Purpose

The paper innovates on the existing literature by assessing the gender gap in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) tertiary education enrolment and career choice in a small country setting and by extending on Master and Meltzoff (2016) theoretical framework to provide a holistic explanation of the gender disparity through a mix of personal, environmental and behavioural factors. The study first probes into the existence of potential gender disparity in STEM tertiary enrolment in Mauritius. Second, in contrast with existing studies where selective factors are used to measure the gender gap in STEM education, this paper investigates into a combination of personal, environmental and behavioural factors that may influence participation in STEM education and career.

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses a survey of 209 undergraduates enroled in the main public university and investigates into the existence of a gender gap in STEM tertiary education enrolment and the reasons behind this disparity. Consistent with the theoretical model, the empirical analysis also investigates into the work environment (which cannot be measured from the survey), via semi-structured interviews of 15 women in STEM professions.

Findings

The logit regression results first reveal the existence of a gender disparity in the choice of STEM-related degrees. The probability of a female student to enrol in a STEM degree is lower than that of a male student, after controlling for all the personal, environmental and behavioural factors. The most important set of reasons influencing the student's STEM degree choice are self-efficacy and the student's academic performance in STEM subjects at secondary school level. The findings also demonstrate that young women are relatively more likely to choose STEM degrees than their male counterparts when they are supported by their family, school and teachers. There is further evidence of lower participation of women in STEM professions as well as significant challenges which women in STEM careers face compared to their male colleagues.

Originality/value

This study adopts a holistic framework to assess the factors that hinder women's participation in STEM tertiary education and career in Mauritius.

中文翻译：

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STEM 教育和职业选择中的性别差距：重要的是什么？

目的

本文通过评估小国家环境中科学、技术、工程和数学 (STEM) 高等教育入学率和职业选择的性别差距以及扩展 Master 和 Meltzoff (2016) 理论框架以提供整体通过个人、环境和行为因素的混合来解释性别差异。该研究首先探讨了毛里求斯 STEM 高等教育招生中存在的潜在性别差异。其次，与现有的使用选择性因素来衡量 STEM 教育中的性别差距的研究相比，本文调查了可能影响参与 STEM 教育和职业的个人、环境和行为因素的组合。

设计/方法/方法

该研究对就读于主要公立大学的 209 名本科生进行了调查，并调查了 STEM 高等教育入学率中是否存在性别差距以及这种差距背后的原因。与理论模型一致，实证分析还通过对 15 名 STEM 专业女性的半结构化访谈，对工作环境（无法从调查中衡量）进行调查。

发现

logit回归结果首先揭示了在选择STEM相关学位方面存在性别差异。在控制了所有个人、环境和行为因素后，女学生攻读 STEM 学位的概率低于男学生。影响学生选择 STEM 学位的最重要的一组原因是自我效能感和学生在中学阶段在 STEM 科目中的学习成绩。研究结果还表明，在家庭、学校和老师的支持下，年轻女性比男性同行更有可能选择 STEM 学位。有进一步的证据表明，与男性同事相比，女性在 STEM 职业中的参与度较低，以及女性在 STEM 职业中面临的重大挑战。

原创性/价值

本研究采用一个整体框架来评估阻碍女性参与 STEM 高等教育和毛里求斯职业的因素。