Personality or social environment? Which factors help young women to remain in the “leaky tech pipeline”?

• Applicants: Professorin Dr. Kathrin Leuze; Professorin Dr. Susanne Strauß
• Subject Area: Empirical Social Research
• Term: since 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 431459287

In the education system, young women have caught up or even surpassed their male counterparts in many domains. However, gender differences continue to exist in the choice of academic subjects, in the course of higher education studies and in the transition to the labour market. Women are especially underrepresented in the areas of engineering and technology, while sciences and mathematics today exhibit a more equal gender relation. After enrolling in STEM subjects, both young men and women face higher risks of student retention than in other academic subjects, with women leaving the STEM domain completely more often than men do. Moreover, even after successfully graduating from a STEM subject, women are more likely to work in a non-STEM occupation thereafter and face higher unemployment risks. Since over the life course women continue to leave the STEM sector, research has labeled this process the „leaky STEM pipeline“. Due to the mentioned important differentiation within the STEM area, however, we more specifically refer to this process as „leaky tech pipeline“. Up to date, no longitudinal empirical analysis on women leaving or staying in the “leaky tech pipeline” exists for Germany. Therefore, the project empirically examines three important transitions during women’s academic and occupational life courses: 1. the development of occupational aspirations in secondary education and the choice of a STEM subject in higher education, 2. the decision for (or against) a change of subject in the first semesters and the successful graduation in the STEM area, and 3. the transition from higher education to a STEM occupation. Contrary to previous research we do not study STEM subjects and occupations as one broad category, but systematically differentiate between engineering and technology on the one hand and sciences and mathematics on the other. Moreover, and again in contrast to previous research, our main research focus is not to compare young women with young men, but to focus on the group of young women to get a better understanding of mechanisms contributing to their persistence in the “leaky tech pipeline”. In this regard, we scrutinize the relevance of two main explanatory factors, namely personality and the social environment. More precisely, we analyze whether the Big Five, risk aversion and self-efficacy or rather social influences by parents, peers, teaching personnel and partners explain why young women stay in or leave the “leaky tech pipeline”.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants