Women In STEM Research Articles

Gender, Racial, and Socioeconomic Determinants of Choosing a Surgical Career

PURPOSE: Across all specialties we see a leaky pipeline for diversity, from applying to residency to matriculating to residency and ascending in the ladder of academia [1]. These disparities in representation often disproportionately affect surgical specialties, for which long training programs, socioeconomic stressors, and cultural influences may dissuade qualified but underrepresented students from pursuing a surgical career. This study examines how demographic and socioeconomic variables affect the choice of specialty. METHOD: A qualtrics survey was disseminated via email to a listserv of all residents at a single institution between September 2021 and February 2022. The survey queried (1) demographic information, (2) childhood socioeconomic information, (3) residency socioeconomic information, and (3) reasons for specialty choice. Data analysis was performed using SPSS and included chi squared analysis, Fisher’s exact test, and multiple logistic regression with subgroup analysis comparing medical and surgical specialties, and the Top 10 earning specialties (of which 7 are surgical). RESULTS: A total of 294 responses (86 in surgical fields, 204 in medical fields) were collected, with a response rate of 46%. Seventy-six individuals (25.9%) identified as belonging to a disadvantaged group. The average amount of student debt was $183,000. Residents pursuing a Top 10 earning residency were more likely to cite loan repayment (45%, 23%, p<0.001) and potential salary after residency (72%, 55%, p=0.013) as concerns factoring into their specialty decision. Medical residents were significantly more likely to cite concern with length of training as a deciding factor in choosing a specialty than surgical residents were (S:35%, M:59%, p<0.001). Surgical residents were significantly more likely to be pursuing a fellowship than medical residents (S:69%, M:49%, p=0.013). In a multiple logistic regression, race (p=0.041), ethnicity (p=0.046), and being part of a disadvantaged group (p = 0.072) were seen to be the most significant unique predictors of choosing a medical residency over a surgical residency. Specifically, 17% of medical residents were Black, Native Hawaiian, or Mixed Race as compared to 10% of surgical residents. Female gender (46% v 61%), 0.014) and being the sole source of income (17% v 26%, p=0.018) were predictive of not pursuing a top 10 earning specialty. On the other hand, higher parent/guardian level of education was predictive of choosing a top 10 paying residency (p=0.05). CONCLUSION: Understanding the socioeconomic influences on specialty choice provides insight into how we can work to alleviate barriers that dissuade qualified and diverse applicants from pursuing surgical careers. Loan repayment concerns, the length of training, and the need to support one’s family financially are all reasons that dissuade students from pursuing surgery, alongside persistent gender and racial barriers. It is imperative that we actively help alleviate these financial burdens and create a culture supportive of diversity in order to attract the most diverse and highly qualified candidates. REFERENCES: 1. Nieblas-Bedolla E, Williams JR, Christophers B, Kweon CY, Williams EJ, Jimenez N. Trends in Race/Ethnicity Among Applicants and Matriculants to US Surgical Specialties, 2010-2018. JAMA Netw Open. 2020;3(11):e2023509. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.23509

The Leaky Pipeline: Female Physician Attrition from Academic Medicine Across the US

INTRODUCTION: The purpose of the study was to investigate gender differences in attrition rate between male and female physicians working in academia. METHODS: All physicians who billed Medicare from a teaching hospital in March 2014 were included and were followed up until December 2019. Physicians who retired during the study period were excluded. The primary outcome was leaving academia and was defined as not having billed Medicare from a teaching hospital for more than 1 year. The primary independent variable was physician gender. Multivariate logistic regression was conducted, adjusting for physician experience, medical school ranking, specialty (surgery vs nonsurgery), and region of the country. Stratified subset analyses were also performed for the variables listed above. RESULTS: There were 294,963 physicians included, 30.5% female. The overall attrition rate was 34.2% after 5 years, 38.3% and 32.4% for female and male physicians, respectively. Female physicians had higher attrition rate than their male counterparts across every career stage (Figure). On the adjusted analysis, female physicians were 25% more likely to leave academia than their male counterparts (odds ratio [OR] = 1.25, 95% CI = 1.23, 1.28). The results were qualitatively similar on all subset analyses.CONCLUSION: Female physicians are more likely to leave academia than male physicians at all career stages, in all regions of the country, in both surgical and nonsurgical specialties, and regardless of medical school ranking. Successful diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts should address attrition in addition to pipeline issues.

