Results at a Glance

• Author: McNally, Sandra
• Pages: 2-2

2

Results at a Glance

The share of women achieving tertiary education has increased rapidly over time

and now exceeds that of men. Yet they are severely under-represented in maths-

intensive science fields (generally known as science, technology, engineering and maths

or STEM). Because of the economic i mportance attached to these fields, it is important

to encourage more women to enter and remain in rel evant subject areas throughout

their education. This wo uld also reduce occupationa l segregation and th e gender wage

gap, as maths-intensive fields are well-paid on average.

This report presents some common themes with policy relevance that emerge from the

literature. It must be noted that policy design needs to be sensiti ve to the country and

specific educational system and that , as factors work cumul atively and in combination,

there is no single factor that can be recommended to change these patterns in a

substantial way. Areas for policy interventions to increase participation of girls and

women in some maths-intensive STEM fields and transition to the respective jobs

include:

 Improving the confidence levels of girls in maths-intensive subjects and attitudes

to competitiveness;

 Better careers informati on and guidance in schools and universities, thus

challenging the stereotypes about certain STEM-related occupations being

perceived as ‘feminine’ or ‘masculine’ in order to help both boys and girls achieve

their potential;

 Structural reforms such as:

o More opportunities to learn computer programming, engineering and

physics in upper secondary education, being careful to desig n the

curriculum to diversify the image of these subjects beyond common

stereotypes;

o Curriculum reforms that allow i ndividuals to combine different STEM a nd

non-STEM subjects;

o Recruitment policies for more balanced STEM faculty composition in

higher education along gender lines.

o Teacher training to prevent cl assroom an d gra ding biases and improve

the ‘female friendliness’ of educational environments.

General findings of the literature i nclude the positive effect of femal e STEM role

models via female STEM professors, academic science advisors and the importance o f

negating stereotyping through diversifyi ng the image of STEM professi onals, especially

in engineering and ICT.

Much attention has been devoted to trying to understand the reasons for the

gender segregation within STEM. More detailed European data by further disaggregation

by field of study is warranted for policymaking. A further need for consolidation is in the

evaluation of interventions to encourage more girls and women to enter and stay in

STEM fields. Much more needs to be done to conduct studies wi th scientific rigour and

to collate and disseminate high quality evaluations to inform what is known and

implemented to improve female engagement in maths-i ntensive STEM fields.