In this section, we describe in detail respondents’ responses to our two motivating questions. We also provide overall frequencies for the broad categories found in student responses.
Finding one: Some students do not perceive any race and/or gender differences in STEM experiences
If a response was coded as “doesn’t notice gender differences” or “doesn’t notice race differences,” the respondent explicitly said there was no difference in the STEM experience for students of different genders or races or they stated they were unsure if there were differences. Many of these responses were of the form “I don’t think so” or “not really.”
Several respondents cited equal academic responsibilities for all students as an explanation for the lack of gender and race differences:
No I don’t think it is. I think they’re the same. Same course load, I don’t think they get it any easier or any harder.—Black woman, electrical and computer engineering major
Also common was an appeal to the objective nature of science to justify a lack of impact relative to race or gender.
I feel like especially in the world of science we are being kind of objective about who we are and what we are doing, I think we are kind of on the same path.—White man, environmental science major
While most respondents in this category gave explicit responses about a lack of gender and race differences, some simply said they were unsure and did not commit to an answer. For example, a White woman majoring in biology stated “No I don’t think so. I mean I couldn’t imagine how it would be” and a White man majoring in aerospace engineering said “I don’t know. It’s kind of hard to say for me because I don’t have any experience.”
Distributions of respondents from each demographic group are shown in Fig. 2. White men were much more likely than other groups to deny gender and race differences for students in STEM and women of color were the least likely. Except for women of color, students were less likely to report perceiving an impact due to race than gender. Respondents coded in this broad category of “doesn’t notice differences” were not coded for any of the subsequent broad categories which required them to identify a gender or race impact.
Finding two: Some students notice gender and/or race differences in STEM experiences and attribute them to individual characteristics, not sexism/racism
Some students indicated that they perceived differences in STEM students’ experiences related to gender or race, yet they did not attribute these differences to any cultural or structural systems in which STEM education takes place. We coded statements in which differences were noted based on individual characteristics that were not directly or reasonably inferred to be attributed to systemic causes as “Individual Differences.” Figure 3 shows the distribution of responses in this category. Under this broad category student responses were categorized into various theme groups, each of which are described below for both gender and race.
Differences in individual characteristics of men and women
Some respondents described individual characteristics of men and women as the source of women’s different experiences in STEM, without inference to these characteristics being driven by sexism. Below we describe the two most common individual characteristics cited. White men were the most likely to see individual differences as the key factor in differing experiences of the genders.
Belief that women are not as interested in science as men
After being asked if there were gender differences in their major, some students (nearly all men) noted the gender imbalance and offered women’s ostensible lack of interest in science as an explanation. For example, as a White man majoring in electrical engineering explained, “We do an open house and every time I talk to girls, with the exception of one out of the hundreds of families I have seen walk by me, only one seemed interested in electrical engineering and she knew that is exactly what she wanted to do. Others seemed to be afraid of the subject, they are probably afraid it would be too challenging or hard, but I suppose they probably don’t know much about the major.”
Women willingly work harder than men
Some students (nearly all women) proposed that gender differences were due to effort expenditures. That is, the idea that women work harder than men. In order to be included in this category the response appeared to be a quality of the gender and not attributed to a systemic cause (i.e., women work harder because of discrimination). Those citing that women work harder due to a systemic cause are discussed later in another category.
For example, a White woman majoring in biotechnology said “What I’ve seen is most of the girls at our school are a lot more willing to put in the extra work to study versus some of the guys.” In many cases, this involved the idea that women are more academically motivated than their peers who are men:
I feel like guys like to take the easier route and it’s not a lot of guys that like to be challenged, and for a female it’s kind of like they will work harder instead of taking the easier route.—Black woman biology major
Differences in individual characteristics of different races
Some respondents described individual characteristics of different races as the contributor to racial differences in experiences in STEM without inference to these characteristics being driven by racism. Statements were coded in this category when the interviewee gave no indication of larger systemic causes to the differences between races (i.e., it is just Asian culture). The most common of these was the belief that some races value science more. In particular, many students mention people from Asian descent come from cultures that encourage the pursuit of science. As one Black woman majoring in biology stated “Not every African American would want to be a doctor, some people want to pursue other careers and same thing with Caucasians and Asians. I think there’s a larger number of Asians who go into the math and science and technology kinda stuff than other races.” And as a White male majoring in computer science expressed “I can see it being encouraged a lot in the Asian communities because they put such a focus on both successful careers and like math-oriented careers.”
