Even though women have come a long way educationally, gender effects on choice of major and occupational field is still an ongoing problem. Men were consistently more likely to be college graduates from 1940 to 1984; afterward, women were consistently achieving higher levels of educational attainment. Women also attain higher education than men, but women earn approximately 77% of what men earn. Gender inequalities in education majors and occupational fields may occur due to various factors discussed in this introduction. These factors may guide women going into a non-STEM field, and occupational paths consequently follow that.
Systematic policy and practices in high school could influence gender effects on choice of major and occupational field. Girls are less engaged in STEM fields than boys primarily starting in high school, showing a drastic shift from girls outperforming boys in the sciences in early education. In a recent study, Asia Hamilton, Joel Malin, and Donald Hackmann (2015) used data from the Illinois State Board of Education to show that Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs student enrollments in courses fitting within the Illinois defined-STEM career cluster includes substantially greater male (64.1%) than female (35.9%) participation.
Furthermore, in another recent study, Tindara Addabbo, Maria Tommaso, and Anna Maccagnan (2016) showed that high school boys outperform girls in science educational capabilities and that was attributed to the lack of activities to promote the sciences to girls. Therefore, it is important to create policies oriented to improve science education capability for girls, thus, reducing the gender disparity in STEM subjects. High school educators need to engage the students in a curriculum that prepares every student for college and careers in all fields. New policies and practices must be implemented, and data needs to be monitored annually to see if the high school STEM disparity shrinks.
Additionally, in their study, Asena Caner, Cahit Guven, Cagla Okten, and Seyhen Sakalli (2016) examined the gender gap in educational achievement and attempted to show that the cultural bias against the education of girls in conservative societies. The researchers used the 1997 education reform in Turkey, which extended compulsory schooling from 5 to 8 years, to look at the gender gap effect. The results showed that the reform helped reduce school dropout rates across the country. However, the reductions in school dropout rates were similar for boys and girls, failing to eliminate the gender gap against girls that already existed. This study showed the importance of reforms and how they can be used to maintain the gender gap status quo in conservative states. These reforms lead to a lack of women in the sciences and the occupational fields in general. For girls to close the gender gap in education and eventually enter the sciences, reforms must be geared towards increasing opportunities for that specific gender.
For this study, I will be using the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)’s High School Longitudional Study of 2009 (HSL:09). The dataset is a nationally representative, longitudinal study of 23,000+ 9th graders from 944 schools in 2009, with a follow-up in 2012. Students are followed throughout secondary and postsecondary years. It is a surveys of students, their parents, math and science teachers, school administrators, and school counselors. This also includes student assessment in algebraic skills, reasoning, and problem solving for 9th and 11th grades.My study will focus on just the 2009 dataset.
I will see if math scores of 9th graders are influenced by their sex, their teacher’s sex, and the teacher’s highest earned degree.
DV:
IV:
| Model 1 | ||
|---|---|---|
| (Intercept) | 45.63*** | |
| (2.69) | ||
| X1SEX | 0.53 | |
| (1.70) | ||
| M1SEX | -0.88 | |
| (0.79) | ||
| M1HIDEG | 1.11 | |
| (0.70) | ||
| X1SEX:M1SEX | 0.66 | |
| (0.50) | ||
| X1SEX:M1HIDEG | -0.36 | |
| (0.44) | ||
| M1SEX:M1HIDEG | -0.03 | |
| (0.12) | ||
| X1SEX:M1SEX:M1HIDEG | 0.04 | |
| (0.08) | ||
| R2 | 0.02 | |
| Adj. R2 | 0.02 | |
| Num. obs. | 17647 | |
| RMSE | 19.10 | |
| p < 0.001, p < 0.01, p < 0.05 | ||
The results show that being a female, compared to male, increases math score by 0.53.
The results show that teaching a class while being a female teacher decrease’s math score by 0.88.
The results show that higher the degree for a teacher, math score increases by 1.11.
The results show that being a female student and having a female teacher increases math score by 0.66.
The results show that being a female student and having a teacher with high degree decreases math score by 0.36.
The results show that being a female student, having a teacher with high degree, and the teaching being female increases math score by 0.04.