Girls Who Code: Encouraging Girls towards STEM Careers

Girls Who Code: Encouraging Girls towards STEM Careers Though women may enter the STEM workforce with great anticipation, they often encounter what has been termed the “chilly climate” and eventually drop out (the “leaky pipeline”). Girls Who Code – While enrolment in computing science and engineering degrees has largely evened out among men and women, the professional participation of women in the technology sphere continues to lag behind. Perhaps the best-known “intervention” is Girls Who Code (GWC), a non-profit initiative who declare themselves “the world’s largest pipeline of future female engineers” (Girls Who Code, 2021).

Does research performance explain the “leaky pipeline” in Indian academia? A study of agricultural and applied economics

AbstractThis article documents the existence of a leaky pipeline based on complete enumeration of faculty in two large public academic networks: state agricultural universities and institutions of the Indian Council of Social Science Research. We then examine if there are gender differences in the quantity and quality of research publications of women relative to men that can explain this. As proxies for quality and visibility, we use several metrics, including the number of citations, h‐index, i10 index, and Scimago rank of the journal in which the research is featured. A novel aspect of the analysis is the comparison of time paths of cumulative publications over career paths of men and women professors. Our analysis of research performance is based on scraping publicly‐available data sources, including faculty and institutional websites, and google scholar pages, and represents one‐third (and likely positively selected) of all faculty in these institutions. Our results suggest that women are disadvantaged in terms of number of publications during early career years, however, the disadvantage is mitigated with seniority and women perform equally well or even surpass men later in their careers. Women are more likely to write single‐authored articles and have fewer collaborators than men, indicating that they do not access collaborative spaces as much, and are less networked than men. In spite of this, there is suggestive evidence that women are more quality conscious than men. This nuanced look at research productivity suggests the source of the leaky pipeline does not arise from differences in performance.

Navigating the leaky pipeline: Do stereotypes about parents predict career outcomes in academia?

The motherhood penalty seemingly reflects a preference to hire female professionals who are not parents compared to mothers, however, little is known about whether this effect is attributable to parent stereotypes per se. Study 1 assessed the content of the parent-academia stereotypes of 180 individuals working in Education and revealed stronger stereotypical associations of fathers with academia than mothers. Study 2 investigated what parent-academia stereotypes predict in terms of endorsements for hiring men versus women in a mock hiring task set in an academic context. Academics (N = 112) evaluated mock job candidates for an Assistant Professor post while the gender, parental status and leave status of the candidates were manipulated. The findings showed that parents were significantly less likely to be endorsed to be hired than non-parents, regardless of gender. Parent-academia stereotypes led to biased hiring recommendations, such that a greater endorsement of parent-academia stereotypes predicted a reduced likelihood to endorse hiring parents compared to non-parents. Implications for reducing parent stereotypes in academic contexts are discussed.

What makes the pipeline leak? Women's gender-based rejection sensitivity and men's hostile sexism as predictors of expectations of success for their own and the respective other gender group.

In academia, the proportion of women decreases with each career level. In this research, we examined how this so-called leaky pipeline relates to gender-based relative expectations of success. The participants were students from social sciences where women are the majority among students, such that it is more readily – but erroneously – inferred that gender discrimination is not an issue. We assumed that gender-based relative expectations of success should be predicted by two variables. Women students should experience higher gender-based rejection sensitivity than men students, with gender-based rejection sensitivity mitigating relative success expectations in women, but not in men. Men students should exhibit higher hostile-sexist attitudes toward women than women students, with hostile sexism reducing men students’ but not women students’ relative success expectations. We tested our hypotheses in an (under-)graduate sample of women and men students enrolled in educational or psychological majors (N = 372). Results show that a quarter of the women students expected men to be more successful than women and that proportionately more women than men students indicated that women have worse chances of success than men in the job they aspire to. Women were more concerned about being treated differently because of their gender than men, and men held more sexist attitudes toward women than women, with gender-based rejection sensitivity contributing to women students’ and sexism to men students’ expectation that their own gender group will less likely succeed in their aimed for future job. Implications how the leaky pipeline can be patched are discussed.

