International Women’s Day: why STEM education remains male-dominated
Addressing the gender disparity requires a holistic approach, but virtual reality and learning through gameplay have the potential to make learning content more inclusive, accessible and engaging.
Gender disparity in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) education and careers is a very complex issue and the statistics vary by field. However, if we look at the key trends in the persistent gender gap in STEM, they show that women are less likely to pursue degrees in STEM fields compared to men, and that women are often concentrated into certain STEM fields and are underrepresented in others.
For example, women are more likely to pursue life and social sciences such as biology and psychology, but fields like engineering, physics and computer science remain male-dominant. In terms of employment, women constitute around only 28% of the workforce in science and technology worldwide.
Historical bias and gender stereotypes
The ongoing gender disparity in STEM can be attributed to both historical and systemic factors. It's more of a holistic issue. Specifically, with computer science, historical bias can be a major reason. The computer world has been male-dominated for decades, probably since the seventies when the first gaming consoles and computers were more widely available in the home.
Another element is stereotypes. Gender stereotypes perpetuate the notion that certain fields are more suitable for men than they are for women.
From an early age, children are socialised into gender roles that can influence their interests and their career aspirations; things like what toys they play with, what sort of clubs are available at school. STEM fields, unfortunately, are portrayed as masculine domains, which leads to fewer women wanting to have careers in that field.
A lack of representation creates a cycle where there are fewer visible role models and mentors for aspiring female scientists and engineers.
A lack of representation creates a cycle where there are fewer visible role models and mentors for aspiring female scientists and engineers. Without seeing other women succeed in STEM, young girls might feel discouraged or believe that they don't belong in these fields, which is bizarre when you look back further than the seventies at how many women were so involved in technology and how programming was even invented by women; but these things just are not talked about at all.
There're a whole host of reasons why STEM remains male-dominant. It's a hugely complex issue that requires a complex solution and concerted efforts from multiple stakeholders and society as a whole.
Tackling gender disparity with virtual reality
Virtual reality and learning through gameplay has the potential to tackle this gender disparity by making it more inclusive, more accessible and engaging, and creating engaging learning content. It can address the representation issue as virtual reality can showcase diverse role models and perspectives through features such as storytelling and scenarios, and that can reflect the diversity of the real world and challenge stereotypes.
Ultimately, for many children in school that's their whole life and they can't see what's going to be beyond school. They can't see that it's a very short part of their lives and there's a big wide world out there.
So, if young people have access to role models in an immersive environment, then they might feel differently about computer science and other STEM subjects. Virtual reality in education, in general, can provide immersive and interactive learning experiences for those who might feel intimidated by the traditional classroom setting and teaching methods. It can provide a platform where students can explore complex concepts at their own pace and in a more intuitive manner.
[Virtual reality] can provide a platform where students can explore complex concepts at their own pace and in a more intuitive manner.
In virtual reality learning environments, students can avoid feeling embarrassed if they don't understand something, because there's an explanation going on inside this little world they're immersed in.
They can also work in groups, and alone. There are so many possibilities that virtual reality can provide for education. Most of all, virtual reality and learning through gameplay can make learning dense subjects more engaging and fun. By incorporating gamification elements like rewards, challenges and progression systems, students can be more motivated and sustain their interest in computer science and other STEM subjects, just to get them through school and into the wider world.
While progress is being made in closing the gender gap in general, and also in STEM education, addressing the disparity requires a more holistic approach. It needs a systemic effort to promote gender equality in education and in recruitment, from employers, policymakers and society.
Moving forward, we should see stereotypes being challenged and, over time, the gender gap decreasing, if not disappearing entirely.
Find out more
Listen to our interview with Fiona on Jisc’s Beyond the Technology podcast.
About the author