Subtle Factors Driving Underrepresentation of Women in STEM Careers

UNDERSTANDING THE SUBTLE FACTORS DRIVING THE UNDERREPRESENTATION OF WOMEN IN STEM CAREERS
by (Name)
The Name of the Class (Course)
Professor (Tutor)
The Name of the School (University)
The City and State where it is located
The Date
1.0 Introduction
STEM careers remain at the core of global technological advancement and human development. They affect almost all spheres of life, including health, education, safety, food production, transport, communication, leisure, and security. STEM jobs are also the highest paying in the United States. According to the 2017 report by the Bureau of Labour Statistics (Fayer et al., 2017), 93% of STEM jobs pay significantly higher-than American national average salaries. The average STEM salary is $87,500 per year, two times the average of non-STEM income. Additionally, since 2000, the number of STEM jobs has surpassed non-STEM jobs by three times. In the future, computer and information technology jobs are projected to grow at 11% annually between 2019 and 2029, making it the fastest-growing occupation (BLS, 2020). Thus, STEM careers are not only the fastest growing and the highest paying but are also at the center of human development and technological advancement. Women, however, are underrepresented in these fields.
2.0 Problem Statement and Study Objectives
In the United States, there are over eight million STEM jobs (Fayer et al., 2017). However, women occupy only 25% of these positions, highlighting the gender disparity in STEM fields (CERE and Athena, 2020). More importantly, despite the global effort to promote women in STEM fields, the representation of women has only increased by 2% since 1990 (Martinez and Christnacht, 2021). In other words, women are missing out on better-paying jobs, career growth prospects, and opportunities to contribute fully to human development and technological advancement.
Therefore, the objective of the current study is to establish the inherent factors that lead to the underrepresentation of women in STEM fields. A straightforward explanation for this phenomenon is that men have historically dominated STEM fields, a trend that has been codified into cultures within homes and schools. However, given the efforts to promote STEM careers to women in the past 30 years, the persisting underrepresentation of women is a subject that requires attention. As it turns out, the media is an essential tool through which these cultural views persist (Makarova et al., 2019). The study objective will be achieved through a survey targeting girls and women pursuing STEM subjects (in high school), courses (colleges and universities), and careers (currently employed or graduated without employment).
3.0 Research Question
In his regard, the research question is: what are the barriers inhibiting the representation of women in STEM careers?
4.0 Literature Review
Gender stereotypes are among the significant subtle forces leading to the gender disparity in STEM. In a study to investigate this premise, Makarova et al. (2019) conducted the impact of the masculinity image of STEM subjects from a cross-sectional study data of 1364 Swiss secondary school students. The study results indicate that girls and boys rate physics, chemistry, and maths as masculine. In a different study, Steinke (2017) asked high school students to draw an image of an engineer. The study found that girls were equally as likely to draw the image of a male engineer as boys. What is realized here is a pattern of perception that engineers, for instance, are more likely to be men and not women and that humanities-oriented subjects and careers are for women.
Cultural perceptions within homes, educational institutions, and the media have worked in the background to reinforce this imagery of STEM subjects. In a case study that interviews children and adolescents on how STEM subjects and careers were discussed in homes, Christie et al. (2017) established that girls are more likely to think that subjects like maths and physics are complicated. Apart from within households, cultural stereotypes that promote STEM subjects say STEM careers as masculine are also prevalent within learning institutions. According to Lavy and Sand (2015), math anxiety among teachers is the critical barrier limiting women’s development in STEM. The study found that teaching is predominantly occupied by women who often have math anxiety that is passed onto girls.
The studies by Markarova et al. (2019) and Steinke (2017) aimed to establish the image in students’ minds when they hear about a STEM-based career such as engineering. Steinke (2017) argued that what imagery produced by students represented their ideal perception of a perfect role model. What lacked, especially for girls, is the idea that women could not be engineers. Retrospectively, this reveals another subtle force of lack of role models. In investigating the issue of role models, González-Pérez et al. (2020) conducted a role-model intervention analysis in which volunteer role models working in STEM careers agreed to mentor 304 girls aged between 12 and 16 years. The authors established that role model intervention positively and significantly impacts career aspirations in STEM fields.
Ideally, mainstream and popular media should have helped end the inherent cultural stereotypes thriving in households and learning institutions. Media plays a crucial role in promoting cultures and stereotypes. Several scholars have highlighted the influence of media imagery and how the media is responsible for the persistence of these perceptions. According to the theory of change, mass media presents people with stories and images that influence the development of views and beliefs about the world (Bhaat et al., 2019). Taking a different approach, Javed (2015) argued that the more people are exposed to media, the more they develop misconceptions about the world through the Cultivation theory. Therefore, when TV programs, as established by Javed (2015) and the UN (ITU, 2021), inherently show STEM fields as masculine, they contribute to the gender gap in STEM.
So far, the Literature review has revealed several subtle forces: inherent perception of STEM as a man’s path and promotion of humanities as a women’s area, stereotypes within schools and households, lack of role models for girls, and the far-reaching influence of the media. These subtle forces lead to what Xu (2017) described as attrition of women in STEM. In other words, these forces systematically limit girls’ desire for STEM subjects, aspirations for STEM courses, and disinterest in STEM careers leading to the current underrepresentation in the fields. Other forces that are less subtle include differences in the gender pay gap (Christie et al., 2017), a lower likelihood of women climbing the career ladder through promotions (McKinnon and O’Connell, 2020), and toxic work environments (Wilson and Van Antwerp, 2021). These are key factors that limit girls’ aspirations in STEM and impede career pathways for women.
5.0 Survey Design
The current study seeks to establish the lived experiences of women pursuing STEM courses in colleges and universities and those in STEM employment. In other words, the current study seeks to collect qualitative data implying that it is qualitative research. According to Buseto et al. (2019), a qualitative survey is ideal in this aspect because it utilizes open-ended questions in the production of long-form written answers. Questions (see Appendix) aim to reveal opinions, experiences, accounts, and narratives in such research.
While there are many sampling methods in research, purposive sampling is chosen for this study for several reasons. The purposive sampling technique relies on the researcher’s judgment when choosing research participants (Campbell and Greenwood, 2020). Essentially, researchers choose a ‘representative’ sample that suits their needs, i.e., individuals with specific desired characteristics. In this case, these characteristics include either a course in the STEM field or employment in a STEM job. Thus, the researcher will choose six participants (three in college and three in employment with at least five years of experience). A job experience threshold is needed to ensure that participants have extensive experience in their jobs and industry.
Once the six participants are identified, they will be informed of the study’s ethical considerations (see section 8) and then provided with open-ended survey questions for completion. Because of the current Covid-19 social distancing measures, the survey will be conducted via digital resources, including phone calls (to establish participation consent) and emails or social media (to distribute questions and receive responses). The digital Monkey Survey tool will play a significant role in this aspect, especially in the distribution and receipt of questions and responses, respectively. Regmi et al. (2016) established that online tools like Monkey Survey could collect the desired information and present it in a manner that people can understand are not research experts.
Several methods, such as content analysis and thematic analysis, can analyze narratives produced through open-ended questions. The current study will rely on thematic analysis to highlight and compare critical themes emerging within collected data (Nowell et al., 2017). Subsequently, the technique is ideal for qualitative data consisting of experiences, opinions, and insights (Maguire and Delahunt, 2017). Thematic analysis is chosen over content analysis because the latter requires a computer-aided approach.
6.0 Strengths and Weakness of Survey Design
The critical areas of the current survey design include qualitative approach (method), utilization of open-ended questionnaires (d...