Explanations For The Lack Of Women In Science

In their efforts to explain why women are not equally represented in science, experts are often quick to point fingers at different reasons: biological differences, cultural expectations, and simple differences in preference, to name a few. Of course, there is no single reason explaining why women are not as represented in scientific fields as men are. There are so many different factors that can affect a woman’s decision to enter STEM fields that it is impossible to pinpoint one defining moment in her life that forces her hand. In this paper, I will confront these three potential explanations for the lack of women in science in an attempt to answer the question, “Why aren’t more women in science?” Before any discussion on the matter, it

This cultural double standard starts at a young age. In the 1976 Condry & Condry study, observers were told to categorize the emotions of an infant after being told the baby’s gender. For the most part, observers were more likely to assign the emotion label “anger” to boys than they were to girls, suggesting that stereotypes involving masculinity and femininity are prevalent even at such a young age (Condry & Condry 816). Children are taught at young ages that boys should act one way and that girls should act a different way. This cultural difference only becomes more and more apparent as a child’s age increases. Boys are expected to play with “boy” toys while girls are expected to play with “girl” toys, which, when the “boy” toys are building blocks and the “girl” toys are dolls, exposes boys to engineering while leaving girls behind. As they grow up, girls consistently have higher grades than boys, even in math and science, but still face lower test scores in those subjects (Miller & Stassum 304). This could be caused by many different things, from stereotype threat to flawed tests that do not actually test course material. Stuck in a system where more value is placed on quantitative measurements like these test scores than on qualitative assessments, women often find themselves doubting their own abilities and ultimately moving to different