Gender and the Leading

Choices to Enroll in a
STEM Discipline
Charmaine Bruce-Kotey, Northern Illinois University, Graduate Student
Dr. Cynthia Campbell, Northern Illinois University, Associate Professor

Full paper at http://go.niu.edu/womeninstem

 INTRODUCTION
Gender seems to be something that considered when thinking about someone’s occupation
or the subject they are studying. Understanding the gendered disposition of the process to
which they choose their career is imperative as it effects the labor force (Correll 2004).

The crucial role of Science, Technology, Engineering, and/or Mathematics occupations

involves innovations that work to solve complex challenges. (Snyder & Dillow, 2013; Xie,
Fang, & Shauman, 2015). Historically, these fields of study and profession have been
carried out by men (Bix, 2004).

Women are still underrepresented in STEM disciplines. However, the number of women in
STEM is increasing.
 PREVIOUS RESEARCH

Women are more likely to choose a career they

feel makes a difference whereas men have had
years of experience playing with toys, video
games and other technology that involve problem
solving.
(Dagupta & Stout 2014; Gokhale, Rabe-Hemp, Woeste & Machina,
2015)

Children look up to the same-sex parent when

forming their career choices.
(Buchmann & DiPrete, 2006, Wells, Seifert, Padgett, Park & Umbach,
2011)

Women choose STEM because its intellectually

stimulating; men choose STEM due to the salary.
(Harris Interactive report, 2011)
 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of this survey study is to investigate reasons that,
mainly female undergraduates, graduates, and those recently
graduated from STEM programs enrolled in these disciplines.

RQ: What reasons do female undergraduate and graduate

students, as well as those who have recently graduated give to
enrolling in a STEM discipline?
- How do these reasons compare to males?
 • Likert scale survey
RESEARCH • 23 items on STEM enrollment
reasons; 2 items on
demographics
STUDY Tool • Guided from Kier, Blanchard,
Osborne and Albert’s (2014)
STEM Career Interest Survey
(STEM-CIS)

Procedure

• Snowball sampling
• Send link of survey via
email and Facebook
Analysis

• Descriptive statistics
• Independent t-test
SURVEY
Ratings of Agreement
 Strongly Agree; Agree; Somewhat Agree; Somewhat
Disagree; Disagree; Strongly Disagree; N/A

23 items and 2 demographic items

Examples of Items:
o I am interested in careers that use science, technology,
engineering and/or mathematics.
o My demographic is underrepresented in the STEM fields.
o I want to be the first in my family to enter a STEM field.
o The jobs that utilize science, technology, engineering
and/or mathematics pay well.
o To make a difference in the STEM field.

Figure Screenshot of survey

PARTICIPANTS

o 30 respondents
o 22 females; 8 males
o 3 undergraduates; 20
graduates; 7 recently
graduated
 RESULTS
o “I am interested in careers that use science,
technology, engineering and/or mathematics” is the
most agreed with statement for females (M = 5.55).
o 100% of females were in agreement of this
statement, with 59.1% of them strongly agreeing.

o The least agreed with statement was “I am

following in my parent(s) footsteps” with an
average mean of 2.58.
o Contradicting results with the literature that states
children, mainly females tend to follow in their
parents footsteps.
o These females do not feel that influence from people
around them strongly affects their reason to enroll.
The decision to enroll in a STEM discipline in
predominantly personal.

Figure Total means of each statement response for females

 RESULTS
“The jobs that utilize science, technology, engineering
and/or mathematics pay well”
41% of females strongly agree they enrolled in STEM disciplines
because STEM jobs pay well compared to 75% of males.

The average response for females (M = 4.86) was close to agree

whereas the average response for males (M = 5.75) was close to
strongly agree.

t(27.992) = 2.669, p = .013, 95% CI [.206, 1.567] shows statistical Figure Mean scores for males and females
significance in mean differences.

Levene's Test for Equality of

Variances t-test for Equality of Means
95% Confidence Interval of the
Std. Error Difference
F Sig. t df Sig. (2-tailed) Mean Difference Difference Lower Upper
The jobs that utilize science, Equal variances assumed 4.165 .051 1.794 28 .084 .886 .494 -.126 1.898
technology, engineering
and/or mathematics pay Equal variances not 2.669 27.992 .013 .886 .332 .206 1.567
well. assumed

Figure Independent t-test for statement seven

 RESULTS
“I attended a STEM event before enrolling”

The average response for females (M = 4.86) was close

to agree whereas the average response for males (M =
1.83) was close to disagree.

t(21) = -3.229, p = .004, 95% CI [-3.755, -.813] shows

statistical significance in mean differences.
Figure Mean scores for males and females

Figure Independent t-test for statement 10

 DISCUSSION
Self-efficacy plays a big part in academic decisions and career choice.

This study illustrated that females will choose a STEM discipline if they
are interested in it. Although literature states that children are more
likely to follow in their parents footsteps, these females participants
stated that they somewhat disagreed being influenced by others.

These females were also less likely to choose their career based on
future career financial rewards.

STEM events seem to encourage females to enroll in a STEM discipline.

 LIMITATIONS
The results are guarded due to:
• A small sample size in this study it was hard to make
generalized statements about reasons females and
males give to enrolling in a STEM discipline.
• The unequal sample balance of males and females also
meant it was hard to compare the difference.
• Voluntary response bias may have occurred.
• Reliability and Validity were not known.
 FUTURE WORK
In the future, this study should be replicated to obtain a larger sample.

It would be interesting to find the reasons why females do not want to

study STEM fields.

Replicate study with high school students applying for college and
assess why they want to study a STEM major.

Look at degree levels individually as someone enrolling at

undergraduate level may have differing reason that someone enrolling
at graduate level.
 REFERENCES
Dasgupta, N., & Stout, J. G. (2014). Girls and women in
science, technology, engineering, and mathematics:
STEMing the tide and broadening participation in STEM
careers. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain
Sciences, 1(1), 21-29.
Gokhale, A. A., Rabe-Hemp, C., Woeste, L., & Machina, K.
(2015). Gender differences in attitudes towards science and
technology among majors. Journal of Science Education
and Technology, 24(4), 509-516.
Harris Interactive. (2011). STEM Perceptions: Student & parent
study. Retrieved from http://www.stemreports.com/why-
students-choose-stem/
National Science Foundation. (2017). Women, minorities, and
person with disabilities in science and engineering.
Retrieved from
https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2017/nsf17310/static/downloa
ds/nsf17310-digest.pdf
Snyder, T., & Dillow, S. (December 2013) Digest of Education
Statistics 2012 (NCES 2014-015). Washington, DC:
National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of
Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education.
Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2014/2014015.pdf
Xie, Y., Fang, M., & Shauman, K. (2015). STEM education.
Annual Review of Sociology, 41(1), 331-357.
QUESTIONS…