The results that 9th grade females have higher math scores than 9th grade males. Previous studies have shown that males are more likely to get into STEM fields, yet females are outperforming males in math scores. This tells that females are not being encouraged into STEM fields, agreeing with what previous studies have found. Furthermore, being a female and having a teacher that is also a female increases math score as well. Perhaps, having a nurturing environment, that is proivided a female teacher, enables females to do well in math.
For further research, more external factors should be examined such as parent’s highest degree earned, ethnic background of parents, school programs, etc.
This is important because this study shows that there is a relationship between gender and math scores. Females need to be encouraged to get into STEM fields if they are doing well in those subjects early on. This might increase their chance into getting into occupational fields that require STEM knowledge and skills.
Addabbo, T., Di Tommaso, M. L., & Maccagnan, A. (2016). Education Capability: A Focus on Gender and Science. Social Indicators Research, 128(2), 793-812. doi:http://dx.doi.org.queens.ezproxy.cuny.edu:2048/10.1007/s11205-015-1057-8
Caner, A., Guven, C., Okten, C., & Sakalli, S. O. (2016). Gender Roles and the Education Gender Gap in Turkey. Social Indicators Research, 129(3), 1231-1254. doi:http://dx.doi.org.queens.ezproxy.cuny.edu:2048/10.1007/s11205-015-1163-7
Hamilton, A. F., Malin, J., & Hackmann, D. (2015). Racial/Ethnic and Gender Equity Patterns in Illinois High School Career and Technical Education Coursework. Journal Of Career And Technical Education, 30(1), 29-52.
Kuziemko, Ilyana. (2006). The Homecoming of American College Women: The Reversal of the College Gender Gap. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 20(4), 133-128).
Xu, Y. y. (2016). Aspirations and Application for Graduate Education: Gender Differences in Low-Participation STEM Disciplines. Research In Higher Education, 57(8), 913-942. doi:10.1007/s11162-016-9411-5
Social Enviroment:
Not only do systematic policy and practices play a role in gender effects of choice major and occupational field, a social environment that nurtures women’s academic aspirations and acknowledges gender differences in family responsibilities can play a role in increasing women’s pursuit of graduate education in the STEM fields. As previously stated, although women do attain higher education than men, it is the non-STEM fields. Women’s graduate aspirations might be hindered by family responsibilities of the “stereotyped woman.” In a study done by Yonghong Xu (2016) that focused on the effects of educational aspiration on the pursuit of graduate education, men were about three times more likely than women to attain graduate degrees in STEM fields. The study attributed that to female students being more sensitive to socio-psychological influences from significant others in developing educational aspirations, and women’s application to graduate school is influenced strongly by family and financial factors. This shows the importance of factors, outside the school setting, affecting the choice of major and occupational field.
Furthermore, In her study, Ilyana Kuziemko (2006) looked the variables that led to the narrowing of the gender gap in college and its reversal. She used three longitudinal datasets of high school graduates in 1957, 1972, and 1992 from the 1940 to 2000 Census of Population Integrated Public Use Micro-Data Samples (IPUMS). The results showed that from 1972 to 1992, high school girls narrowed the gap with boys in math and science course taking and in achievement test scores. This was because of (1) the future work expectations of young women increased greatly between 1968 and 1979 and (2) the age at first marriage for college graduate women rose by 2.5 years in the 1970s, allowing them to be more serious students. These two variables accounted for 30 to 60 percent of the relative increase in women’s college completion rate. This study shows the importance of the cultural shift of women being just a wife to becoming independent in the United States between 1957 to 1992. Women getting married at a later age allowed him to educate themselves more and overtaking men in the number of bachelor’s degree. Women are currently the majority of U.S. college students and those receiving a bachelor’s degree, but this was not the case before 1960 because of the previous cultural perception of a women’s role.
Gender effects on choice of major and occupational field can be attributed to the systematic policy and practices in high school education and a social environment that does not encourage women enough to pursue STEM field graduate programs. These results in women concentrating in occupational fields that vary vastly different from men. These occupational fields also pay women less than men, contributing to the gender pay gap. There are other factors that results from the gender effect on the education system, but if women are given the same opportunities, these gaps can be narrowed.
For the purpose of this study, I will be looking at external factors that might contribute contribute to the gender gap between male and female.