The labour supply of women in STEM

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to assess the determinants of female labour supply in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). To account for selection problems, a special type of grouping estimator and a control function approach are implemented. Using data from EU-SILC, the author finds that women, especially mothers, in STEM work more hours, but have a higher probability of being out of the labour force. The estimation results show furthermore that women in STEM work less hours in countries with higher levels of family allowances. However, this effect is small in size compared to the overall effects of larger levels of expenditures on family allowance and child benefits. JEL Classification: J22; J24

Women and STEM in Europe and Central Asia

“…Although the effects of such segregation are not always negative for women, in many instances, segregation constrains women's employment choices and their access to higher-level jobs, while facilitating the undervaluation of female-dominated occupations (Burchell et al, 2014). Moreover, when examined closely, as will be done in the upcoming sections of this report, the disproportionately lower shares of women in STEM do not appear to be associated with issues of performance or ability but rather with preferences and aspirations (Schlenker, 2015). This is a similar trend as to why men are not encountered in care-related professions as frequently as women -which is a subject that has been associated with the societal worth of these 'feminine' professions.…”

“…STEM professions have also been dubbed as the jobs of the future since innovation is mostly derived from advances in STEM-related disciplines. Employees of STEM occupations help drive innovation and competitiveness by generating new ideas and building new companies with these new ideas (Schlenker, 2015). Recent empirical research has documented that inventors are more likely to be educated in STEM fields compared to the average individual (Jung and Ejermo, 2014;Aghion et al, 2016;Bell et al, 2016;Akcigit, Grigsby and Nicholas, 2017).…”

“…Based on a recent study, if women held digital jobs as frequently as men did, gains for European GDP each year would amount to 9 billion EUR (European Commission, 2013). In times of aging societies and shrinking labor forces, and in the context of economies that are increasingly knowledge-driven, the quantity and quality of workers in the key industries encompassed within the STEM category become especially critical for future growth and welfare (Schlenker, 2015). In the EU context, the capitalization of the potential and talent of women are needed to achieve the employment target set in the Europe 2020 strategy (Paniscu and Mladen, 2015).…”

Modelo de ecuaciones estructurales, alternativa para medir el fenómeno de las mujeres STEM en México

“…La inequidad de género en los campos laborales puede llegar a disuadir fuertemente a las mujeres que han obtenido títulos y grados académicos para ingresar, avanzar y perseverar en los escenarios dominados por hombres (Okahana y Hao, 2019). Investigaciones realizadas por Castaño, Lubiano y García (2020) y Schlenker (2015) indican que las mujeres que son madres trabajan más horas en los campos de STEM; a pesar de ello, tienen mayor probabilidades de estar fuera de la fuerza laboral. La segregación laboral es un problema de igualdad de género que acarrea serias consecuencias que pueden orillar a las mujeres a vivir en pobreza.…”

Spatial Training and Calculus Ability: Investigating Impacts on Student Performance and Cognitive Style

“…Unfortunately, the demographics of STEM graduates have been stagnant in recent years (Stieff & Uttal, 2015). In particular, women are often underrepresented in STEM fields in North America and Europe (Nimmesgern, 2016;Schlenker, 2015), and those who do undertake STEM studies seem to have a higher probability of not working Journal of Educational Research and Practice 318 in STEM occupations after graduation when compared to men (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Develelopment [OECD], 2012).…”