How Inclusive are STEM Doctorate Fields?

• In Event: 4451 - Section on Sociology of Education Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 min): Table 12: Gender Inequality

Abstract

In response to the extant literature which provides limited knowledge on field-level contexts through aggregated STEM/nonSTEM comparisons, this study examined how a field’s inclusivity varies across STEM subfields and changes across STEM doctorate cohorts. Three types of a field’s inclusivity were specified as demographic, academic, and career inclusivity based on doctorate recipient compositions by demographics, academic majors, and time gaps between baccalaureate and doctorate receipts. Analyzing the 2017 National Survey of College Graduates, this study found that inclusivity varies within STEM. Bio/life sciences showed the greatest gender inclusivity, while physical/chemical sciences demonstrated the lowest academic inclusivity, having PhDs who majored in identical fields for baccalaureates. Engineering showed the least career inclusivity, including PhDs with exceptionally short time gaps between baccalaureate and doctorate receipts. Among STEM fields increasingly internationalizing their doctorate cohorts over the past two decades between 1995 and 2014, physical/chemical sciences slightly decreased its academic inclusivity, while bio/life sciences gradually increased it. Providing field inclusivities’ within-STEM variations and cross-cohort changes, the findings highlight the importance of field-specific contexts and STEM fields’ change potential.

Author

• Yun Kyung Cho, University of Wisconsin - Madison