A Permeable Pipeline? Gender and the Processes of Joining and Persisting in STEM Majors in College

• In Event: 291 - Regular Session. Race, Gender, and SES Differences in STEM Education

Abstract

The imagery associated with the production of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics majors is frequently that of a “pipeline.” Although it has been criticized, this image assumes that there is a single point of intake into the pipeline and that once in the pipeline, students confront a similar set of challenges and obstacles in the process of earning a STEM degree. In this paper, we use a unique dataset on a statewide cohort of students that traces their academic experiences from seventh grade until college graduation in the public education system. The NC Roots of STEM dataset allows us to examine to what extent the pipeline imagery holds and whether it operates in similar ways for men and women. We find that students’ intent to major in high school is a significant predictor of the majors they declare, but that young men are significantly more likely than young women to major in physical sciences, engineering, and mathematics fields than are young women, even among those students who expressed an intent to major in those fields during high school. Furthermore, young men are significantly more likely to “join” those fields than young women are, indicating that the entry into STEM fields is more permeable for men than it is for women. 

Authors

• Elizabeth Stearns, University of North Carolina-Charlotte

• Martha Cecilia Bottia, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

• Nandan Jha, Sam Houston State University

• Roslyn A. Mickelson, University of North Carolina-Charlotte

• Stephanie Moller, University of North Carolina at Charlotte