Traditional Gender Role Attitudes in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM): Are STEM Managers More Modern Than Others?

The lack of women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) careers is a multifaceted problem, and there may be various levers for change (e.g., managers' attitudes). Whereas most previous studies have focused on educational aspects, we targeted later career stages: We measured managers' gender role attitudes because managers can be a source of support or discrimination. In fact, women in STEM fields report less support and more discrimination than STEM men or non-STEM women do. Using a large and representative data set from the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) in Germany, we compared traditional gender role attitudes in STEM versus non-STEM fields with ordered probit regressions and a multiverse analysis. We found that male, older, non-managerial, and non-STEM employees had more traditional gender role attitudes than others. Additionally, we found a gender gap: For men, older employees had more traditional gender role attitudes; for women, age did not matter, but female managers had less traditional gender role attitudes than nonmanagers. Reasons for this trend might be selection (e.g., women with traditional attitudes might abandon their careers earlier) or socialisation (e.g., female managers' attitudes may change in male-dominated environments). Implications for women's careers are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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