Media by ThisisEngineering RAEng
The opinion that men are more naturally inclined to the sciences is not an uncommon one . When asked to draw what they thought a scientist looked like , nearly all of a group of six to eight-year-olds drew the expected image : A man in a lab coat and glasses . The domination of men in the scientific field has led to research and speculation on whether your gender can mean you are genetically predisposed to study the sciences . The short answer - no . Due to the fact that differences of performance between boys and girls in maths and the sciences only begin to appear after the age of twelve , it is far more likely to be related to social and psychological factors rather than genetic or biological ones . While it is true that your genetic makeup can affect your behaviour ; for personality and even intelligence , it does so indiscriminately , to both boys and girls .
In western culture , narratives around science often focus on the brilliance of individual scientists such as Newton and Einstein . However , considering the fact that modern research is largely conducted in teams , this narrative tends to fail us . When we consider scientific research as group problem-solving , diversity is integral to achieving it . Despite this , gender disparity in STEM still persists . While the number of women in the workforce in the UK has grown by 10 % since 1990 , the number of women in STEM has only grown by 3 %. Since the need to diversify STEM is clear , what exactly is hindering it ?
Debunking the “ Biological factor ”
Media by National Cancer Institute