The Problems of Women in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering (Abstract of Section)

Author(s): Nancy M. Hewitt and Elaine Seymour

Introduction

Gender-related problems with teaching in S&E

Perceptions of sexism

Stereotypes contradicted by experience

Why women switched

Introduction

As prior studies of science and engineering (S&E) female majors indicate and as S&E faculty confirm, women who persist in these majors tend to be higher achievers than white males as a group. Statistically, women begin coursework with slightly higher GPAs and slightly better preparation. Although women tend to begin on an equal, if not elevated, footing compared to men, this study found that women encountered more problems than their male counterparts during the course of their S&E studies. A great distinction between men and women arose from reasons for selecting an S&E major.

Women students were more likely to choose an S&E major because of:

• Family pressure.
• Encouragement by a high school teacher.

Men chose more often because of:

• Enjoying or excelling in high school math and science.
• Early career choice.

Women chose more often in response to personal influence than to professional interest. In some cases these initial reasons proved to be inappropriate and insufficient to sustain a student to completion of the degree.

Gender-Related

Problems with teaching in science and engineering: Both men and women found problems with the size of (typically large) introductory courses.

Men cited these reasons for their dislike of large classes:

• Large classes "have negative effects on grades."
• Large classes encourage "more competition for grades."
• Introductory courses are usually taught by less-qualified faculty.
• Students can't develop a relationship with professors.

Women found large classes problematic because, in their words:

• "You don't get to know the professor."
• "[large classes are] too impersonal."
• "The professors don't care if you learn."
• "The professor doesn't know if you attend class."
• "The professor doesn't care about you."

Women also described S&E faculty as "unapproachable," "impersonal," and "intimidating," and they reported that better teaching could be found in the humanities and social sciences. It is important to note that these were assessments of faculty members' presentation of self, and not their presentation of the material.

Women tended to describe the personal qualities of their favorite professors in the following manner:

• Approachable
• Friendly
• Patient
• They are "around all the time, so you can ask them to explain the material and they won't take your head off"
• They understand you're a human being who's trying to work at getting good grades
• They really care about you and want you to learn
• They "calm you down and say, 'Don't worry if you don't get it. I can show you how.'"

Men's definitions of good professors reflected a different perspective and included the following examples of a "good professor":

• Enthusiastic
• They explain well, use good analogies
• Interesting
• "Fun to listen to"
• They give good advice
• They "stress application of material by relating it to real-life situations"
• They "challenge me, motivate and force students to work hard"
• They allow questions.
• They "know whether the students comprehend"

Perceptions of Sexism

Women rarely reported overt sexism by faculty or male students. Instead, they spoke of receiving subtle messages implying that faculty considered women to be less intelligent than men or felt the women were encroaching in areas that should remain in the traditional male province.

Sterotypes

Many women expressed their feeling of being outsiders in a male-dominated culture. Male students who know something first-hand of the ability and performance of female peers may still hold stereotypes that are contradicted by their own experience.

The study found that many promising high school female students are lavished with attention and praise by their high school math and science teachers. This often leads to perceptions of sexism in college. Though faculty's interaction style was the same for men and women and also consonant with male students' previous experiences with high school science and mathematics teachers, the abrupt departure from the personalized encouragement women received in high school led them to believe they were now experiencing faculty discrimination.

The new lack of personalized encouragement was especially evident for those who felt as this student did:"The classes I do best in are the ones where the professor cares about me, and it's always been that simple for me. I cannot separate my feelings for the professor from my performance." In large introductory S&E classes, such students would not receive the reinforcement they needed and would leave S&E to find such encouragement in another academic area.

Why Women Switched

Here are some of the most significant reasons cited by the stated percentage of women as a factor in switching:

• Experienced discouragement and loss of self-esteem from low grades in freshman and sophomore years (77.9%).
• Rejected the lifestyle associated with an S&E career (67.9%).
• Found conceptual difficulties with S&E coursework (50.0%).
• Had problems with the overload and pace of S&E courses (35.7%).
• Found a more appealing non-S&E career option (32.1%).
• Had problems with poor teaching/unapproachability of S&E faculty (25.0%).
• Switched majors to attain a career goal (7.1%).

The percentages attached to each reason varied significantly for men. The overall picture of women who switch has much to do with the inappropriateness of their original choice of these majors and their lack of strong motivation for a career in these fields. When they are confronted by academic difficulty in tandem with the loss of self-esteem based on grades, they become more vulnerable to the lure of other fields of study, regardless of the opportunities they may or may not offer for employment beyond graduation.

Some structural features of S&E culture tend to discriminate against women and may have a bearing on their attrition, such as:

• Lack of enough female role models and mentors.
• The "old-boy" network, which draws promising male students into research projects and mentored relationships with faculty.

These networks establish "cycles of accumulated advantage and disadvantage," which have permanent implications for careers.

--Abstract by the Online Ethics Center staff.

Original book by Nancy M. Hewitt and Elaine Seymour.