Graduate Degree Aspiration among Female College Students in STEM Fields

• In Event: 3429 - Section on Sociology of Education Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 15. Higher Education: STEM

Abstract

Although the number of women in the U.S. workforce has increased within the past several decades, women remain an underrepresented group in STEM occupations (Robnett, 2016; Starr, 2018). Women now represent less than 30% of the STEM workforce worldwide and just over 32% of the STEM workforce in North America (UNESCO, 2018). However, women represent well over 50% of all bachelor’s degree earners in colleges and universities in the United States (NSF NCES, 2017). When evaluating STEM majors in college, women are underrepresented as compared to their male counterparts (Xu, 2016). Therefore, colleges and universities must address gender inequities of in STEM academic fields (Diekman, 2015; Gumpertz, Durodoye, Griffith, & Wilson, 2017; Hernandez, Woodcock, Schultz, Estrada, & Chance, 2013; Laursen, Austin, Soto, & Martinez, 2015). To respond to the high demand for skilled workers in the United States, particularly in STEM careers, higher education institutions should further our understanding of the underrepresentation of women in STEM graduate programs (Xu, 2016) to maximize our human capacity.
Using a statewide college student dataset, this study seeks to answer the following research questions:
1) What is the level of graduate degree aspiration among STEM female students? How does the level differ from their male counterparts?
2) What college environments and experiences contribute to higher level of graduate degree aspiration among STEM female students? How are these contributing factors different from those for their male peers?

Authors

• Young K. Kim, Azusa Pacific University

• David Edens, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

• Marie Christie Dam, Los Angeles Trade Technical College

• Emi M. Kamei, University of Southern California