title: The missing women in STEM? Assessing gender differentials in the factors associated with transition to first jobs.
abstract: Women remain underrepresented in the STEM workforce. We assess explanations for women's underrepresentation in STEM jobs, focusing on a cohort that came of age in the 1980s and 1990s, when women dramatically increased their representation in the scientific labor force. Data are from the NLSY79, and our analysis focuses on members of this cohort who received a college degree, with an emphasis on those who completed a degree in a STEM field. Our analyses test the extent to which college major, expectations to work in STEM, and family expectations shaped transitions into STEM occupations within two years of degree completion. Among those majoring in STEM fields there were no gender differences in transitioning into STEM jobs, though there were sizable differences in transitions to STEM employment by field of study. Of note are gender differences in associations between family expectations and transitions into STEM employment. The most career oriented women, who expected to marry late and limit fertility, were no more likely to enter STEM jobs than were women who anticipated marrying young and having two or more children. The men most likely to enter STEM occupations, in contrast, adhered to significantly more conventional gender ideologies than their female counterparts, expecting to marry at younger ages but also to remain childless. Results of our regression decomposition indicated that marriage and family expectations and gender ideology worked in opposite directions for men and women. Nonetheless, the majority of the gender disparity in transitions into STEM jobs was related to women's underrepresentation in engineering and computer science fields of study.
authors.affiliation: Cornell University, Department of Policy Analysis & Management, 297 Martha Van Rensselaer Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, United States. Electronic address: ss589@cornell.edu.
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sassler
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology & Population Research Center, 305 E. 23rd Street, A1700, University of Texas - Austin, Austin, TX 78712-1699, United States.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Glass
authors.affiliation: Office of Faculty Development and Diversity, 122 Day Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, United States.
authors.forename: Yael
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Levitte
authors.affiliation: Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, 426 Eggers Hall, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244, United States.
authors.forename: Katherine M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Michelmore
keywords: Employment; Expectations; Family and work; Gender; Intentions; STEM; Values