Finding three: Some students notice differences in STEM experiences due to sexism/racism
We now turn to those who attributed impacts to structural or cultural systems (i.e., sexism and racism). As mentioned above, if a student listed any impact that could be categorized this way, they were counted in this category. Therefore, this category represents the students who noted any sexism or racism impacts even if they also noted non-sexism and racism impacts. (We note that the terms “sexism” and “racism” were rarely used explicitly by students.) Under this broad category, student responses were categorized into three main categories (impacts due to minority status, impacts due to discrimination, and, for race only, impacts due to social and cultural capital). Each of these is described in detail below for both gender and race.
Impacts related to being one of the few
A number of responses were coded as describing impacts related to the underrepresentation of some groups. For both gender and race, respondents talked about women and students of color feeling intimidated, feeling pressure to work harder, and feeling out of place due to their underrepresentation. Responses related to gender and race tended to be similar; therefore, we combine our discussions of gender and race below. Figure 4 presents the number of students who fell into this broad category for gender and race impacts. A description of the most common impacts attributed to the minority status of women and people of color in STEM are described in detail below.
Underrepresentation of women and people of color in STEM leads to feelings of intimidation
A common theme under the impacts due to being a member of an underrepresented group was that those in the minority feel intimidated due to their underrepresented status, either directly when pursuing their degree or in job markets or internships. Often this came up as an expression of lacking the confidence to pursue STEM or of feeling discouraged. For example, when discussing her math department, one White woman majoring in mathematics said “I have been surrounded by several males and sometimes I have gotten intimidated by it just because there are only six [female students] all together being outnumbered by these males… Sometimes I do get intimidated myself.” Nearly all responses in this category for gender were given by women, with White women making up the majority.
Women and students of color feel pressure to work harder due to their visible status
In the previous section we identified the belief that women naturally work harder than men as a reason given for gender differences in STEM. Relatedly, some students mentioned that due to low representation of women and people of color in STEM, women, and students of color would feel pressure to work harder. Although superficially similar (women work harder), these two categories are distinctly different due to the mechanism proposed (individual vs. structural) and are therefore reported separately. In a later section this same theme of working harder surfaces again in relation to bias.
Frequently, responses about women and people of color working harder were related to disproving stereotypes about women and people of color in science and feeling a need to prove themselves in the field. For example, one White woman double majoring in mathematics and computer science said “It feels strange if I’m the only female in a class... it feels like I have to keep up… like, if I’m not as good, then it says something bad.” Another White woman majoring in biology spoke of pressure due to stereotypes as well, stating “It makes me feel like there is more pressure because I feel like if I don’t do as well or better that it will be like, turned into a gender thing… I don’t want to be treated differently... I want to kind of prove myself like I’m not only as good, I’m better than you guys.”
After discussing the low numbers of women in engineering, one White man majoring in aerospace engineering expressed feeling sorry for women in engineering because they would be “out of their comfort zone” to be in a class of all men. He went on to say “I guess that [women] would have to work a little bit harder, I would think, to prove themselves.”
Many people said that students of color likely feel pressure to work harder due to their low representation in STEM. Much of these comments had to do with combating or disproving stereotypes about certain races, such as Black and Hispanic, in STEM. For example, one Hispanic man majoring in engineering technology said “I kind of push myself a little bit more just because ... the majority {in STEM} are White, White males, so being the only Hispanic in my class kinda makes me wanna try a little bit harder… I wanna be seen as equally competent as a White male.” One Black man majoring in mathematics expressed feeling there was “equal opportunity” in STEM, but also remarked: “I have the drive to try to prove others wrong and I’m here in this field and I’m successful in this field so far and I’m just going against the stereotype and against the statistics.”
