Men, women and STEM: Why the differences and what should be done?

Abstract

It is a well-known and widely lamented fact that men outnumber women in a number of fields in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths). The most commonly discussed explanations for the gender gaps are discrimination and socialization, and the most common policy prescriptions target those ostensible causes. However, a great deal of evidence in the behavioural sciences suggests that discrimination and socialization are only part of the story. The purpose of this paper is to highlight other aspects of the story: aspects that are commonly overlooked or downplayed. More precisely, the paper has two main aims. The first is to examine the evidence that factors other than workplace discrimination contribute to the gender gaps in STEM. These include relatively large average sex differences in career and lifestyle preferences, and relatively small average differences in cognitive aptitudes – some favouring males, others favouring females – which are associated with progressively larger differences the further above the average one looks. The second aim is to examine the evidence suggesting that these sex differences are not purely a product of social factors but also have a substantial biological (i.e. inherited) component. A more complete picture of the causes of the unequal sex ratios in STEM may productively inform policy discussions.

The stereotype that girls lack talent: A worldwide investigation

“…This is in line with the 6- and 7-year-old girls by Bian et al ’s ( 5 ) study who thought that girls get better grades in school than boys. It shows that girls can at the same time internalize a lack of talent, and a higher ability to succeed at school, confirming that the two lines of research that have examined these different stereotypes [Leslie et al ( 3 ) on the one hand and Stewart-Williams and Halsey ( 16 ) on the other hand] are not in contradiction with each other. Together, these results illustrate the specificity of GTS , which does not deal with plain ability at school but with the lack of a special aptitude, that cannot be taught.…”

“…Other scholars, like Stewart-Williams and Halsey ( 16 ), have come to the conclusion that men suffer from a stereotype of lower ability in educational contexts. According to Hartley and Sutton ( 17 ), by 4 years of age, girls tend to assume that boys are academically inferior, and by 7, boys assume the same thing.…”

“…Teachers tend to view their female students as superior at math and reading ( 18 ). Stewart-Williams and Halsey ( 16 ) conclude that “It is far from obvious that on balance, stereotypes about academic ability favor boys more than girls.”…”

A meta‐analysis of sex differences in animal personality: no evidence for the greater male variability hypothesis

“…The causes and consequences of sex differences in behavioural variability have, however, been widely debated in the social sciences (e.g. Stewart‐Williams & Halsey, 2021). For example, sex differences in variability in academic performance (Machin & Pekkarinen, 2008) or the classroom (Baye & Monseur, 2016; O'Dea et al ., 2018; Gray et al ., 2019) have been attributed to sex differences in variability in intelligence (Arden & Plomin, 2006; Johnson, Deary & Carothers, 2008), psychological state (Archer, 2019), creativity (Ju, Duan & You, 2015), aggressiveness (Deary et al ., 2003), personality (Borkenau, McCrae & Terracciano, 2013 b ) and, ultimately, brain structure (Ritchie et al ., 2018; Wierenga et al ., 2020).…”

Do personality sex differences mirror personality differences across occupations?

“…The unequal sex-representation in people vs. things occupations, as well as in STEM vs. non-STEM positions, lead many researchers to hypothesize that the STEM vs. non-STEM divide mirrors the people-things dimension (e.g. : Lippa, Preston, & Penner, 2014;Stewart-Williams & Halsey, 2021). To our knowledge, few studies have tested this hypothesis directly.…”