Gender inequities throughout STEM: Women with higher grades drop STEM majors while men persist

TL;DR

This study analyzes 10 years of university data revealing that women with higher grades tend to drop STEM majors more than men, highlighting persistent gender inequities and the need for inclusive educational environments.

Contribution

It provides empirical evidence of gender disparities in STEM attrition and GPA trends, emphasizing the importance of understanding dropout reasons to promote equity.

Findings

Women who drop STEM majors often have higher GPAs than men who persist.

Majors with fewer students have higher attrition rates.

Women drop STEM majors despite earning comparable or higher grades.

Abstract

Efforts to promote equity and inclusion using evidence-based approaches are vital to correct long-standing societal inequities that have disadvantaged women and discouraged them from pursuing studies, e.g., in many STEM disciplines. We use 10 years of institutional data at a large public university to investigate trends in the majors that men and women declare, drop after declaring, and earn degrees in as well as the GPA of the students who drop or earn a degree. We find that the majors with the lowest number of students also have the highest rates of attrition. Moreover, we find alarming GPA trends, e.g., women who drop majors on average earn higher grades than men who drop those majors, and in some STEM majors, women who drop the majors were earning comparable grades to men who persist in those majors. These quantitative findings call for a better understanding of the reasons students drop a major and for making learning environments equitable and inclusive.