This article examines the extent to which science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subject choice in upper secondary education explains gender differences in STEM enrollment in higher education. We adopt a cross-country approach using Germany, Ireland, and Scotland as three case studies. These countries differ in terms of both the degree of subject choice offered in upper secondary education and the relevance for higher education admission of having studied specific school subjects. Using datasets of young people from all three countries, our results indicate a stronger mediation of school subjects for Scotland than in Germany and Ireland and a remarkable gender gap in STEM enrollment in all three countries. We conclude that females studying science subjects within upper secondary education appears to be a necessary but not a sufficient condition to ensure gender equality in progression to STEM fields.

中文翻译：

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德国、爱尔兰和苏格兰高等教育中的中学科目和性别 STEM 入学率

本文考察了高中教育中科学、技术、工程和数学 (STEM) 科目选择在多大程度上解释了高等教育 STEM 入学率的性别差异。我们采用跨国方法，将德国、爱尔兰和苏格兰作为三个案例研究。这些国家在高中教育提供的科目选择程度以及学习特定学校科目与高等教育入学的相关性方面存在差异。使用来自所有三个国家的年轻人的数据集，我们的结果表明，苏格兰的学校科目的中介作用比德国和爱尔兰更强，并且这三个国家的 STEM 入学率存在显着的性别差距。