Abstract
Fewer women than men pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), despite girls outperforming boys at school in the relevant subjects. According to the ‘variability hypothesis’, this over-representation of males is driven by gender differences in variance; greater male variability leads to greater numbers of men who exceed the performance threshold. Here, we use recent meta-analytic advances to compare gender differences in academic grades from over 1.6 million students. In line with previous studies we find strong evidence for lower variation among girls than boys, and of higher average grades for girls. However, the gender differences in both mean and variance of grades are smaller in STEM than non-STEM subjects, suggesting that greater variability is insufficient to explain male over-representation in STEM. Simulations of these differences suggest the top 10% of a class contains equal numbers of girls and boys in STEM, but more girls in non-STEM subjects.
Highlights
Fewer women than men pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), despite girls outperforming boys at school in the relevant subjects
Girls tend to earn higher school grades than boys, including in STEM subjects[6], so why does this advantage not transfer into the workforce? The variability hypothesis, called the greater male variability hypothesis, has been used to explain this apparent contradiction7—it is based on the tendency for males to show greater variability than females for psychological traits[8], leading to relatively fewer females with exceptional ability[10]
Fifty-two percent of the effect sizes were for ‘global’ grades (i.e. GPA), 26% were for STEM, 19% for non-STEM and 3% for miscellaneous subjects
Summary
Fewer women than men pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), despite girls outperforming boys at school in the relevant subjects. The gender differences in both mean and variance of grades are smaller in STEM than non-STEM subjects, suggesting that greater variability is insufficient to explain male over-representation in STEM Simulations of these differences suggest the top 10% of a class contains equal numbers of girls and boys in STEM, but more girls in non-STEM subjects. Self-concept is heavily influenced by school achievement[1,4], and high-performing students are more likely to pursue well-paid careers, such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)-based jobs[5]. This, when combined with stereotype threat and the risk of backlash for behaving against gender stereotypes[13], could deter girls from pursuing a STEM-related career If gender differences in variability were impacting girls’ decisions to pursue STEM, we would expect to see these differences reflected in school grades
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