Navigating Cardiology’s Leaky Pipeline

This essay describes the author’s experience of gender-based discouragement as a woman medical student.

Equity, diversity and inclusion of pediatric clinician-scientists in Canada: a thematic analysis.

Underrepresented voices and perspectives are missing from academic and clinical health sciences. We aimed to define the unique opportunities and challenges of pediatric clinician-scientists related to equity, diversity and inclusion; and to identify key components of training needed to support people from equity-seeking groups as emerging and early-career pediatric clinician-scientists to generate diverse health research leaders in knowledge generation, implementation and translation. Using a qualitative descriptive approach, we examined the experiences of clinician stakeholders. Semistructured interviews were conducted with pediatric clinician-scientist stakeholders. Thematic analysis was performed. We interviewed a total of 39 individuals. Our analysis resulted in 4 interrelated themes: the pervasiveness and invisibility of sexism; the invisibility and visibility of racism; proposed individual-level solutions to the sexism and racism; and proposed institutional and system-level changes to address the porous and leaky pipeline. These themes acknowledged that, ultimately, system change is required for addressing equity, diversity and inclusion in clinical and academic training environments. These findings highlight the importance of addressing systemic biases that limit the inclusion of women and racialized individuals in pediatric clinician-scientist careers. Further research is needed to explore the problem of exclusion, which will, in turn, inform education of pediatric clinician-scientists and inform better ways to promote equity, diversity and inclusivity; these steps are needed to foster systemic change in the cultures that perpetuate exclusivity in both academic and clinical communities.

Plugging the Leaky Pipeline: The Role of Peer Mentorship for Increasing Diversity.

I arrived to my shift early, nervous about caring for critically ill patients as a first-year fellow. I sat in the workroom alone, paralyzed, not sure how to preround despite being months into fellowship. The senior fellow appeared minutes before sign-out; fresh, knowledgeable, and calm, despite her busy night and lack of sleep. She asked me how I was doing. With tears in my eyes, my emotions poured out. I explained that I felt lost, unsure of myself, my place, and my knowledge. For the first time, I confessed out loud, "I don't think I'm supposed to be here. I have no idea what I'm doing." I could trust her in a way I couldn't trust others. She was like me: othered by her identity, minoritized by society. Though different from my own, her identity allowed her to understand my own experiences. We were different from one another and we were also the same. Unlike the senior faculty, it was safe to talk to her. And, unlike my other cofellows, there was a kinship between us in our otherness. She looked at me, closed the door, and shared words of strength that I needed to hear. I belonged. I was more than enough. She shared that the pressure I was experiencing was common among systematically minoritized individuals; she too had felt it before. Sitting with her, I was finally seen, supported, and comforted. As a peer mentor from a minoritized background, she provided a sense of security and belonging that had not been provided in my training and was distinct from the support of senior faculty.

Advancing Women in Chemistry: A Step Toward Gender Parity.

As chemistry progressed over the years, modern society witnessed the significant contribution of women chemists. However, the persisting gender imbalance in the scientific community, attributed to improper societal norms and several other reasons, is a matter of concern. The manuscript highlights some great women chemists, such as Nobel Prize awardees, who have created history through their outstanding research work and are role models for other women. Since women continue to encounter recurring obstacles to moving forward in their area, the "leaky pipeline" of women in chemical science remains problematic. Numerous factors, including having to shoulder the labor of childcare and household work and a lack of awareness of regulations and possibilities, contribute to prejudices and the gender gap in higher-level administrative and decision-making roles. To close the gender gap and empower women chemists, we highlight some initiatives (awards, fellowships, schemes, and grants) that have been put forth by governments, organizations, foundations, companies, industries, and publishing societies. As per statistics, only 4% of female scientists have been awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry until now. Only 35%, 22%, 14%, 26%, and 5% of women are serving as editors-in-chief, while 38%, 40%, 18%, 22%, and 21% are working as associate editors of the American Chemical Society (ACS), Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), Wiley, Elsevier, and Springer journals, respectively. A further issue is that women receive far fewer honors in chemistry. To promote a more encouraging atmosphere for women scientists at all career phases, we listed some recommendations that research grant funders, academic institutions, publishers, and scientific organizations can follow. For gender parity, the paper sought to address the current situation of women in the chemical sciences. Women's contributions to chemistry will promote innovation and progress in the field.

