Is Stem Education A Stereotype Threat?

Women have always been viewed as the weaker sex, and society will continue to view them that way unless they do something about it. In the essay “When Bright Girls Decide that Math is a Waste of time”, the author Susan Jacoby discusses the problems women steering clear of math and science subjects because of the traditional view of a woman. She focused on what causes high school girls to focus on arts courses instead of STEM courses and what are the effects of it on themselves. The underlying discrimination amongst boys and girls, stereotypical thinking of parents and teachers that girls are not good at math eventually decreases the self-confidence among girls to solve science and math problems.

The force of societal stereotypes is a large part of this gap. Instead of joining STEM careers, the most common careers among women are secretaries, nurses, and elementary and middle school teachers (Mandell). This truly illustrates that when well-rounded, talented women have the choice, they are inclined to delve into the field in which society expects them to belong. In this way, the stereotype of women not being involved in STEM is forcing less women to be involved in these fields. The deficiency of women in technical fields, despite their well-roundedness and ability, can be directly related to unyielding cultural stereotypes that stigmatize women in supposedly masculine fields.

In a speech in February 2013 President Barak Obama said, “One of the things that I really strongly believe in is that we need to have more girls interested in math, science, and engineering. We’ve got half the population that is way underrepresented in those fields and that means that we’ve got a whole bunch of talent…not being encouraged the way they need to.” It been three years since President Obama has made that statement and the underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering and math as known as STEM majors is still a big problem today. The STEM workforce is crucial to Americas global competitiveness and groundbreaking capability. The people who work in the STEM field make up nearly half of the United

The stated prerogative is to introduce slow yet lasting change and to integrate more women and people of color within the STEM field; however, the plan for change, and the reason for its perceived need to be slow is nowhere addressed; , suggesting that it is rather the reluctance of men to relinquish control and allow feminization of the field (Tepperman and Curtis, 2012). Reports of these initiatives claim to be struggling struggle in attracting and keeping women within the STEM field. Yet by shifting the blame on women, the inaction taken by scientific institutions to reform the patriarchal ideals dominating the scientific realm is justified (Tepperman and Curtis, 2012). In addition, the economic paradigm that western society is built around is one that necessitates inequality to function. The Neoliberal welfare is instrumental in constructing gender

STEM is the study of Science, Engineering, Technology and Mathematics. These subjects are stereotypical of male dominated subjects leaving the women in health sciences and the arts.

This report navigates the current state of STEM demographic in the country. It examines the reasons why there are less females undertaking STEM majors and gives recommendations on the problems. A brief history on STEM is outlined and the discussion follows with in depth analysis on the subject. STEM is a very critical education discipline with an importance in the economy of the country. Much as it is important, few students choose a career path in STEM. Although, there are more than 50% female students in Colleges and Universities, 12% take STEM related course. Why is this? This report is a compilation of empirical data collected in journals on the same subject explaining

(Hill). The reasons behind why the numbers of women in STEM may be lower than men can be due to stereotype threat and implicit bias (Hill). A stereotype threat can occur during situations which a negative stereotype relates to evaluating performance (Hill). For example, if a female student starts thinking about the stereotype that women are not good at math, the emotional worry about this stereotype may affect her performance while taking a math test (Hill). Even if a person denies gender and science stereotypes they still can have them as unconscious beliefs, which are implicit biases (Hill). The "Implicit Association Tests (IATs)… indicate strong implicit association of male with science and female with arts… among both women and men of all races and ethnicities" (Hill). The stereotyping whether done unconsciously or consciously still affects the number of women pursuing an education or career in STEM. Recently, in my introduction to psychology II course I took and IAT on gender and science and the result suggests that I have a slight automatic association for Male with Science and Female with Liberal

Technology and science aren’t just for men – but we knew that already, right? Then why don’t we hear more about women in these fields? Perhaps, it is because there is a lack of precedence in including young female students in STEM programs. It’s important for the future to encourage students to follow their interests and establish a safe STEM-centric environment for them to experiment in. It’s with this belief in mind that fischertechnik Education decided to donate a collection of fischertechnik Mini Bot sets to the NYC SPARX organization. NYC SPARX is an incredible, free New York City Park’s program dedicated to helping girls of all ages and abilities explore the world of science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM).

