Increasing STEM participation rates among women has been an issue for some time, but with an estimated 60% of biology undergraduates across the United States being female, there would appear to be at least some cause for celebration. Alas, new research from Brigham Young University suggests that not is all as it seems in terms of gender parity in the classroom.
The researchers tracked 34 different life science courses to try and gauge class participation rates among male and female students, before correlating these findings with the final grades for each student.
The results suggest that male students were 1.5 times more likely o speak up than their female peers, but this discrepancy was far from uniform across all classes. Instead, a clear pattern emerged, with classes with either more female students, or a female tutor, receiving far higher rates of female participation. What’s more, this translated into about half a letter higher grades as well.
“The number of women in science is growing, but we still have this cultural idea that males belong in science and females don’t,” the researchers say. “Research suggests that if women look around a class and think, ‘Oh, I’m not supposed to be here,’ they actually don’t perform as well. A feeling of belonging doesn’t change their ability—but it makes them better able to reach their ability.”
Building confidence
It suggests that confidence can make a significant impact on the performance of female students in STEM classes. For instance, in classes where just 20% of students are female, the researchers predict that female students would be just 44% as likely to participate as male students. If the gender ratio was flipped, however, each female student would be 87% as likely to speak up as each male student.
Suffice to say, the researchers aren’t suggesting that male instructors were deliberately marginalizing women, as there were clearly examples where this wasn’t the case. The data does, however, suggest that across the board, there may be an issue to address.
“The presence of male-instructed classes with a lot of gender equity in our study shows that it can be done,” the researchers explain. “Simply being aware of equity and wanting to promote it in your class is important.”
The researchers propose one possible strategy for instructors to use is to call on as many of the students who raise their hands as possible, as this appeared to correlate with higher participation rates for female students.
“If women feel pretty sure that if they raise their hand, they’ll get called on, they’ll probably be more likely to try,” they say.
Another option would be to try and incorporate as many female role models into classes as possible, with the researchers suggesting perhaps hiring female teaching assistants, or inviting women to provide guest lectures.
“The project helped open my eyes to the fact that not everyone starts out on equal footing,” the researchers conclude. “I like to think that seeing an example of a successful woman in science helps other women feel empowered to pursue those careers, even if they are male-dominated.”
