, even if she is interested.

Another main influencer in a students life is their teachers. When a child starts

kindergarten they soak up every piece of information that can later determine their ideals,

mindset and morals. Teachers are unconsciously implanting the ideals in students heads that boys

are naturally math and science oriented, while girls should thrive in english and humanities.

According to Breaking Down the Stereotypes: Gender and Achievements in Schools, it states

that “such gendered behaviours are deep-seated, and children enact these without being

consciously aware of them,” (Shelton, C., Francis, B., & Valkanova, Y. (2007)). Children with

absorb these stereotypes taught by teachers and allow them to determine their educational

direction. Throughout schooling teachers of any level will continue to enforce these ideals is

subtle ways like only calling on boys to answer difficult math and science questions or

decorating math and science classroom in a masculine way. According to Levy and sand,

teachers “ biased attitude against girls leads girls to feel that they are getting less support from

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their teachers” (Levy, Sand, 2018). This unsupportive manner leads to girls losing confidence

and interest in topics they thrive in due to the mindset that their gender is not “cut out” for that

career. Finally, according to Miller, “ teachers overestimated the boys’ abilities and

underestimated the girls’, and that this had long-term effects on students’ attitudes toward the

subjects” (Miller, 2015). Pursuing a career in a male dominated field is already difficult, but

without the proper support from teachers and parents discourage girls from following their

interest even more.

In conclusion, some may not believe that this issue is being caused by factors such as

peer pressure, lack of role models, and unsupportive parents and teachers. This may not be fully

accepted in society, but once you reflect thoroughly on your schooling experience you can more

noticeably recall specific instances where this gender stereotypes were showcased in your

school. Finally, along with most issues in our society this issue cannot be instantly solved, but

we can gradually change how parents and teachers influence students opinions on certain

careers. We as a society, can teach both boys and girls that they can pursue any career that

interests them. We can make boys feel supported in pursuing a career in nursing, and girls

pursuing a career in engineering. We can reverse the bias against girls who thrive in math and

science by supporting any student who shows interest in science or math. Teachers and parents

should call on children to challenge gender stereotypes and let them know they have full support

in any career path they choose to pursue.

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References

Choney, S. (1970, March 13). Why do girls lose interest in STEM? New research has some answers - and
what we can do about it. Retrieved from https://news.microsoft.com/features/why-do-girls-
lose-interest-in-stem-new-research-has-some-answers-and-what-we-can-do-about-it/

Galvin, G. (2016, November 23). Study: Inclusive Environment Key to Closing STEM Gap.
Retrieved from https://www.usnews.com/news/stem-solutions/articles/2016-11-23/study-girls-
less-interested-in-stem-fields-perceived-as-masculine

Levy, V., & Sand, E. (2018). ON THE ORIGINS OF GENDER HUMAN CAPITAL GAPS:
SHORT AND LONG TERM CONSEQUENCES OF TEACHERS’ STEREOTYPICAL
BIASES. Nber Working Paper Series,167, 263-279. doi:10.3386/w20909

Li, S., Rincon, R., & Williams, J. (n.d.). Climate Control: Gender and Racial Bias in
Engineering? 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings. doi:10.18260/1-
2--28038

Miller, C. C. (2015, February 06). How Elementary School Teachers' Biases Can Discourage
Girls From Math and Science. Retrieved from
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/07/upshot/how-elementary-school-teachers-biases-
can-discourage-girls-from-math-and-science.html

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Shelton, C., Francis, B., & Valkanova, Y. (2007). Breaking Down the Stereotypes: Gender and
Achievements in Schools. Roehampton University, School of Education,59, 1-91.
Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Becky_Francis/publication/255592914_Breaking_D
own_the_Stereotypes_Gender_and_Achievement_in_Schools/links/5c123f4fa6fdcc494ff
0addb/Breaking-Down-the-Stereotypes-Gender-and-Achievement-in-Schools.pdf.