Exploring the Gender Gap: Motivation, Procrastination, Environment, and Academic Performance in an Introductory Physics Course in a Human-Centered Private University in Northeast Mexico—A Case Study

Abstract

Progress has been made in recent decades toward achieving gender equality, but today, the gender gap is still noticeable, especially in STEM fields. In support of Goal 5 of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda: achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls, we analyze the context of a private university in northeastern Mexico using a sample of 249 students (157 males and 92 females) enrolled in the first-year engineering course Physics I. The sample presents better academic performance in favor of women by the end of the course as reported through the final course score (F); thus, we explore potential gender differences in student profiles, such as their motivation and level of procrastination using Kruskal–Wallis correlation tests, and measuring the effect size with Cohen’s d. Our tests reported here reveal significant differences in extrinsic motivation (EMO) and intrinsic motivation (IMO), where females obtained higher means in IMO, while males reported higher levels of procrastination (PRO). Contrary to other cases in the literature, the sample presents better academic performance in favor of women. Our findings here aim to encourage programs and strategies that strengthen women’s intrinsic motivation to support women’s empowerment and keep reducing the gender gap.

The Perception of Educators on Gender Equality: A Study in Ecuador

“…Today, educators also pay attention to gender equality, for example, through initiatives to encourage more women to enter science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields (Martínez-Huerta et al 2024;Panetta and Williams 2018). Despite this, boys outperform girls in mathematics, with an even larger gap among higher-achieving students and with possible consequences for the under-representation of women in highly profitable fields (OCDE 2022;UNESCO 2022;Amorós-Poveda and Bernárdez-Gómez 2024).…”