We note that what these students are describing an experience of stereotype threat (Steele, 1997). Stereotype threat research demonstrates that a person whose group is numerically marginalized in a classroom may perceive a spotlight on their “performance.” If there is also a negative cultural stereotype associated with their group, the anxiety that spotlight triggers, combined with the negative cultural stereotype, can lead to diminished effort and lower performance. Students from underrepresented groups may decline to try hard so any “failures” in the class are due to their diminished effort rather than confirmation of the stereotype. The widespread stereotype threat associated with certain racial/ethnic and gender groups has been demonstrated as a barrier to success for some underrepresented groups in STEM. Importantly, a number of our respondents indicate that they fight the stereotype and try harder, rather than diminish their efforts.
Women and people of color feel out of place
Many students speculated that because women are outnumbered in STEM, they may feel out of place. For example, one White women majoring in computer science said about her major, “I know it’s easy for women to feel out of place or alienated just because it’s not a very popular profession for women.” Many women voiced this feeling after being directly asked if they had ever felt out of place in their degree program. For example, one Hispanic woman majoring in computer science said “Sometimes [I feel out of place] because I am pretty much the only girl, I think in all of my classes this semester.” When asked if the feeling had changed over time, she said “no” and continued “I think from the very beginning everyone is always like, ‘oh a girl in computer science-— this never happens’ so I am probably used to it at this point.”
Although no White men expressed such views, some participants either experienced or observed that low representation of certain races and disproportionate representation of others can make students of color feel out of place. One Black woman spoke from her direct experience as a Black woman in biology, “Sometimes I feel out of place because I’m black and that’s a minority in biology.” Another White woman spoke from experience as well, but spoke from a place of knowing an African-American man in her biology program, “I remember there was like one African-American in our class and I always felt like, bad for him because I was like oh, he’s like the only one... He kind of felt uncomfortable and he made a couple comments about [how] he felt alone.” Her acquaintance felt uncomfortable and alone because he was the sole Black person in the class. Similarly, a Hispanic woman majoring in computer science expressed discomfort because she was the only Hispanic person in her statistics class, “I was very uncomfortable… It was just mostly because I think I was maybe the only Hispanic in that class… I would always sit like in the back of the classroom so that like nobody would notice me… And in my other classes, I would always just stay toward the front of it.”
Notices impacts of sexism/racism as discrimination
Students mentioned impacts that can be characterized as forms of discrimination against women or people of color. Most responses in this category either related to employment discrimination in STEM (finding employment and/or being paid fairly) or in cultural bias in favor of men and White people based on the stereotype that men and White people have more ability in STEM, or are expected and encouraged to pursue STEM. Figure 5 below indicates the number of students coded as expressing belief in discrimination as likely impacts of such stereotypes. The following sections discuss the various subcategories of discrimination.
Employment discrimination against women and people of color
Some students reported the belief that the employment experience likely is different for women and people of color. Responses acknowledged women and people of color can experience discrimination when seeking a job in STEM or in terms of being paid fairly. For example, an Asian female chemistry major said:
I think that out in the professional world there is still a bias towards men and against women when it comes to the science type field. It doesn’t matter the degree you got, where you got it from, or the grades. I think that when it comes to science they are still going to prefer the male over the female. Why, I don’t know. I feel like the women have to work harder and get more experience in order to get the job.
A Black female information technology major echoed the difficulties of getting a job and also mentioned unfair pay. “I have heard different stories that men get paid more than women... I have heard that men actually get paid more and women have a harder time trying to put themselves out there and trying to prove themselves when you are competing against men in the IT field.”
The idea that there is discrimination in employment was most commonly associated with gender-based discrimination with only a few students mentioning it regarding race.
