Proceedings of the 5th Global Conference on Education and Teaching
Year: 2023
DOI:
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Gender Gap in STEM-Related Fields: Analysis in Undergraduate Students
Ana Isabel Fraguas Sánchez, Elena González-Burgos, Aikaterini Lalatsa, Dolores R. Serrano
ABSTRACT:
Despite the efforts to increase gender diversity, women are still underrepresented in STEMrelated fields, in both undergraduate and postgraduate studies. This is very problematic as the market labor demands professionals with STEM-related skills, limiting the professional opportunities of women. Here, we analyzed the factors that lead students to select or discard STEM-related disciplines from an equality perspective. This work has been funded by the “Instituto de la Mujer” (ref:48-13-ID22). A pilot study was carried out among baccalaureate students (second year) of a public high school in the Community of Madrid. A total of 36 students participated in this study. Fifty percent of the participants were enrolled in the Science and Technology Baccalaureate, being most of them (55%) women. However, only 19% of the participants planned to enroll in STEM disciplines at university. Around 71% of these students are men. Although most of the participants (88%) considered that gender does not influence the skillset required for some disciplines, they considered that gender influences studies choice, indicating the existence of gender stereotypes at this level.
keywords: baccalaureate, gender equality, gender stereotypes, STEM disciplines, undergraduate students