Challenges and Opportunities for Women in Science: A Conversation across Disciplines

Abstract

Gender gaps in the academic Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) labor market have been called out for at least two decades. And yet, our understanding of the challenges remains fragmented. A central contention that remains, for example, is to what degree women's under-representation stems from choice or structural constraints. Opportunities for improving women's prospects in STEM fields appear, perhaps as a corollary, even less well documented and articulated. In this symposium, we engage scholars across the disciplines of economics, management, psychology, and sociology in a discourse on the challenges and opportunities for women in STEM. We include five empirical papers that address questions rooted in potential challenges, like gendered career choices and biased credit allocation, and surface sex differences in teaming and in the pursuit of science more generally that could hold opportunities for addressing aspects of the gender gap. Following the presentations, Alice Eagly and Olav Sorenson will serve as discussants, providing a synthesis of the papers and offering further theoretical insights into potential mechanisms that may produce the observed phenomena. Set on Different Paths? Gender Differences in PhD Experiences and Career Goals Presenter: Henry Sauermann; ESMT European School of Management and Technology Presenter: Michael Roach; Cornell Gender Differences in Recognition for Group Work Presenter: Heather Sarsons; Harvard U. Team Selection, Productivity, and the Gender Gap in Science Presenter: Marc Lerchenmueller; Yale U. Presenter: Karin Hoisl; Mannheim U. Presenter: Leo Schmallenbach; Mannheim U. Sex Differences in How Scientists Present the Importance of Their Research Presenter: Marc Lerchenmueller; Yale U. Presenter: Anupam Jena; Harvard Medical School Presenter: Olav Sorenson; Yale U. Gender Differences in Publications and Patenting: Does Scientific Style Matter? Presenter: Isabel Fernandez-Mateo; London Business School Presenter: Michael A. Bikard; London Business School