Microaggressions, Interrupted: The Experience and Effects of Gender Microaggressions for Women in STEM

Women continue to remain underrepresented in STEM, and this gender disparity is particularly pronounced in leadership positions. Through in-depth, qualitative interviews of 39 women leaders in STEM, we identify common gender microaggressions they experience, and explore how these microaggressions affect their leadership experience and outcomes in the workplace. Our findings highlight five types of gender microaggressions women most often encounter, and how and when these microaggressions occur. We explore the negative impact that microaggressions can have on women’s work identities and how they can trigger a cycle of rumination and self-doubt that may ultimately result in women choosing to leave STEM. Importantly, we surface the interventional and empowering role that allies play in triggering a redemptive sensemaking process that can support women leaders to build resilience and counter the negative effects of microaggressions.

End of the road? The career intentions of under-represented STEM students in higher education

BackgroundThe analogy of the leaky pipeline has been used to describe STEM education, with lower student diversity from compulsory to post-compulsory education and beyond. Although extensive research has explored the views and experiences of school-aged children about STEM, fewer studies have examined the career intentions of STEM students at university, especially those from under-represented backgrounds (e.g., racial/ethnic minority, women and working class students). This paper draws on a large qualitative study that interviewed 110 under-represented STEM undergraduates in the UK. We focus on students’ STEM career intentions and the likely directions of their post-degree trajectories, drawing on the lenses of science identity and Social Cognitive Career Theory.ResultsThree pathways were identified. The first group plans to pursue a career in or from STEM. While social inequalities may persist, the potential impact of these challenges may be neutralised by the personal drive and passion of STEM career-oriented students, who seem committed to drive into an STEM future. The second group stated intentions for non-STEM-related careers, leaving the STEM pipeline. The reasons students gave for their imminent departure from STEM are the better financial reward on offer in some non-STEM sectors, especially in finance and business, as well as wider social inequalities and stereotypes. The third group was undecided, those who are uncertain or unclear about their futures. Students described a general lack of direction or clear career pathway, from a complete lack of career ideas to an overload of options.ConclusionsWe conclude with a reminder that the STEM pipeline is far from secured or equitable, despite apparent progress in participation and representation. We reiterate the importance of fostering a diverse, inclusive and supportive learning environment that maximises the participation, strengths and potential of all students, especially those from under-represented backgrounds. While it is not uncommon for STEM students to pursue careers outside of STEM, we need to be wary that those who exit the STEM pipeline are not forced off the road by social inequalities and exclusions.

Widening Cracks in an Already Leaky Pipeline

FisheriesVolume 47, Issue 9 p. 377-379 Section News Widening Cracks in an Already Leaky Pipeline Kaylyn Zipp, Corresponding Author Kaylyn Zipp kaylyn.zipp@maine.edu University of Maine, 168 College Ave, Orono, ME, 04469Search for more papers by this author Kaylyn Zipp, Corresponding Author Kaylyn Zipp kaylyn.zipp@maine.edu University of Maine, 168 College Ave, Orono, ME, 04469Search for more papers by this author First published: 08 July 2022 https://doi.org/10.1002/fsh.10813Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume47, Issue9September 2022Pages 377-379 RelatedInformation

Exposing the Mythology of Balance and the Ecology of Graduate Student Mother Resilience in COVID-19

