The threat that accompanies stereotypes of women in STEM fields

While stereotypes can vary between different social groups, many cultures share a history of some fundamental stereotypes that are in the process of being weeded out. In regard to women, historically, the stereotypes that women were to care for the home and family, to be subordinate to their male counterparts, to not be seen in educational settings were the norm. These stereotypes are still extremely pervasive in many cultures and third world countries, implying that the historic cultural gap between men and women in academia is a current issue. In the past few decades, with the exponential increase in the percentage of women attending university and professional schools, as well as the general cultural shift away from women being the primary caretakers, etc., it may seem as if these stereotypes may be broken, though they are still held both implicitly and explicitly by most groups in the society. As comes with most cultural shifts, the younger generations tend to disavow these stereotypes proactively as they typically are the roots of change, while the older generations tend to focus on how these specific stereotypes were in place during their youth.

Stereotype threat, though I am focusing on that facing women in STEM fields, “is not limited to gender and can apply to many intrinsic characteristics, including race, ethnicity, income level, and academic ability".9 Stereotype threat may be “highly contextual, triggered by a survey item, the gender of the instructor, or instructional practices, and can undermine academic success in several ways.”9 First, stereotype threat can “produce stress and induce anxiety, causing a student to become more self-conscious about his or her performance and to actively try to suppress those emotions, which may tax working memory and lead to decreased performance”. Second, prolonged exposure to stereotype threat can result in “disidentification, wherein a student stops associating with a given stereotyped group and avoids situations likely to be perceived as threatening.” In science, stereotype threat “may contribute to the leaky pipeline, causing the attrition of women from science-related majors.”9 The leaky pipeline refers to the large loss of women through the ranks of increasing academic success, which can be attributed to many of the topics currently in discussion. These stereotypes remind the women in question of how some peers or superiors may expect them to succeed based on their gender, of their experience throughout elementary and secondary education with the maths and sciences, and adds a stressor of performance that their male counterparts do not experience.

According to Smyth and Nosek, recent studies indicate that “variability in women's engagement across STEM fields reflects patterns of early-developing childhood interests, and that these interests may be influenced by stereotypes and by inadequate information about the nature of opportunities in different scientific domains”.5 This research shows that despite the recent cultural shift away from these stereotypes blatantly effecting the roles of women in STEM, “evidence suggests that they nevertheless affect perceptions, performance and decisions, primarily without intention or awareness.”5

Stereotypes, defined as associations of an attribute with members of a group, “can operate at an ‘explicit’ level, i.e., conscious perceptions of, or beliefs about, group-attribute covariation, and also at an ‘implicit’ level, as automatic, possibly unwanted, group-attribute associations that operate outside of conscious awareness”. Research presented by Gilbreath et al. shows that “stereotype threat places added pressure on women to either overcome the stereotype or reinforce it, and this pressure can often lead to self-fulfilling the stereotype after all”, and that “women are at risk of confirming an inferiority in math and science compared to their male counterparts.”7 While these stereotypes may be present in any realm of a woman’s life, the effect of this by professors or superiors can have a comparatively large effect. Recent work by Moss-Racusin et al. found “science faculty across disciplines and regardless of gender exhibited an unconscious gender bias against undergraduate women, underscoring the pervasive and persistent nature of cultural stereotypes regarding women in science.”9 This stereotype can both be inflicted onto the student, or many be outwardly expressed by the student onto herself. A student’s attitude and perception of a class is related to their course achievement, as published by Steiner and Sullivan. This shows how a students’ perception of a class, based on their inherent biases and stereotypes regarding their own abilities in STEM classes based on gender, has a significant impact on their final course outcomes.21

In an attempt to show how student’s react when confronted by a stereotype, Mertignon completed a metanalysis of research that primed students with the stereotypes about women in math before asking them to perform a math test. In comparison to the control groups who were not primed, the experimental female students underperformed and reported that their interest in the topic was also decreased in all studies examined.22

As shown, the reinforcement of gender stereotypes on women in STEM programs emphasizes negative interactions and expectations, which hinders their success. In order to minimize this experience, it is pertinent that professors and students, especially female students, are educated about the presence of this phenomenon and how to best overcome it. Though the full experience of the student's educational history as well as societal historical trends cannot be changed, the student's immediate understanding of their ability may be enough to minimize this threat. This is entwined with the gender gap considering women in more extensively male based fields may feel this potential ability to reinforce a stereotype more, so as women's involvement in the STEM fields increases this stereotype threat may minimize. While it is not a sole cause of the gap of gender in STEM, the Stereotype threat combines with other life factors to impact a women's choice to enter a STEM field.

To read more about a Dichotomy of Realities - An Analysis of Gender and STEM at the University of Wyoming, click here.

References can be found here.