NO matter how much money and thought the government puts into encouraging students at all educational levels to choose the hard subjects of science and mathematics, it will be tough to overcome the “girl nerd” factor reports The Australian in ‘Girl-nerd’ factor stops women taking ‘boy’ jobs.
Joanna Sikora and Artur Pokropek explore gender segregation of adolescent science career plans in Gender segregation of adolescent science career plans in 50 countries. The authors ask whether, in different cultures, bridging the male–female gap in science self-concept could reduce gender disparities in students’ career preferences using data from the Program for International Student Assessment 2006 surveys.
Bringing together the theory of gender essentialism and the biased self-concept thesis, the authors interpret the cross-national variation in the relationship between self-concept and occupational plans.
In all countries, science-oriented girls prefer employment in biology, agriculture, or health (BAH), whereas boys favor careers in computing, engineering, or mathematics (CEM). Almost everywhere, boys have more confidence in their science ability than girls, even after science performance is taken into account. In advanced industrial countries the male–female gap in science self-concept is larger than the corresponding gap in developing or transforming societies. The male–female segregation of preferences for science careers is also stronger in advanced industrial countries. Nevertheless, nowhere are gender disparities in science self-assessment related to the gender segregation in preferences for BAH and CEM careers.
Source:
Job Market Monitor 
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