The High School Environment and the Gender Gap in Science and Engineering.

ABSTRACT: Despite the striking reversal of the gender gap in education, women pursue science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) degrees at much lower rates than those of their male peers. This study extends existing explanations for these gender differences and examines the role of the high school context for plans to major in STEM fields. Building on recent gender theories, we argue that widely shared and hegemonic gender beliefs manifest differently across schools so that the gender-specific formation of study plans is shaped by the local environment of high schools. Using the National Education Longitudinal Study, we first show large variations between high schools in the ability to attract students to STEM fields conditional on a large set of pre-high school measures. Schools that

SUBMITTER: Legewie J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5110218 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature