What Lies beneath Sustainable Education? Predicting and Tackling Gender Differences in STEM Academic Success

Maura A. E. Pilotti

doi:10.3390/su13041671

Abstract

In many societies across the globe, females are still underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM fields), although they are reported to have higher grades in high school and college than males. The present study was guided by the assumption that the sustainability of higher education critically rests on the academic success of both male and female students under conditions of equitable educational options, practices, and contents. It first assessed the persistence of familiar patterns of gender bias (e.g., do competencies at enrollment, serving as academic precursors, and academic performance favor females?) in college students of a society in transition from a gender-segregated workforce with marked gender inequalities to one whose aims at integrating into the global economy demand that women pursue once forbidden careers thought to be the exclusive domain of men. It then examined how simple indices of academic readiness, as well as preferences for fields fitting traditional gender roles, could predict attainment of key competencies and motivation to graduate (as measured by the average number of credits completed per year) in college. As expected, females had a higher high school GPA. Once in college, they were underrepresented in a major that fitted traditional gender roles (interior design) and over-represented in one that did not fit (business). Female students’ performance and motivation to graduate did not differ between the male-suited major of business and the female-suited major of interior design. Male students’ performance and motivation to graduate were higher in engineering than in business, albeit both majors were gender-role consistent. Although high school GPA and English proficiency scores predicted performance and motivation for all, preference for engineering over business also predicted males’ performance and motivation. These findings offered a more complex picture of patterns of gender bias, thereby inspiring the implementation of targeted educational interventions to improve females’ motivation for and enrollment in STEM fields, nowadays increasingly available to them, as well as to enhance males’ academic success in non-STEM fields such as business.

Highlights

Women remain the largest disadvantaged group throughout the world
A study modeling the potential outcomes of gender equity at the macro level in the European Union [2] has found that it can boost economic growth, mainly because it is associated with improving employment rates, reducing poverty rates, and increasing gross domestic product (GDP) per capita
Gender equity refers to the goal of giving everyone the full range of opportunities and resources needed to reach desired outcomes

Summary

Introduction

Women remain the largest disadvantaged group throughout the world. significant differences exist between subgroups of women based on a variety of factors, often reinforcing each other, such as geography (e.g., the Global North and the GlobalSouth), economic and social status, and ethnicity, marked disadvantages characterize most women’s lives, which have implications for their experience of education [1].The benefits of gender equity have been highlighted by several studies at both macro and micro levels. A study modeling the potential outcomes of gender equity at the macro level in the European Union [2] has found that it can boost economic growth, mainly because it is associated with improving employment rates, reducing poverty rates, and increasing gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. A similar argument is put forth in a review of the literature by Kabeer and Natali [3], who found reliable evidence of the contribution of gender equity to economic growth in a variety of domains such as education and employment. In support of this argument, studies have shown that greater

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Conclusion