STEM drop-outs: evidence and factors for gender gaps

‘STEM’ is the acronym for science, technology, engineering and mathamatics and stands for an educational and professional field that continues to be characterised by major gender-specific differences and appears comparatively less accessible or desirable for (young) women than for (young) men. At the same time, many STEM occupations are associated with promising career opportunities.

While various initiatives and campaigns attempt to increase the proportion of women in STEM and thus support equality-oriented access to these promising occupational fields, there is less focus on how (young) women can be supported to remain in these educational and occupational fields.

The central aim of the study is to shed light on the reasons why women leave or consider leaving the STEM sector. A secondary data analysis is used to identify the proportion of STEM drop-outs at different stages of education and employment as well as gender-specific differences in this regard. In addition, structural, organisational and individual factors for a drop-out or a considered career change among women are examined in more detail by conducting an Austria-wide quantitative survey. The resulting findings can be analysed in greater depth through qualitative, co-creative workshops by involving female drop-outs.

The study is being conducted on behalf of “LEA – Let’s Empower Austria. Österreichischer Fonds zur Stärkung und Förderung von Frauen und Mädchen“ in cooperation with Andrea Leitner (Institute for Advanced Studies, IHS).