It is often seen that STEM has a very high barrier for entry, but is that the case?

A Math Identity

One explanation for gender differences in STEM participation may lie with those societal stereotypes about who a mathematician or scientist is.

When girls come aware of the cultural message that male is better in math, it reduces their confidence when working with math and technology regardless of their academic performance

Societal Stereotypes

Many societal stereotypes including gender, race, ethnicity, and physical traits have been long ingrained in our society. All of the images that represent scientists and mathematicians are male. All of the famous

 

Lack of Role Models

Among STEM women’s perception of incompatibility between their gender and STEM, identities are related to the lesser sense of belonging, greater insecurity and less motivation. Following greater expectations of groping out of the stem. Same-gender role models seem to be more effective for the younger audience(K-12 education).

Lack of Time

In my survey results, almost half of the respondents said that they are hesitant to enter the STEM community due to their other co-curricular commitments such as sports and arts. It becomes especially challenging when other co-curricular activities such as athletics require students to start young. However, STEM is quite the opposite. It becomes difficult for students to find time to participate in STEM when their schedule is already packed with other co-curricular they have been doing for years.

Let’s hear what my interviewees said…

Many of them are just high school students, but they have so much they wish to express. This is a condensed version of our interview. We hope that through these unique experiences, you are able to gain a more concrete idea about the current status of the gender gaps in the STEM industry.

  • Marie is a Grade 10 student who shows great interest in the biology field. She said that the reason she chose biology is because of her older cousin who is currently attending medical school. Marie looks up to them as her role models and hopes to become one of them someday.

  • Gabe is a post-graduate who specializes in computer engineering. He said that he has always found passion in building things, and being able to do so in a professional capacity was his dream.

    Gabe believes that it would be much more beneficial if the schools gave students more time to explore their interests after they graduate high school.

  • Donn works as a technology integrator at an all-girls high school. During our interview, he said, “a lot of choices seem to come from what is required from universities, less so about what they are interested in”. Over the years of teaching, Donn noticed that when students begin to give up on math in gr 5 and 6, it becomes harder to pull them back in.

  • As a high school student who is interested in linguistics, Sarah said that she often felt pressured to excel in STEM subjects due to her ethnicity. She did make an attempt to enter the STEM field but soon withdrew due to the unwelcomingness present from other STEM students.

  • Angelina is also a high school student who is working on over a dozen projects related to STEM. After noticing the lack of female representation in STEM fields in many competitions, Angelina was inspired to go the opposite way. Some of her competition experiences were really patronizing, many others think it is out of the ordinary for girls to win STEM competitions.