Literature Review #4

(1)Visual-


(2)Citation- Moakler, MW and MM Kim. "College Major Choice in STEM: Revisiting Confidence and Demographic Factors." Career Development Quarterly, vol. 62, no. 2, n.d., pp. 128-142.

(3)Summary- This article discusses the effects of self confidence grades, and encouragement by others to pursue careers in STEM. It points out that women do not get the same encouragement that men do and therefore do not have as much confidence which could be a possible reason for the discrepancy in major choices.

(4)Authors- Martin W. Moakler Jr and Mikyong Minsun Kim are both part of the Graduate School of Education and Human Development at The George Washington University.

(5)Key terms-
Self-confidence -students’ attitudes, feelings, and perceptions concerning their academic abilities

self-efficacy - performance capability, not current abilities. Performance accomplishments (academic abilities) are the most influential source of self-efficacy information because they are based on personal mastery (Bandura, 1977).

(6)Quotes- "Likewise, student ability and confidence in math and science and their effect on STEM career interest development have been reported in many studies, especially with respect to women and minorities." (129)
"American women traditionally steer away from STEM disciplines (Betz & Hackett, 1981; Fouad, 2007; Lee, 1998; Seymore, 1992). Perrone et al. (2001) attributed this phenomenon to the lack of female role models or insufficient confidence about entering STEM fields." (130)
"We found several positive indicators of STEM major choice: having parents with a STEM occupation, having higher SAT scores, having a higher high school GPA, having spent more hours studying or doing homework, being a minority (African American or Latina/o), having higher academic confidence, and having higher mathematics confidence. Consistent with previous studies and the social phenomenon of a gender gap in STEM, this study found that being female was consistently shown as a negative predictor for student STEM major choice." (138)

(7)Value- I think this article is very valuable because it brings another possible reason for the difference in major choices between men and women. Not only is the difference due to innate differences in genders, but also due to self confidence of students. Students who are encouraged by educators and parents are more likely to succeed in areas and subsequently pursue those areas. Women seem to be getting this encouragement and therefore not pursing the fields as much.

Literature Review #3

(1)Visual- Author Ann Mullen and her book Degrees of Inequality.


(2)Citation-
Mullen, Ann L. "Majors and Knowledge." Degrees of Inequality: Culture, Class, and Gender in American Higher Education. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins UP, 2012. 157-227. Print.

(3)Author-

Ann L Mullen is an associate professor and associate chair of the sociology department at the University of Toronto. Before that she held a Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship at the National Center for Education Statistics and then served as a Senior Research Associate at the U.S. Department of Education. Her research interests include culture, social inequality, gender and higher education. Her work has examined access to higher education, the role of elite institutions, the gendered segregation of fields of study, and competing cultural narratives about the purpose and value of higher education.

(4)Key Terms- Financial stability- While looking for majors, men were more interested in finding a career that would give them financial stability to support a family in the future.
Intellectual Interests- Women were more concerned with finding a career that satisfies their intellectual interests meaning a topic which they enjoy or intrigues them or which stimulates higher thinking.
Female and male dominated fields- fields such as social work, education, and nursing are fields dominated by woman where as STEM fields are more dominated by males.

(5)Quotes- "Because our culture devalues women, the kinds of work typically done by women are also devalued. Thus men face a more pronounced stigma for entering nontraditional fields, because they enter the devalued realm of things associated with femininity. However, when women make the non-traditional choice of a typically male occupation, they generally benefit from the higher social value of the occupation (in addition to better pay and elevated status)." (168)
"Interestingly, in the interviews none of the women entering traditionally male fields of study made mention of the gender composition of their field. This again suggests that women, while certainly facing other barriers, do not risk the same kind of stigmatization that men do when entering typically female fields of study."(174)
"What is notable in these mostly hazy descriptions of future work is that these women's ideas about their careers were built on a natural continuation of their likes and intellectual interests, rather than on any practical or financial concerns. Concerns about salaries were rarely a factor, much less a priority, in their decisions. When asked, about two-thirds of them responded that considerations of salary were not important at all."(186)
"While they overlapped with women in their intellectual interests in their fields of study, the men tended to be pulled away from these interests by two concerns that were not shared by the women. The first involved considerations of status, and the second, concerns about making enough money to reproduce the affluent lifestyle they experienced in their childhoods."(187)

(6)Value- This chapter points out many possible reasons for the gender discrepancy in major choices. Some unique aspects pointed out include that not only is their a major underrepresentation of women in male fields, their is also a major under representation of men in female fields. Another valuable point in this work is that men and women value different things such as financial situations, intellectual interests, and family goals and these values direct them in their major decisions.

Bibliography with At Least 5 Scholarly Sources

Scholarly Sources:

1.Simon, R.M., et al. "Gender and Choosing a STEM Major in College: Femininity, Masculinity, Chilly Climate, and Occupational Values." Journal of Research in Science Teaching, vol. 54, no. 3, 01 Mar. 2017, p. 299-323.

2.Xu, Y.J. "Attrition of Women in STEM: Examining Job/Major Congruence in the Career Choices of College Graduates." Journal of Career Development, vol. 44, no. 1, 01 Feb. 2017, p. 3-19.

