Despite representing only 16% of professionals in this field, women pursuing science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) careers have performed better academically than men and with similar grades. This is corroborated by a study conducted by the Social Observatory of the “La Caixa” Foundation by researchers Mireia Yousort, Sonia Sánchez-Canet and Beatriz Lores of the University of Rovira i Virgil, titled The Field of STEM Doesn’t Attract Female Talent.
Performance has been measured as the percentage of approved subjects with respect to those enrolled, which in their case is higher than that of men.
Average grades in university studies of STEM careers are the same for both genders: although men tend to have better average grades in their transcripts for math-related careers, women excel in engineering and architecture.
In addition, despite the low percentage of women in university careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), they have the lowest dropout rates once studies begin, especially in teaching modalities. in – to face
At face-to-face universities, which represent 85% of the total, the overall dropout rate for women is 2 to 6 points lower than for men.
Among STEM majors, the gender gap is largest for studies related to technology (13% of women are enrolled compared to 87 percent of men) and engineering (29 and 71 percent, respectively).
The enrollment of women in mathematics is decreasing. For science, it is observed that the proportion of women enrolled is also low (42% women and 58% men) and life sciences being the only exception (59% women and 41% men).
In this context, the Social Observatory of the “La Caixa” Foundation advocates addressing educational levels before higher education – with an emphasis on socio-demographic factors and digital skills – to achieve “full inclusion” of women in the STEM field. For, an area in which female talent is not well represented.
