Women In STEM Field: Article Analysis

Women comprise 48 percent of the United States workforce, but just 24 percent of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields. A study by Gaucher found that job advertisements for male-dominated careers tended to use more argentic words (or words denoting agency, such as "leader" and "goal-oriented") associated with male stereotypes. The stereotype threat is one of the important reasons domestic females are underrepresented in STEM field. Because stereotype threats bring females extra stresses, they could lead to negative academic performances for females, especially for those studying mathematics and science. Meg Urry is a professor of physics and astronomy at Yale. When she was studying in a rural public school, her principal expressed, “girls never go on in science and math.” This educational

This brings domestic females in STEM fields extra stress and negative academic performance in the United States. In the article, Why Are There Still So Few Women in Science? (Written by Eileen Pollack, published at New York Times Magazine October 3, 2013), the writer illustrates the sex bias in the science field by providing the examples of female scientists in STEM fields. Meg Urry is a professor of Physics and astronomy at Yale University. When she was studying in a rural public school, her principal expressed, “girls never go on in science and math.” This shows the biased role models in American K-12 schools. Teachers cannot foster the initiative of learning about science if they continue the stereotype threat. The negative stereotypes transmitted from schoolteachers affect girls’ science attitudes and eventually undermine their academic performance and interest in science. Female students are afraid of selecting a STEM major as their future career, because their science teachers indicate that they cannot get the same successful academic achievement in this field as men