The Value of Transfer of Knowledge in Bridging the Gender Gap in STEM

Abstract

Spanish researchers’ recent evaluations regarding the transfer of knowledge have shown that activities that could help close the gender gap in STEM areas are penalized upon evaluation. The results were very disappointing and, upon inspection, could lead readers to reach certain conclusions: first, Spanish researchers transfer research to society in a mediocre way; second, female researchers are even less capable of transferring knowledge in a profitable, beneficial way; and third, activities without a high economic impact for either society or research institutions are not promoted and do not boost the prestige of researchers in this research area. With the help of an ad hoc questionnaire responded to by 513 researchers (both male and female), we examined the causes of the low scores received by female researchers and whether transfer of knowledge activities focused on promoting STEM among female students end up penalizing the female researchers dedicated to those activities. This issue is compounded by the problem of the low visibility of female role models for young female students. The conscientious analysis of the results of the questionnaire may help to improve the fairness of future application rounds, avoiding subsequent disastrous results and encouraging researchers and administrators to work toward fostering an equal society, even if no economic value is directly derived from female-led research.

Gender Disparity in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Programs at Jordanian Universities

“…Boys are expected to prefer competitive and active activities, while girls are expected to prefer communal and helping activities [55]. Other researchers [56] add that women appear to be active in the transfer of knowledge (TOK) than men do as they participate more in informal interactions (i.e., media) promoting TOK and less in other types of activities that may involve the creation of companies and spin-offs via patent trading. These socially influenced values impact both genders' future choices regarding their education as well as their social or academic preferences.…”

Two Perspectives on the Gender Gap in Computer Engineering: From Secondary School to Higher Education

“…As future work, we plan to improve this study by considering a more psychological approach, including variables relating to cognitive models by gender or a social approach, including variables with respect to the socio-economical level of the family of the students and other demographic variables in line with those proposed by [19]. Activities focused on promoting STEM among female students are crucial; however, the problem is that the work of female researchers promoting STEM areas would be more valued, as López and Pereira indicated in [35].…”

Gender diversity in editorial boards of scientific journals. Some earth science case studies for a geoethical reflection

“…Upon analyzing the different disproportionate situations, it seems that female researchers are not properly validating their efforts in science, including Geology. Female researchers fair worse when assessing knowledge transfer because a good part of what is transferred is dedicated to social advances (López and Pereira, 2021). These same authors have identified that many women participate in disseminating the importance of science by giving seminars and special sessions for girls and female students, which is of capital importance when working on girls' mentorship.…”