Abstract
We provide nationally representative estimates of sexual minority representation in STEM fields by studying 142,641 men and women in same-sex couples from the 2009-2018 American Community Surveys. These data indicate that men in same-sex couples are 12 percentage points less likely to have completed a bachelor's degree in a STEM field compared to men in different-sex couples. On the other hand, there is no gap observed for women in same-sex couples compared to women in different-sex couples. The STEM degree gap between men in same-sex and different-sex couples is larger than the STEM degree gap between all white and black men but is smaller than the gender gap in STEM degrees. We also document a smaller but statistically significant gap in STEM occupations between men in same-sex and different-sex couples, and we replicate this finding by comparing heterosexual and gay men using independently drawn data from the 2013-2018 National Health Interview Surveys. These differences persist after controlling for demographic characteristics, location, and fertility. Finally, we document that gay male representation in STEM fields (measured using either degrees or occupations) is systematically and positively associated with female representation in those same STEM fields.
Highlights
In this paper, we provide the first nationally representative estimates of the representation of sexual minorities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) degrees and occupations
We report the coefficient on the sexual minority variables, and in each case the relevant excluded category is the dummy variable for the majority group
We report the STEM degree gap conditional on having a bachelor’s degree to be more consistent with existing literature and to emphasize that, even if more gay men might decide to enroll in college, they are still less likely to specialize in a STEM field
Summary
We provide the first nationally representative estimates of the representation of sexual minorities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) degrees and occupations. We start to address the dire need for statistics on sexual and gender minorities in STEM emphasized in the letters sent to the National Science Foundation (NSF) by 251 scientists, engineers, legal and public policy scholars, as well as 17 scientific organizations [1,2]. Despite improvements in the legislative and institutional background for LGBTQ people, such as the legalization of same-sex marriage in numerous countries in the last twenty years, the workplace environment for LGBTQ scientists is still far from welcoming. Until a United States Supreme Court decision in 2020 Clayton County), it was legal to discriminate.
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