The under-representation of women in male-dominated STEM fields is a worldwide concern. However, there are other academic fields, like some non-STEM degrees, where female students are over-represented. Previous research has identified five critical factors influencing student participation rates: career choice, satisfaction, self-esteem,…

Recent studies and media articles draw attention to gender imbalances in the music industry, both locally in Australia and globally. In Australia, there have been calls to overhaul tertiary music programmes to support and encourage female students into careers such as sound production, screen composition and contemporary music performance, where…

Middle school Black girls in the Chicagoland area encounter challenges when engaging in Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) learning and developing individual STEM identities. Black girls with good grades in STEM courses are reluctant to pursue STEM careers because of the negative stereotypes they face in school (King & Pringle,…

In the last few years, several initiatives based on extracurricular activities have been organized in many countries around the world, with the aim to reduce the digital gender gap in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) fields. Among them, the Digital Girls summer camp, organized every year since 2014 by two Italian universities with the…

This multiple-case study sought to understand the values of Latina college students from rural communities and how those values impacted their choices concerning higher education. Archival records, artifacts, interviews, and other documents created a holistic view of each individual case. A Chicana feminist framework allowed researchers to examine…

Although women's rights and career developments have changed over the past decade, only a few updated studies have been conducted to understand the current backgrounds of women in engineering. This study aims to understand and investigate the motivations, career decisions, and decision-making processes of a group of women in the engineering…

The Social Cognitive Career Theory was applied to examine how the desire to coach or administrate are impacted by self-efficacy, occupational valence, perceived hindrance, and role model influence. This study was conducted to address the underrepresentation of females in collegiate sports leadership positions. The study examined if being coached…

The purpose of this research is to investigate the relations between gender roles, career self-efficacy, and career development of STEM gifted girls in high schools and universities in Taiwan, from a developmental perspective. It includes two studies. In Study 1, 473 gifted girls from eight high schools in Taiwan participated, and, based on a…

The journey to achieve gender diversity in STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math] subjects appears to be a slow one. According to UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admission Service) data provided by the Higher Education Statistics Agency, just 35 per cent of STEM students in higher education in the UK [United Kingdom] are women (STEM…

Increasing diversity in engineering, which is a goal of the profession, education and government, starts with increasing the diversity of those choosing to study the discipline. This paper focuses on girls' engagement in engineering. Data is from a survey of girls attending a university open day and interviews with practising female engineers. The…

The number of physics bachelor's degrees that are awarded in the United States annually is small compared to most other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields, and only about one-fifth of these degrees are awarded to women. Understanding the influence of students' science and engineering experiences on career choices is critical…

Increasing participation and continued persistence of women in computing is a perennial problem. This paper explores how participation in computing has been defined and the consequences definitions have on understanding women's persistence in computing. The data for this paper come from 64 in-depth, qualitative interviews with young women who in…

This study investigated female students who attended a STEM course with the Arts (STEAM) in comparison to a traditional STEM course and the impact it had on desire to pursue a STEM degree. An independent-samples t-test was conducted to compare female to male students' interest in pursuing STEM degrees. In addition, follow up data for registration…

Gender differences in students' physics identity in introductory physics courses can influence students' interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and their career decisions. Exploring the components that influence these identities is critical to developing a better understanding of the underrepresentation of women in physics…

This article aims to question the widely accepted idea that female university students in Spain have, in the past, tended to opt for degrees in the field of humanities. Based on an analysis of the official statistics that are currently available, the paper demonstrates that Spanish female university students showed a clear preference for…