CRIS Scientific Seminar 2023-2024

Friday, November 10th 2023, 11:30 am
Sciences Po, Room K008 (1 St Thomas)

The Changing and Uneven Landscape of Gender Gaps in STEM

Joseph Cimpian
Professor of Economics and Education Policy, New York University

Gender disparities in science, technology, engireering and mathematics (STEM) college majors have received substantial attention, with varying gender gaps across fields.
While biology and mathematics approach a 1-to-1 male-to-female ratio, physics, engineering, and computer science (PECS) remain at a 4-to-1 gap.

This talk explores potential causes and solutions for the PECS gender disparity.

Surprisingly, low-achieving men outnumber women in PECS, which cannot be easily explained by student-level factors suggested in the literature. With this background, we turn to understanding the role of institutions in perpetuating or closing gender gaps.

Analyzing a near census of 34 million U.S. Bachelor’s degrees awarded from 2002 to 2022 reveals considerable disparities across institutions. Schools serving lower-achieving students witness a widening PECS male-to-female ratio, reaching 7:1, while those with higher-achieving students narrow the gap to below 2:1.

Despite accounting for key student-level factors including prior achievement and majoring intentions, institutional differences persist, emphasizing the need for interventions in institutions serving lower-achieving students, where men dominate PECS programs.

Please register here!