3.Gokhale, Anu A., et al. "Gender Differences in Attitudes toward Science and Technology among Majors." Journal of Science Education and Technology, vol. 24, no. 4, 01 Aug. 2015, pp. 509-516.

4.Ma, Yingyi. "College Major Choice, Occupational Structure and Demographic Patterning by Gender, Race and Nativity." The Social Science Journal, vol. 48, 01 Jan. 2011, pp. 112-129.

5. Daymont, Thomas N. and Paul J. Andrisani. "Job Preferences, College Major, and the Gender Gap in Earnings." Journal of Human Resources, vol. 19, no. 3, Summer84, p. 408.

Moakler, MW and MM Kim. "College Major Choice in STEM: Revisiting Confidence and Demographic Factors." Career Development Quarterly, vol. 62, no. 2, n.d., pp.128-142.

6.Mullen, Ann L. "Majors and Knowlege." Degrees of Inequality: Culture, Class, and Gender in American Higher Education. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins UP, 2012. 157-227. Print.

Research Proposal

Sabrina Kudowitz

Professor Goeller

Research in Disciplines: College!

March 6, 2017

Research Proposal

Working Title:

Gender Discrepancy in College Majors

Topic:

I will research, explore, and compare the major choices of men and women and how they differ. I will also explore why they differ and what their choices are based on. I will specifically talk about the underrepresentation of women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) majors and contributing factors to the immense  shortage of women in these fields. I also plan to discuss why it's important that this trend is changed, and how it can be changed, if at all.

Research Question:

Why is there a large disparity in major choices between men and women, specifically in STEM fields, and how can this be changed?

Theoretical Frame:

Many studies show the disparity in major choice between men and women. It is believed that possible causes for this discrepancy include innate gender related personality traits not fitting well with specific fields, perceived hostility of those and towards specific fields, and lack of societal support. Any of these aforementioned reasons could be the cause for this underrepresentation.Recently, there has been tremendous growth in science technology engineering and math (STEM) fields. However, the availability of jobs and need for professionals does not translate to the amount of people who actually pursue this field, especially regarding women. Women only account for around 25% of jobs in these fields when at least half of college graduates in the workforce are female. The article “Gender and Choosing a STEM Major in College: Femininity, Masculinity, Chilly Climate, and Occupational Values” refers to the “chilly climate” of stem majors and suggests that incompatibility with feminine personality traits causes women to lean towards fields that appreciate altruism, a characteristic seen to be innate with femininity .The article “Attrition of Women in STEM:Examining Job/Major Congruence in the Career Choices of College Graduates” suggest that the underrepresentation is due to the fact that “gender-based inequity in STEM majors and during the labor market entry stage is severe, and women experience clear disadvantages in salary and employment status.”  With this paper, I am trying to further understand the reason for this contrast.

Case Additional Questions and Research Plan:

The gender disparity and underrepresentation of women is becoming more and more obvious and American society is in great need of a solution. As stated in “Gender Differences in Attitudes Toward Science and Technology Among Majors” “The focus on reducing gender disparity across all fields of Science and Technology (S&T) takes on greater urgency as we cannot afford to ignore the potential contributions of half of the nation’s population. A lack of social and academic support for female students to pursue S&T fields can impede their academic and career aspirations.” I plan to research the long term effects of this problem and explain why this discrepancy is an issue in the first place. Some additional questions I have are: How can society encourage more women to enter into STEM fields especially if the reason for the under representation could be an innate difference in character traits and values? Could the reason for these differing values and traits be due to how boys and girls are raised differently, and if so is this a greater problem?  This approach to the issue could be a possible way to further understand and perhaps even begin to fix the gender disparity in occupational fields. However, if the problem is societal treatment of women in the field, is this too broad of an issue to be changed? Is the only way to change this for more women to get involved?

Working Bibliography:

Simon, R.M., et al. "Gender and Choosing a STEM Major in College: Femininity, Masculinity, Chilly Climate, and Occupational Values." Journal of Research in Science Teaching, vol. 54, no. 3, 01 Mar. 2017, p. 299-323.

Xu, Y.J. "Attrition of Women in STEM: Examining Job/Major Congruence in the Career Choices of College Graduates." Journal of Career Development, vol. 44, no. 1, 01 Feb. 2017, p. 3-19.

Gokhale, Anu A., et al. "Gender Differences in Attitudes toward Science and Technology among Majors." Journal of Science Education and Technology, vol. 24, no. 4, 01 Aug. 2015, pp. 509-516.

Ma, Yingyi. "College Major Choice, Occupational Structure and Demographic Patterning by Gender, Race and Nativity." The Social Science Journal, vol. 48, 01 Jan. 2011, pp. 112-129.

Daymont, Thomas N. and Paul J. Andrisani. "Job Preferences, College Major, and the Gender Gap in Earnings." Journal of Human Resources, vol. 19, no. 3, Summer84, p. 408.

Moakler, MW and MM Kim. "College Major Choice in STEM: Revisiting Confidence and Demographic Factors." Career Development Quarterly, vol. 62, no. 2, n.d., pp. 128-142.