Gendered study choice: a literature review. A review of theory and research into the unequal representation of male and female students in mathematics, science, and technology.

GENDER differences (Psychology); STUDENTS; MATHEMATICS; SCIENCE; TECHNOLOGY; SOCIOECONOMICS; EDUCATION

This article presents an overview of the recent literature on gendered patterns of academic choice in mathematics, science, and technology. It distinguishes in this literature micro-level, macro-level, and institutional explanations. Micro-level explanations focus primarily on psychological constructs, that is, variables at the level of the individual students. Macro-level explanations focus primarily on socioeconomic conditions and cultural understandings of gender roles. Institutional explanations focus on design characteristics of (national) education systems. After a presentation of these perspectives and of recent research progress that has been made, the authors critically discuss the lacunae that still exist in explaining cross-national variety, and provide suggestions for designing future research in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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