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  • Item type:Publication,
    Identifying gender disparities in research performance: the importance of comparing apples with apples Open PDF 
    (2022)
    Nygaard, L.P.
    ;
    Aksnes, D.W.
    ;
    Piro, F.N.
    Many studies on research productivity and performance suggest that men consistently outperform women. However, women and men are spread unevenly throughout the academy both horizontally (e.g., by scientific field) and vertically (e.g., by academic position), suggesting that aggregate numbers (comparing all men with all women) may reflect the different publication practices in different corners of the academy rather than gender per se. We use Norwegian bibliometric data to examine how the “what” (which publication practices are measured) and the “who” (how the population sample is disaggregated) matter in assessing apparent gender differences among academics in Norway. We investigate four clusters of indicators related to publication volume, publication type, authorship, and impact or quality (12 indicators in total) and explore how disaggregating the population by scientific field, institutional affiliation, academic position, and age changes the gender gaps that appear at the aggregate level. For most (but not all) indicators, we find that gender differences disappear or are strongly reduced after disaggregation. This suggests a composition effect, whereby apparent gender differences in productivity can to a considerable degree be ascribed to the composition of the group examined and the different publication practices common to specific groups. We argue that aggregate figures can exaggerate some gender disparities while obscuring others. Our study illustrates the situated nature of research productivity and the importance of comparing men and women within similar academic positions or scientific fields—of comparing apples with apples—when using bibliometric indicators to identify gender disparities in research productivity. © 2022, The Author(s).
  • Item type:Publication,
    Relative Grades and Gender Differences in STEM Enrollment
    (University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany, 2025)
    Fuchs, Larissa;Pinger, Pia
    ;
    Seeger, Philipp
    Based on novel administrative and survey data from Germany, this study investigates the importance of relative STEM performance in high school for the gender gap in STEM enrollment. We first document that males display a higher relative STEM performance than females, which however mainly emerges from females' stronger achievement in non-STEM subjects. Our findings further reveal that a one-standard-deviation increase in grade-based STEM advantage raises the likelihood of pursuing a STEM degree by approximately 19 percentage points for males, but only by half as much for females. A decomposition analysis shows that 26% of the STEM gender gap could be attributed to differences in grade-based STEM performance if major preferences resembled those of males. However, relative grades are largely unimportant in an environment where preferences mirror those of females. This suggests that STEM performance differences have limited influence on females' decisions to pursue STEM degrees. While STEM advantage significantly impacts observed gender gaps in STEM enrollment, this effect is primarily driven by males.
  • Item type:Publication,
    Gender Gaps in Science: Systematic Review of the Main Explanations and the Research Agenda
    (2021)
    Tomassini, C.
    Despite improvements in incorporating women in tertiary education and science, several gender gaps persist today in some scientific and technological areas worldwide. Understanding the factors that determine these gaps is essential to incorporating women into knowledge societies on equal terms. The present research sought to explore and systematize the explanations given to this phenomenon by the international literature in the last four decades. The objectives were: (1). Analyze the evolution of the leading research agendas and categorize these into groups (or clusters) of explanations, and (2) discuss the challenges that research agendas face in addressing the phenomenon in a multi-causal way. The data were obtained from the articles contained in the Web of Science (WoS) and were subjected to a systematic review using bibliometric and qualitative techniques. The analysis reveals an essential growth of research in this area within the social sciences, which is grouped into five main types of explanation: (1) student performance in STEM areas, (2) influence of gender stereotypes and models, (3) interests and educational-learning experiences, (4) educational-occupational expectations and choices, and (5) uneven advancement and performance in scientific careers. Evolution shows that explanations about performance and individual choice have diminished noticeably in the present, giving rise to explanations regarding the influence of gender stereotypes and models within educational systems and socialization stages. This study thus contributes to understanding the causal factors that have determined gender gaps in science while identifying some new issues in research agendas. © 2021 Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca. All rights reserved.
  • Item type:Publication,
    A Model for Bridging the Gender Gap in STEM in Higher Education Institutions
    (Springer Nature, 2022)
    García-Holgado, Alicia
    ;
    García-Peñalvo, Francisco José
    ;
    García-Peñalvo, Francisco José
    ;
    García-Holgado, Alicia
    ;
    Dominguez, Angeles
    Women present a historic and worrying gap in science and technology-related disciplines, generally knowns as STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), except in the case of health professions. A holistic approach is needed to support policymakers worldwide in bridging the gender gap in STEM, in which higher education institutions have a crucial role. Promoting this active implication of the universities in this problem, in the European project Building the future of Latin America: engaging women into STEM (W-STEM), a model to modernise the government, management and operation of higher education institutions in Latin America to improve attraction, access to and retention of women in STEM programs has been developed. This situation is not exclusive to Latin American countries, it is a global problem, so the results of the W-STEM project are also applicable to European partners and transferrable worldwide. The main goal of this chapter is to describe the W-STEM model based on three years of working on strategies and mechanisms to improve the attraction, access, guidance, and retention processes to engage more women in STEM programs. The model has been thoroughly tested in eleven institutions in Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Mexico, involving public and private institutions with different gender equality situations.