Young Women Face Disadvantage to Enrollment in University STEM Coursework Regardless of Prior Achievement and Attitudes

We evaluated STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) coursework selection by women and men (representative longitudinal sample, 10,370 Australians) in senior high school and university, controlling achievement and expectancy-value variables. A near-zero total effect of gender on hig...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAmerican educational research journal Vol. 56; no. 5; pp. 1629 - 1680
Main Authors Marsh, Herbert W., Van Zanden, Brooke, Parker, Philip D., Guo, Jiesi, Conigrave, James, Seaton, Marjorie
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publishing 01.10.2019
SAGE Publications
American Educational Research Association
Subjects
Academic Achievement
Biological Sciences
Children & youth
College Science
College Students
Colleges & universities
Course Selection (Students)
Disadvantaged
Educational attainment
Educational research
Enrollment
Enrollments
Enrolment
Expectancy value theory
Expectation
Females
Foreign Countries
Gender
Gender Differences
Gender issues
High School Students
Higher education
Longitudinal Studies
Males
Physical Sciences
Secondary schools
Self Efficacy
STEM Education
Student Attitudes
Subject selection (Students)
Surveys
Upper secondary years
Women
Australia
STEM enrollment
expectancy value theory
gender
educational attainment
science education
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ISSN0002-8312
1935-1011
DOI10.3102/0002831218824111

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Summary:We evaluated STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) coursework selection by women and men (representative longitudinal sample, 10,370 Australians) in senior high school and university, controlling achievement and expectancy-value variables. A near-zero total effect of gender on high school STEM enrollment reflected pathways favoring boys through achievement and expectancy-value variables, but a counteracting direct effect of gender favoring girls. In contrast, subsequent university STEM enrollment favored boys. In both high school and university, enrollments favored girls in life sciences and boys in physical sciences, but at university there was a leaky pipeline in which girls who qualified to pursue physical sciences opted for non-STEM subjects. Qualitative analysis not only supported quantitative results but also highlighted alternative mechanisms of STEM engagement/disengagement, and mostly supported gender similarities rather than differences.
Bibliography:Refereed article. Includes bibliographical references.
American Educational Research Journal; v.56 n.5 p.1629-1680; October 2019
ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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ISSN:0002-8312
1935-1011
DOI:10.3102/0002831218824111