ABSTRACT More women are now entering male-dominated fields, yet, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) remain dominated by men. We examined the association between boys’ and girls’ STEM choices after secondary education and friends’ gender norms, and whether pressure to conform to traditional gender norms differs depending on the gender composition of the friend group. Drawing on 3 waves of longitudinal data (N = 744) from the Netherlands, our sample consists of adolescents in STEM trajectories in secondary education. Their retention in STEM after secondary education gives us a better understanding of gender-specific “leakage” from the STEM pipeline. We found that girls’ likelihood of choosing STEM decreased drastically when friends had more traditional gender norms. Friends with traditional gender norms had less effect on boys. Nonetheless, boys with only same-sex friends were more likely to enter STEM. Our findings indicate that an environment with gender-normative ideas pushes girls out of the STEM pipeline.

中文翻译：

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性别规范和STEM：朋友对于阻止STEM管道泄漏的重要性

摘要现在有更多的女性进入男性主导的领域，然而，科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）仍然由男性主导。我们研究了中学教育后男孩和女孩的STEM选择与朋友的性别规范之间的联系，以及遵循传统性别规范的压力是否因朋友群体的性别组成而异。利用来自荷兰的3次纵向数据浪（N = 744），我们的样本包括中学阶段STEM轨迹中的青少年。他们接受中学教育后仍保留在STEM中，这使我们对STEM渠道中针对性别的“泄漏”有了更好的理解。我们发现，当朋友们拥有更传统的性别规范时，女孩选择STEM的可能性大大降低。遵循传统性别规范的朋友对男孩的影响较小。但是，只有同性朋友的男孩更有可能进入STEM。我们的发现表明，具有性别规范思想的环境将女孩赶出STEM渠道。