While the COVID-19 pandemic has amplified the once marginalized conversation of academia’s gendered imbalance of opportunity, discussion of its impact on graduate student mothers has remained absent. Resilience has been cited as key to overcoming in the pandemic era with little discussion of how its conceptualization continues to marginalize females in the academy. Our phenomenological study explores graduate student mothers’ conceptualizations of balance, failure, success, and resilience using a family resilience framework which acknowledges the multiple identities to which they may avow and contexts in which they may operate. Employing an ecological conceptual framework, we engaged nine graduate student mothers and their children in focus groups and analyzed data using a constructivist grounded theory approach. Our research found that many graduate student mothers’ definitions of success led them to delay qualifying exams and comps during the pandemic. Our exploration of the ecology of our participants’ resilience during quarantine begins the generation of a new graduate student mother resilience theory in which the ability to overcome adversity is rooted in celebration, gratitude, collaborative problem-solving, connection, and flexibility. We recommend continued development of this new theory and provide insight into the supports higher education can offer to address the leaky academic pipeline.

Mentoring in neuropsychology: How theory and practice can support diverse mentees

ABSTRACT The academic literature on mentoring is well established, with a large body of published “best practices” regarding mentoring outside of neuropsychology. Specific attention is given to the need to diversify mentors, mentoring practices, and giving voice to a new generation of academics and practitioners through the mentoring process. Still, the field of neuropsychology has much to learn and implement consistently in practice from this well-established literature base and trove of resources and best practices. Existing literature in mentoring argues for compassionate mentoring and moving away from a mentee deficit model, to a model of having clear expectations of mentors to address the needs of all their mentees (National Academies of Sciences & Medicine, 2019), but with particular attention given to women, historically marginalized racial/ethnic groups, first-generation college students, mentees with disabilities, sexual and/or gender minority individuals, and mentees with intersecting identities. Evidence-based practices and programs with a focus on culturally responsive mentoring are a new area of interest both in terms of program development based on theory and measurement of mentee-mentor outcomes. Women in Neuropsychology (WIN) is a special committee of the American Psychological Association, Society for Clinical Neuropsychology (SCN; Division 40), dedicated to facilitating success and well-being among women and gender non-binary individuals in neuropsychology (https://scn40.org/win/). This article serves as an introduction to the WIN/JCEN special issue on mentoring in neuropsychology. Articles included in this special issue are focused on this specific topic relative to the discipline of clinical neuropsychology to develop, operationalize, and highlight best practices in mentoring with attention to the need to end racist/sexist treatment of women and historically marginalized racial/ethnic individuals; develop culturally humble mentoring approaches and clinical practices; and fix the leaky pipeline limiting access to marginalized individuals to contribute to the field of research and practice.

Grading bias and the leaky pipeline in economics: Evidence from Stockholm University

We estimate a substantial female grade gain when being graded anonymously compared to male students in 101-macroeconomics courses. Females graded anonymously are more likely to continue with economics studies. This suggests that biased grading is a direct cause of the “leaky pipeline” phenomenon in economics. As male graders are the majority, we complement our analysis and evaluate the importance of same-sex bias using random assignment of graders. Although, we estimate a substantial same-sex bias before anonymous exams were introduced, it cannot explain the overall effect of grading bias. Thus, same-sex bias is not the mechanism explaining the overall effect of grading bias.

The Status of Women in STEM in Higher Education in the United States during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Literature Review 2020-2022

ABSTRACT This study seeks to answer the question: What effects did COVID-19 have on the status of women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) in higher education in the United States? It presents a thematic review of the current literature regarding the social and professional impacts of the pandemic on this group from 2020 to 2022. The research briefly examines the challenges women in STEM faced pre-pandemic and then explores the repercussions of the pandemic to date. It reviews the literature published from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic to present day. Recommendations for STEM librarians serving this population are discussed.

Using social media advertisement data to monitor the gender gap in STEM: opportunities and challenges.