How Stereotypes Can Drive Women to Quit Science was an intriguing article. From first hand experience of being a girl who enjoys science, I can say that none of the "guys are better than girls at..." stereotypes have ever affected me. All girls have what it takes to be engineers, but not all girls enjoy math and science. I agree with the last line of the article, "in order to boost the numbers of women who choose to go into those fields, you have to boost the number of women who are in those fields." This is typical human nature and applies to everything. I went to an arcade last night with my close friend. We were the only two older kids in the arcade and we felt uncomfortable, but then, we went and played laser tag and all of the sudden,

In his video, A Brief History of Sexism in Science, by Michio Kaku made a point that women can easily be shut out of the science field. He told a story of a woman who was not given the opportunity to succeed within her field. He brings up a good point that girls and women are often pushed out or not encouraged to purse science fields. Reading 6, Chilly Classrooms for Female Undergraduate Students, makes the case that female students are not given the educational equality that others are given. Women are often academically discouraged, favoring men over women, and discouraging women in front of male peers and faculty. There is also lack of representation within the field, so it is hard for women and other disadvantaged groups to get ahead, since

Throughout the years, males have dominated the academic disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) with very few females finding their way in the mix (Steinberg, Okun, & Aiken, 2012). Those females enrolling in the STEM majors soon find themselves questioning why they have, and many quickly change their majors to more female-accepting professions (Steele, James, & Barnett, 2002). The view that women lack the intellect to succeeded in STEM disciplines has been a prevailing one for much of history (Cadinu, Maass, Rosabianca, & Kiesner, 2005). Many researchers have questioned whether it is social stigma impeding female success or indeed basic biological differences that make males are more successful

One area where structural sexism exists and has an impact on women today is in education. Until recently, approximately the same number of male and females were graduating high school and earning college degrees. However, that trend has been gradually changing. More women are now enrolling into colleges and universities and many women have higher educations than that of their husbands. The structural sexism component does not stem so much from the levels of education between men and women, but more about what career fields and professions women are continuing to pursue. Men still far outnumber women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) professions. According to Understanding Social Problems, “reasons for the STEM gender

Over time it has become increasingly clear that women are often less valued in the workforce than their male counterparts. Troubling research conducted by New York University suggests that work done by women simply isn’t valued as that of a mans; once women start doing a job,“It just doesn’t look like it’s as important to the bottom line or requires as much skill” causing a,“gender bias [to] sneak into decisions.” The United States of America stresses the importance of equal pay and opportunity to any gender despite the field of working to better ensure peace and unity in all countries around the world. Female citizens in United States working in the STEM fields find it frustrating to work just as hard as men yet be less valued. This issue not only affects the United States of America, but affects all women around world. False stereotypes such as, “boys are better at math than girls” causes able, educated women to be oppressed, as we see in many countries, and subjected to gender roles; further increasing the gender gap in STEM fields.

To look more closely at the issue, I have structured my paper into four main sections. In the first section I will discuss prominent current issues in the STEM field, and how women play a part. I will then go on to discuss solutions to those problems and how the gender gap can be closed. To conclude I will restate the issue and what can be done in the future to resolve the problem.

The gender gap is a commonly debated issue, is it real, is it fake? In the STEM fields, it is all too real. As women in the science, technology, engineering, and math fields are fewer than their male counterparts. The gender gap can be broken down into rhetorical analysis concepts such as ethos and logos. Ethos (ethics) is easily exhibited through unequal opportunities while logos (logic) can be demonstrated by data presented in studies. Gender bias is not as talked about as it should be, but rather we focus on race and ethnicity bias more. As a result, gender is often overlooked as a minority classification; however, it is included in the civil rights amendment making it a possibility of discrimination. Thus, bias stems from institutional discrimination, which is when the customary way of doing things, prevailing attitudes and expectations, and expected structural arrangements work to the disadvantage of some groups (Eitzen 195). This, as a result, has discouraged many women from challenging these discriminatory ideas, especially in the STEM fields. More often than not women in these fields do not hold the same prestige positions as their male counterparts, as well as experiencing a lower pay for the same amount of work.