Almost all science-related lectures at university are predominantly enrolled in by more male students than female students.There are various factors contribute to this imbalance and possible solutions could be adopted.
Historically, science, technology, engineering fields have been dominated by men,which is driven by societal stereotypes and gender norms. Firstly, boys are encouraged to get into these domains from a young age as is believed these areas just suit for boys,while given responsibilities to girls was just home-related or handmade requiring jobs.These societal prejudices, which are gender-based determined job roles, set the ground for gender inequality in those professions today. Moreover, the other major effect might be lack of female role models for girls as women scientists have been always underrepresented, and this can discourage young women from pursuing these subjects.If students don’t see a women can have a ability to excel in these fields, they might assume these areas not be suitable for them.
To resolve these issues, schools can promote science education equally to girls and boys from an early age. Programs that might contain interesting science contents can be added cirriculum or workshops can be held with hosting eminent scientist as a speaker,which will probably help spark an interest.Furthermore, to remove the bias of society about gender-related-jobs, the employers or companies can start initiatives to get more women into workforce in order to bridge the gap, which this also might be benefical to raise awareness in society.For instance, nowadays technology related bootcamps as a special to women engineers ,such as artifical intelligence course have been hold and offered not only comprehensive training syllabus but also job or internships opportunities after.
In conclusion, it is clear that there are various reasons for this trend, however,steps need to be taken to tackle this issue.
