Abstract
We examine factors contributing to the gender gap in employment in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) among men and women with bachelor’s degrees in computer science and engineering, the two largest and most male-dominated STEM fields. Data come from the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Scientists and Engineers Statistical Data System (SESTAT) from 1995 to 2008. Different factors are associated with persistence in STEM jobs among computer science and engineering degree holders. Conditional on receiving a degree in computer science, women are 14 percentage points less likely to work in STEM than their male counterparts. Controlling for demographic and family characteristics did little to change this gender gap. Women with degrees in engineering are approximately 8 percentage points less likely to work in STEM than men, although about half of this gap is explained by observed differences between men and women. We document a widening gender gap in STEM employment in computer science, but this gender gap narrows across college cohorts among those with degrees in engineering. Among recent computer science graduates, the gender gap in STEM employment for white, Hispanic, and black women relative to white men is even larger than for older graduates. Gender and race gaps in STEM employment for recent cohorts of engineering graduates are generally small, though younger Asian women and men no longer have an employment advantage relative to white men. Our results suggest that a one-size-fits-all approach to increasing women’s representation in the most male-dominated STEM fields may not work.
Highlights
During the later third of the 20th century, the science and technology labor force diversified in important ways
The gap is slightly narrower if we restrict our definition of “working in STEM” to include only working in computer science-related occupations (52% vs. 40%), reflecting the fact that male computer science majors are slightly more likely to be working in STEM occupations outside of the main computer science field
Gender gaps in working in STEM are largest among whites and Asians; women are approximately 15 percentage points less likely to be working in STEM than their male counterparts in both of these groups
Summary
During the later third of the 20th century, the science and technology labor force diversified in important ways. Degree receipt alone is not an adequate proxy of success in increasing shares of women in employment, as numerous studies make clear (e.g., Corbett and Hill 2015; Glass et al 2013; Sassler et al 2017) How these demographic shifts in the composition of STEM graduates have affected the gender gap in employment in STEM is an empirical question. Our results suggest that the barriers to employment for women in computer science likely differ from those deterring even larger increases in women’s representation in engineering Such findings highlight the very real need to address roadblocks—such as a challenging and often unwelcoming work climate, gender bias and discriminatory treatment, and the negation of relationship and family responsibilities—that deter more women from majoring in and remaining in computer science jobs
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