Government Study Documents Gender Gap in STEM Education and Jobs

A new report from the Economics and Statistics Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce finds that women remain vastly underrepresented in jobs in the so-called STEM fields which include science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The study which can be downloaded here, shows that women hold nearly half the jobs in the U.S. economy but less than 25 percent of the jobs in STEM fields. The percentage of women in STEM fields has not increased since the turn of the century.

The study also found that the gender gap in pay is less than in STEM-related occupations than it is in the economy as a whole. Women with STEM jobs, on average earned 33 percent more than women in non-STEM occupations.

The study found that women who earned degrees in STEM fields as less likely to have STEM-related occupations than men with degrees in STEM fields.

The authors of the report state, “There are many possible factors contributing to the discrepancy of women and men in STEM jobs, including: a lack of female role models, gender stereotyping, and less family-friendly flexibility in the STEM fields.”