Personality or social environment? Which factors help young women to remain in the “leaky tech pipeline”?

Project Description

Aims and central research question

This research project examines which factors lead (1) female students in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) to change their subject and (2) female graduates of STEM fields to decide against a STEM occupation. We are especially interested in how personality and social environment impact the decision to stay in or to leave the STEM field. Women are especially underrepresented in the areas of engineering and technology, while sciences and mathematics exhibit a more equal gender distribution. We therefore systematically differentiate between engineering and technology on the one hand, and mathematics and sciences on the other hand.

Background

Gender differences continue to exist in the choice of academic subjects, in the course of higher education studies and in the transition to the labour market. Even if women enroll in a STEM field, they leave this domain more often than men. Moreover, even after successfully graduating from a STEM subject, women are more likely to work in a non-STEM occupation thereafter and face higher unemployment risks. We refer to this process of women leaving engineering and technical fields as the “leaky tech pipeline”. So far, no longitudinal empirical analysis on women leaving or remaining in the “leaky tech pipeline” exists for Germany.

Methods

We analyze longitudinal data from the German Educational Panel Study (NEPS, starting cohort 5), which includes the educational and occupational life courses of a cohort of first-year students who started their studies in the 2010/11 winter semester at a German higher education institution. The data contains information about personality traits (big five, risk aversion and self-efficacy). Furthermore, we can trace  the role of parents, peers, partners and teaching personnel for the decision to leave the “leaky tech pipeline” or remain in it.

Funding agency

German Research Foundation (DFG)

Funding period

2020 – 2023