Gender gaps in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) participation are larger in societies where women have greater freedom of choice. We provide a cultural psychological model to explain this pattern. We consider how individualistic/post-materialistic cultural patterns in WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrial, Rich, and Democratic) settings foster a self-expressive construction of academic choice, whereby affirming femininity/masculinity and ensuring identity fit become primary goals. Striving to fulfill these goals can lead men toward, and women away from, STEM pursuit, resulting in a large gender gap. In Majority World settings, on the contrary, collectivistic/materialistic cultural patterns foster a security-oriented construction, whereby achieving financial security and fulfilling relational expectations become primary goals of academic choice. These goals can lead both women and men toward secure and lucrative fields like STEM, resulting in a smaller gender gap. Finally, gender gaps in STEM participation feed back into the STEM=male stereotype. We discuss the implications of our model for research and theory, and intervention and policy.

在女性拥有更多选择自由的社会中，科学、技术、工程和数学 (STEM) 参与方面的性别差距更大。我们提供了一个文化心理模型来解释这种模式。我们考虑了 WEIRD（西方、受过教育、工业、富人和民主）环境中的个人主义/后物质主义文化模式如何促进学术选择的自我表达构建，从而肯定女性气质/男性气质并确保身份契合成为主要目标。努力实现这些目标会导致男性追求 STEM，而女性远离 STEM 追求，从而导致巨大的性别差距。相反，在多数世界环境中，集体主义/物质主义文化模式促进了以安全为导向的建设，从而实现财务安全和满足关系期望成为学术选择的主要目标。这些目标可以引导女性和男性走向 STEM 等安全且有利可图的领域，从而缩小性别差距。最后，STEM 参与中的性别差距反馈到 STEM=男性的刻板印象中。我们讨论了我们的模型对研究和理论、干预和政策的影响。