Stereotypes In STEM Careers

Studies show that retention of females in science, technology, engineering, and math (collectively, “STEM”) careers is consistently lower than that of their male counterparts. Between 2001 and 2009, the percentage of female recipients of bachelor degrees in engineering stagnated at a mere 18.1-20.9% (Jagacinski, 2013). A staggeringly large number of women switch majors by their junior year of college, and do not pursue their STEM-related degree to completion. Why is this? How can such a significant difference exist between the retention of men and women in the same field? Women face several obstacles that their male counterparts never have to deal with.

Stereotypes play a very large role in deterring women from STEM careers. From the time they are young, girls learn from their peers, from their teachers, and perhaps most tragically, from their parents, that math and science are for boys. Even in the most subtle of ways, girls are taught that they should pursue other goals.

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Because STEM fields are male-dominated, males often, albeit subconsciously, feel threatened by intelligent, capable females, and will try to prove their superiority to her in order to remain respected within their circles. This often means the female is either isolated, ignored, or at the very least, talked down to somewhat, even though she is just as capable as her male peers. She then has two options, neither of which is ideal: to remain confident in her abilities and assertive with her ideas, or to retreat, and become socially submissive among her group. All too often, the latter occurs, and as such, males are much more often to take leadership of groups, activities, and, ultimately, the job market. Plus, because of the subconscious expectation of women to be socially submissive among men, when a woman is assertive and confident, it is unexpected, and as such, comes across as bossiness rather than