Growing the roots of STEM majors: Female math and science high school faculty and the participation of students in STEM |
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| Institution: | 1. University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Department of Sociology, 9201 University City Boulevard, Charlotte, NC 28223, United States\n;2. University of North Carolina at Charlotte, United States\n;3. Duke University, United States\n;1. Department of Management, College of Business, University of Texas at San Antonio, United States;2. Research and Development, Educational Testing Service, Princeton, NJ, United States;1. Department of Economics, Ben Gurion University, P.O.Box 653, Beer-Sheva 8410501, Israel;2. Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, Melbourne University, Australia;1. Department of Economics, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States;2. Department of Sociology, University of Texas, Austin, TX, United States;3. Department of Economics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany;4. Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany;6. Departmentof Sociology, University of Minnesota, MN, United States;1. School of Economics and Business Administration, Ruppin Academic Center, and Department of Economics, Ben Gurion University, Israel;2. Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne, Australia |
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| Abstract: | The underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields is problematic given the economic and social inequities it fosters and the rising global importance of STEM occupations. This paper examines the role of the demographic composition of high school faculty—specifically the proportion of female high school math and science teachers—on college students’ decisions to declare and/or major in STEM fields. We analyze longitudinal data from students who spent their academic careers in North Carolina public secondary schools and attended North Carolina public universities. Our results suggest that although the proportion of female math and science teachers at a school has no impact on male students, it has a powerful effect on female students’ likelihood of declaring and graduating with a STEM degree, and effects are largest for female students with the highest math skills. The estimates are robust to the inclusion of controls for students’ initial ability. |
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