Bias in favor of men or White people
Many students identified aspects of bias in STEM either in favor of men and White people or against women and people of color. Typically this was in the form of assumptions made in society at large about the competencies of women and people of color in STEM or of the expectations of careers women and men pursue. Students very commonly added that when faced with bias, women and/or people of color felt a need to work harder to prove themselves against these societal expectations.
Assumptions of ability
Numerous students cited the stereotype that men and White people are more competent in STEM fields. For example, a Black female biology major stated “I feel like our male teachers don’t really expect females to do well with the subject; they kind of think that males are just all knowing and all seeing everything. I feel like sometimes they think we are not capable of doing certain things.” Or as another Black woman majoring in chemistry stated: “I’ve had some professors who make it plain and clear that, no, because you’re Black you’re not focused and I’m not really trying to, you know, give you the time of day.” We note that in every case where a specific race was mentioned as being perceived to have less ability, Black people were the target.
Interviewees sometimes attributed the perception about differing abilities to stereotypes about who does science. When speaking about race students frequently referred to stereotypes about Asians and Indians being more science inclined, for example a White man who left engineering stated, “I know there are probably some cultural stereotypes that favor the Asian being known for math and engineering and especially now in today’s world and also the traditional you know Caucasian engineers as your traditional stereotype.”
Assumptions about who pursues science
There were a number of comments indicating a bias in the expectation that STEM is for men and White people to pursue. As a Hispanic woman majoring in geology expressed, “I don’t think that there is intentional racism. I think that it is probably just seen as more of a White field.” Many students indicated that the bias toward men and White people resulted in women and students of color being explicitly discouraged from pursuing STEM. As a White male majoring in computer science expressed “Women just aren’t encouraged to make such a career choice growing up. I mean it’s totally fine if dudes sit on the computer all day and play video games and stuff like that, which for our generation is easily one of the bigger influences on computer scientists but it’s not okay for girls to do it… they are losers if they sit around and play video games.”
White students have greater social and cultural capital
One emergent theme unique to discussions of race had no parallel for gender: social and cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1990; Lareau, 2011). Social and cultural capital refers to resources available to students, often linked to their higher socioeconomic status. Social and cultural capital can include superior high school preparation (higher quality teachers, AP courses), parental or extended family experiences with STEM subjects and occupations (role models), informal family and community STEM learning (science museums, summer camps, parental assistance with STEM homework), prior knowledge about applying to and succeeding in college (parents’ education), informal networks as resources, and encouragement from peers or family. For example, when asked if there are race differences in pursuing a STEM degree, one Black woman who left a chemistry major said:
Yes, and mainly because [my school] is in a poverty stricken area. I think people from like places where it’s more financially secure and stuff they have a better advantage over students with like poverty backgrounds, which would be like the Native American students or some of the Black students here, but with that being said… I think if you put in the same amount of work I don’t think you would have a problem with that disadvantage.
Another Black woman majoring in biology discussed socioeconomic status and how the occupation of your parents can influence your pursuit of a STEM degree. She spoke of her friends’ “richer families” with parents who were lawyers and doctors, whereas her parents were a truck driver and social worker. She then said “I didn’t really know anything about science also maybe because of that because they {my parents} didn’t have those types of jobs.”
Students of color and White women were the only students who mentioned something related to social or cultural capital as an explanation for disparate lived experiences as a STEM student. None of the White men we interviewed made connections between race and social or cultural capital in their reflections on the STEM experience.
Bias results in women and students of color having to work harder
Commonly, when bias was identified, students said that a consequence of this was that women and students of color had to work harder to prove themselves. For example, a white female biostatistics major stated “I think sometimes you have to work a little harder to be taken seriously I think as a blonde female.” Similarly, a black female biology major expressed, “I think that is mostly a male-dominated field so I feel that women that do choose to go into this career have to work harder to prove that they are as qualified.”
We note that the notion that women and students of color work harder was common among all of our codes. We elaborate on this finding later in the article.
Finding four: Some students perceive that underrepresented students benefit due to increased opportunities for scholarships and jobs
Approximately 3% of students (most of whom were White women) felt that women and students of color had advantages over men and White students because of the current cultural and political emphasis on expanding STEM undergraduate populations to those groups previously underrepresented.