Boosting the number of women and girls entering careers involving STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) is crucial to achieving gender equality, one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Girls and women tend to gravitate away from STEM fields at multiple stages from childhood through mid-career. The leaky pipeline is a metaphor often used to describe the loss of women in STEM and arguably other fields before reaching senior roles. Do interests expressed on social media mirror the leaky pipeline phenomenon? In this article, we collected advertisement data (reach estimates) from Facebook and Instagram disaggregated by US metros, age, gender, and interests related to STEM. We computed the Gender Gap Index (GGI) for each US metro and age group. We found that on Instagram, the GGIs for interest in Science decrease as users’ age increases, suggesting that relatively there is evidence that that women, compared to men, are losing interest in STEM at older ages. In particular, we find that on Instagram, there are plausible relative trends but implausible absolute levels. Nevertheless, is this enough to conclude that online data available from Instagram mirror the leaky pipeline phenomenon? To scrutinize this, we compared the GGIs for an interest in Science with the GGIs for placebo interests unrelated to STEM. We found that the GGIs for placebo interests follow similar age patterns as the GGIs for the interest in Science across US metros. Second, we attempted to control for the time spent on the platform by computing a usage intensity gender ratio based on the difference between daily and monthly active users. This analysis showed that the usage intensity gender ratio is higher among teenagers (13–17 years) than other older age groups, suggesting that teenage girls are more engaged on the platform that teenage boys. We hypothesize that usage intensity differences, rather than inherent interest changes, might create the illusion of a leaky pipeline. Despite the previously demonstrated value and huge potential of social media advertisement data to study social phenomena, we conclude that there is little evidence that this novel data source can measure the decline in interest in STEM for young women in the USA.

More Than 30 Years of Women in STEM at the University of Wisconsin–Platteville: Its Formation, Development, and Experiences [WIE From Around the World

This article shows the evolution of the Women in STEM (WiSTEM) program at the University of Wisconsin–Platteville (UWP) over the past 30 years. The development of support programs for women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) requires flexibility, persistence, and strategy. When putting together the timeline of events associated with the development of WiSTEM, we noticed that success with these types of programs often does not occur overnight, but rather through years of commitment and effort. Additionally, we learned that there is not really any one particular event or program that has impacted it, but rather the importance of a sustained and consistent focus on developing a community, with attention on creating an inclusive climate for women in STEM. It is the synergy created by the sum of all of the individual parts that makes the program meaningful and successful.

Exploring the Influence of Gender on Surgical Clerkship Grades and Test Scores: A Single Institution, Multisite Comparison

General surgery remains a male-dominated specialty. Women constitute 54% of medical students at the University of Washington, but only 3.4% of full professors within the Department of Surgery. Many believe surgical attrition and "the leaky pipeline" starts during medical school clerkships, but the exact deterrents remain undefined. This study examined the impact of gender on grading during the third-year surgical clerkship. Retrospective analysis of confidential final clerkship grades, examination scores and subjective clerkship grades was conducted. These were compared by gender, time period, and type of clerkship site. Chi-square analyses were performed. Clerkship sites across multiple academic (n = 6) and nonacademic (n = 14) locations. All third-year medical students undergoing a core surgical clerkship over 2 time periods-2007 to 2010 (period 1) and 2016 to 2019 (period 2)-were included. There were 539 medical students in period 1 and 792 in period 2. The percentage of women was stable over time (52.0% vs 54.2%, p = 0.43). Final clerkship grades of Honors increased significantly from period 1 to 2 (22.3% vs 44.3%, p < 0.0001) and was similarly distributed by gender (women: 21.4% vs 48.0%, p < 0.0001; men 23.2% vs 39.9%, p < 0.0001). Honors on examinations remained stable over time and did not differ by gender. Women earned more final clerkship honors than men at academic sites in period 2 (48.4% vs 30.9%, p < 0.001). This finding was not identified in period 1, nor at nonacademic sites. There was a significant increase in surgical clerkship honors over the past decade, independent of gender. Women attained more clinical and final clerkship honors than men and similar exam grades as time progressed, suggesting that gender bias in the subjective grading of women at this institution does not directly contribute to the loss of talented women as they progress from medical student to faculty within the department, with said gender imbalance not related to clerkship evaluations.