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"Not enough women choose STEM subjects"

Whilst i agree that there is a disproportionate amount of men that do STEM subjects compared to women, it is often women who do pointless degrees such as Gender Studies who complain about this, discuss.

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Reply 1

get_in_the_robot

This is true in the US but I'm not sure about UK.
Yeah, women don't do STEM because it's not a subject that's a "woman's" one. STEM is more attractive to men imo. What does it matter though? Being one of only a few women in the course might be daunting but I don't think it's bad. People can't complain if they're not doing the degree themselves.

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Reply 2

A level sufferer

I dont know why there needs to be such a minimum quota on the number of women taking STEM subjects. If more males are interested in STEM then they should leave it and also vice versa if more females are more interested in fashion (not being stereotypical) then thats fine too. As long as the opportunities are the same, id say just leave it as it is

Reply 3

Serine Soul

It's true that there's few women in STEM, but at the end of the day, people are free to go for whichever career path they wish. The most important thing is that the opportunities are equal for all.

Reply 4

bottled

We don't have quotas to fill up female dominated fields, and we don't have quotas or moves to push women into lower paid, male dominated fields.

If less women choose apply for a subject than a men do, then that's no big issue

Reply 5

username457532

But it isn't necessarily a concious choice. In a society where kids science kits are advertised as boy's toys and girls are raised to believe science isn't 'for girls', how can we claim everyone has equal opportunities?

Reply 6

looseseal

It's funny that in places such as India and China where gender inequality is much more of an issue there seems to be a greater uptake of STEM subjects by women.

Reply 7

username1221160

How many people have you met doing Gender Studies degrees that complain about this? Given that no university in the UK offers the subject at undetgraduate level, I suspect the answer is close to zero.

It is recognised as a problem by those within STEM subjects. It is not just that they are underrepresented at degree level, but at every subsequent level, the percentage of women falls (known as the "leaky pipe"). We are, for whatever reason, potentially missing out on a large pool of talent.

Reply 8

grassntai

I don't blame them wtf are you going to do with a physics degree and who the hell would want to be a nerdy greasy engineer when careers in finance and politics are a lot more sexy? It's not just women but people in general, research work is like doing homework for a living and lacks major funding; if the government wants more people to take up STEM subjects then they need to do better to incentivize it which starts with getting better, more inspiring science teachers in school.

Reply 9

drinktheoceans

Original post by grassntai

who the hell would want to be a nerdy greasy engineer when careers in finance and politics are a lot more sexy?

Because life is all about objectifying yourself in order to get laid...

Reply 10

rayquaza17

[video="youtube;NO0cvqT1tAE"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO0cvqT1tAE[/video]
but math class is tough :frown:

Reply 11

Maker

A lot of women don't want a good career and earn lots of money, thats what husbands are for.

Reply 12

grassntai

Original post by drinktheoceans

Because life is all about objectifying yourself in order to get laid...

Sexy is not always synonymous with sexuality, I hope you know what a thesaurus is. Even those of STEM graduates, a large portion go out into sectors that doesn't even require any scientific knowledge; I know someone who did a undergraduate and post graduate in Physics at Durham university and he currently works as an account manager, so much for all that studying, his education was a complete waste.

Reply 13

drinktheoceans

Original post by Quantex

It is recognised as a problem by those within STEM subjects. It is not just that they are underrepresented at degree level, but at every subsequent level, the percentage of women falls (known as the "leaky pipe" :wink:

. We are, for whatever reason, potentially missing out on a large pool of talent.

I don't see that the problem lies within the system, I think that people who are interested in STEM subjects will do STEM subjects and that if you aren't considering a career in STEM because of the views of others or society, maybe it's something that you're not meant to do.

Reply 14

Blackstarr

Unis should perhaps lower the entry requirements for women.

Reply 15

drinktheoceans

Original post by grassntai

Okay, I'll make sure to buy myself a thesaurus. Then according to you, the problem doesn't lie within the representation of women in STEM but the attractiveness of doing STEM in general.