Desirable but not smart: preference for smarter romantic partners impairs women's STEM outcomes

A Cultural Psychological Model of Cross-National Variation in Gender Gaps in STEM Participation

Gender gaps in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) participation are larger in societies where women have greater freedom of choice. We provide a cultural psychological model to explain this pattern. We consider how individualistic/post-materialistic cultural patterns in WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrial, Rich, and Democratic) settings foster a self-expressive construction of academic choice, whereby affirming femininity/masculinity and ensuring identity fit become primary goals. Striving to fulfill these goals can lead men toward, and women away from, STEM pursuit, resulting in a large gender gap. In Majority World settings, on the contrary, collectivistic/materialistic cultural patterns foster a security-oriented construction, whereby achieving financial security and fulfilling relational expectations become primary goals of academic choice. These goals can lead both women and men toward secure and lucrative fields like STEM, resulting in a smaller gender gap. Finally, gender gaps in STEM participation feed back into the STEM=male stereotype. We discuss the implications of our model for research and theory, and intervention and policy.

“I’m Not a Science Nerd!”

Stereotypes reduce women’s identification with science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), which can decrease their motivation to enter STEM domains. Stereotypes may be gender-based (e.g., STEM is for men) or trait-based (e.g., STEM is for geniuses). In this study, I explored two primary research questions: First, would stereotyping STEM as a domain for nerdy geniuses negatively relate to women’s STEM identity? Second, would STEM identity mediate the relation between stereotypes and STEM motivation? Nerd-genius stereotypes and gender stereotypes negatively contributed to women’s STEM identity. STEM identity positively contributed to women’s STEM motivation (including expectancy-value beliefs). Participants were a diverse sample of undergraduate women ( N = 195, mean age was 19.8; 30% of participants were Latina, 30% European, 24% Asian). Stereotype measures were (1) implicit gender-STEM associations, (2) explicit gender associations about STEM, and (3) a new scale that measured nerd-genius stereotypes. The results highlight the unique contribution different stereotypes make toward women’s identification with STEM and, in turn, their motivation to pursue STEM pathways. Practice implications include addressing nerd-genius stereotypes in STEM interventions and reducing classroom artifacts that might be reminiscent of these stereotypes.