Women in physics: A comparison to science, technology, engineering, and math education over four decades

Abstract

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Gender in Physics.] The dearth of women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields has been lamented by scholars, administrators, policymakers, and the general public for decades, and the STEM gender gap is particularly pronounced in physics. While previous research has demonstrated that this gap is largely attributable to a lack of women pursuing physics in college, prior research reveals little in terms of the characteristics and career interests of women who do plan to major in physics or how these traits have evolved over time. To address these gaps, this study utilized nationwide data on first-time, full-time college students to (1) document national trends in plans to major in physics among women entering college, (2) document the career aspirations of women who intend to major in physics, and (3) explore the characteristics of women who intend to major in physics and how this population has evolved across time. This study found that women's interest in physics has been consistently very low in the past four decades. The most popular career aspiration among women who plan to major in physics is research scientist, although this career aspiration is declining in popularity, while increasing numbers of women say that they are undecided in their career choice. Further, this study identifies a distinctive profile of the average female physics student as compared to women in other STEM fields and women across all majors. Women who plan to pursue a physics major tend to be confident in their math abilities, value college as an opportunity to learn, plan to attend graduate school, and desire to make theoretical contributions to science. However, they are less likely than women in other fields to have a social activist orientation. These findings have important implications for scholars, educators, administrators, and policymakers as they seek to recruit more women into the physics field.

Disciplinary Field Specificity and Variation in the STEM Gender Gap

“…Women across different STEM subfields have been shown to indicate a range of career goals. Recent studies have found that most women in engineering majors do go into engineering careers, and most women in the biological sciences aspire to earn a terminal medical degree and go into health care; however, women in computing and physical sciences are more diffuse in their career interests (Kahn & Ginther, ; Lehman et al., ; Morgan, Gelbgiser, & Weeden, ; Sax et al., ). Similarly, women majoring in math are far less likely to be interested in continuing onto the graduate school in mathematics and are instead drawn to careers in business or K‐12 education (Sax et al., ; Snyder, Dillow, & Hoffman, ).…”

Gender-biased public perception of STEM fields, focusing on the influence of egalitarian attitudes toward gender roles

“…The underrepresentation of women can be seen around the world in science fields, but, in general, there are more women in the life sciences and fewer women in the physical sciences [Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2015]. A long-term survey in the US showed that the proportion of all first-year female college students who reported their intention to major in science fields (biology, computer science, engineering, math/statistics, and physics) differed depending on the field, but this figure had been consistently less than 20 percent for four decades, across all fields [Sax et al, 2016]. This study also showed that the number of female students who reported their intention to major in biology had increased from four to 16 percent from 1971 to 2011, but that the number of intended majors in physics, chemistry, and mathematics had remained at or below one percent for four decades.…”

The Status of Women in STEM in Higher Education: A Review of the Literature 2007–2017

“…There are now suggestions that the recruitment efforts should shift to certain subdisciplines of STEM (Heilbronner 2009) and focus specifically on computer science, engineering, and physics pipelines due to larger gender gaps Sax et al 2016;Su and Rounds 2015). Campbell (2011, 310) proposes a new model "Sequence of Life Events Leading to Career Choices," providing a linear progression which maps out a career path from grade school through career.…”