Research into the obvious, but someone has finally done it: Three women researchers have studied the behavior of undergraduates in STEM fields, and concluded that there basically is no problem. From the abstract:
"The results show that high school academic preparation, faculty gender composition, and major returns have little effect on major switching behaviors, and that women and men are equally likely to change their major in response to poor grades in major-related courses. Moreover, women in male-dominated majors do not exhibit different patterns of switching behaviors relative to their male colleagues."
Furthermore current recruitment efforts to attract more women tend to be counterproductive. In an interview, the primary author says:
"Society keeps telling us that STEM fields are masculine fields, that we need to increase the participation of women in STEM fields, but that kind of sends a signal that it's not a field for women, and it kind of works against keeping women in these fields."
One of our female students told me that the women are interviewed endlessly, for one project or another: "tell us about your experience", "are you doing ok", "have you experienced sexism", and on, and on. That alone is enough to make them question their career choice.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday September 08 2017, @06:25AM (1 child)
You're not alone in feeling that way...unfortunately, though, I don't think we're going to right course in time. I'm not a psychic, or at least not the kind that can read the future, but I do get precognitions and they've been...unpleasant...for the last several years. And especially the last several months. A perfect storm, involving several literal storms, is brewing, and I can feel the dam about to burst.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1) by anubi on Friday September 08 2017, @10:51AM
For what its worth, Azuma, I have been having this same intense foreboding for a couple of years now... watching how we are going yet further and further into debt and seeing how much debt the average family is in - and kids! Especially our kids! Neck deep in college debts - trying to pay off creditors when they need every penny they can get their hands on to start up their own families.
Its like waiting for the ice shelf to calve. You know its gonna happen. But you do not know when.
Its time for the next economic collapse. [wikipedia.org]
It's gonna be a real wham-dinger, as we can no longer "drop the interest rate" to infuse yet more borrowed money into the system.
Our manufacturing engines have been sold years ago. We can no longer trade altitude for airspeed. We are now barely clearing the trees. When it stalls this time, we hit the ground. Hard.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]