"Has Gender Influenced the Choice of College Majors Over Time?"

Student Author(s): Brandi Edwards, Sophia Kelly, Jasmine Young, Nicole Ramirez     Faculty Mentor(s): Dr. Pei-Chun Tsai   Forum Engagement Gender Studies Showcase  ~ 4:30 to 5:30 pm ~ Heth Lobby

"The current study will investigate a four-year college in Southwest, Virginia in order to compare gender differences in major choice. The majors evaluated in the current project include biology/chemistry, nursing, accounting/marketing, criminal justice, and education. This study will travel through time starting in 2011 and ending in 2015 to investigate how gender has changed in these majors at Radford University. Previous studies have well documented the importance as well as the uniqueness of our topic. One study from Dunlap and Barth (2019) showed that gender stereotypes of women in a science, technology, engineering, or math major (STEM) has become less traditional as a previously male dominated field. While another study we reviewed, “10 College Majors with the Biggest Gender Gap” showed the statistics of how many men and women inhibit each of these majors, and proved that there is a severe gender gap in education and the job market. Yet the gender binary is being broken down, and the gender gap in education is starting to decline. Another study conducted by Zafar (2013), deemed that when males are choosing a major, an important outcome is the social status of the job that would result from that major, and for women they found it very important that they enjoyed the work they were doing. The results showed that both groups valued their parents’ opinions, as well as maintaining a 3.5 GPA. It is expected that the majors investigated will be less traditional than they once were."1 Keywords: Gender Gap in Education, Gender, Stereotypes, College Majors

1Page 102    2019  Annual Student Engagement Forum Gender Studies Showcase:.Pages 99-103

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