Author: Ceci, S.J.; Williams, W.M.; Barnett, S.M.
Description: The underrepresentation of women at the top of math-intensive fields is controversial, with competing claims of biological and sociocultural causation. The authors develop a framework to delineate possible causal pathways and evaluate evidence for each. Biological evidence is contradictory and inconclusive. Although cross-cultural and cross-cohort differences suggest a powerful effect of sociocultural context, evidence for specific factors is inconsistent and contradictory. Factors unique to underrepresentation in math-intensive fields include the following: (a) Math-proficient women disproportionately prefer careers in non-math-intensive fields and are more likely to leave math-intensive careers as they advance; (b) more men than women score in the extreme math-proficient range on gatekeeper tests, such as the SAT Mathematics and the Graduate Record Examinations Quantitative Reasoning sections; (c) women with high math competence are disproportionately more likely to have high verbal competence, allowing greater choice of professions; and (d) in some math-intensive fields, women with children are penalized in promotion rates. The evidence indicates that women’s preferences, potentially representing both free and constrained choices, constitute the most powerful explanatory factor; a secondary factor is performance on gatekeeper tests, most likely resulting from sociocultural rather than biological causes.
Subject Headings: Adult; Aptitude; Brain/physiology; Career Choice; Child; Child Rearing/psychology; Engineering/education; Female; Humans; Life Style; Mathematics; Prejudice; Science/education; Sex Characteristics; Social Values; Technology/education; Women/education/psychology; Workforce
Keywords: Women’s underrepresentation in science: sociocultural and biological considerations
Publication year: 2009
Journal or book title: Psychological Bulletin
Volume: 135
Issue: 2
Pages: 218-261
Find the full text : https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/bul1352218.pdf
Find more like this one (cited by): https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=2692239072099656002&as_sdt=1000005&sciodt=0,16&hl=en
Type: Journal Article
Serial number: 2575