South Asian Female Students and Selection of Science Programs (STEM) in the University of Toronto

• In Event: 28.035 - Diverse Learning and Computational Spaces Across STEM Context

Abstract

Using the concept of Bourdieu’s habitus, this paper explores South-Asian (SA) female students’ selection of Science Programs (STEM) in the university after finishing their high-school. The study uses quantitative research method and using a secondary dataset (University of Toronto-TDSB) examines if the decisions to select STEM in the university are similar between Canadian born SA female students and the immigrant SA female students. The results show that to enter and attain a higher GPA is challenging for STEM yet slightly more number of immigrant SA female students choose STEM. This suggests that the aspirations for SA families are based on their previous habitus that value STEM as more prestigious, however the trend diminishes in the second generation of SA families.

Author

• Norin Taj, University of Toronto