Comments about women and students of color benefiting from their demographic profiles were often related to job prospects, scholarship opportunities, and general encouragement. For example, a Black woman majoring in electrical and computer engineering commented on the experience of being both a woman and a racial minority and the benefits that would come along with that identity in the job market. She spoke about companies needing to meet a “minority quota” and how she was both female and African-American. She went on to say “I’ve gone to career fairs and walked by a booth and a guy is going ‘no, no,... come here, come here, we’re looking for African American females’ and I don’t know anything about their company and I might get an interview.”
Another common theme focused on underrepresented groups’ receiving extra encouragement. As articulated by a White woman majoring in mathematics:
I feel like as a woman at [my university] I have been especially encouraged and I don’t know if that’s just my experience but I feel like teachers are so afraid to be sexist that they sort of over put the emphasis on helping the women in their class.
White women were the most likely to comment on how people of color, a group they are not a part of, benefit from their race. However, they were also the most likely to comment on themselves being able to benefit due to their gender.
While there is much discourse about programs to encourage underrepresented groups to pursue STEM, including scholarship opportunities specific to these groups, the available data (see literature review section above) suggest large and negative impacts on these groups that limit access and ability to succeed. Even when ignoring factors that contribute to a general chilly climate for underrepresented groups and focusing only on the hiring process there still is no evidence that women or people of color are advantaged (Ceci and Williams, 2015).
Finding five: Women/students of color are commonly perceived as working harder than men and White students
As discussed above, a common theme throughout our various interviews was the belief that women and/or students of color work harder as a result of their demographic group’s marginalized status. Figure 6 shows the distribution of this perception by demographic. Sometimes this was attributed to a characteristic of a group without an attribution to any cultural or systemic factors that marginalized the group. Other times, the theme of extra effort by women and students of color appeared as an expression of feeling pressure to do well as a result of being unusual or standing out. The third category in which we saw this theme arising was in students’ expressed belief that women and students of color felt a need to prove themselves or work extra hard to do better than their white/male peers due to a perceived bias against them. As we have seen before, White men were the least likely to report this impact and respondents were more likely to report the impact for women than for students of color.
We note that a number of students observed the impact of needing to exert more effort had on the mental state of a student, either allowing men to be more relaxed, or resulting in women and students of color being more stressed. For example, a White woman majoring in civil engineering noted her perception that men were more relaxed, “I think it’s more challenging for women... just looking at the guys they seem pretty set and you know they’re going to pass and they’re going to get a job, it seems pretty laid back. Whereas you see the women in civil engineering and they are really working hard and striving to outdo the guys because there’s just such a stigma.” Another white female chemistry major noted the extra stress this places on women “I feel like with women … in chemistry are trying to prove themselves and push to show that they are able and capable of handling the workload and doing the work… I would say just in looking at the men and women in my major, the women are more ...I don’t want to say stressed out but like they are more ...meticulous and anxious and organized about things whereas the men are more relaxed.”
We highlight this finding because it has important implications. At no time did we ever ask a direct question that would elicit the expression of women or students of color feeling a need to exert more effort. Yet, a significant number of students brought this up on their own. Most commonly they attributed extra effort from women and students of color to a desire to prove themselves because of bias against them and noted it leads to significant stress.
Chronic stress is associated with poor mental health (including anxiety, depression, and mood disorders) as well as lower learning outcomes (Vogel and Schwabe, 2016). The literature on mental health of STEM students relative to their demographic is sparse but consistent with our findings that women and students of color report more behavior associated with stress. Studies indicate women in STEM have lower overall mental health (Deziel, Olawo, Truchon and Golab, 2013), more anxiety (Saravanan and Wilks, 2014), and more depression than men (Kotok, 2007). In addition to the impacts of chronic stress on women and students of color in STEM, there is also evidence (Smith, Lewis, Hawthorne and Hodges, 2013) that the perception of having to work harder than men in STEM leads to women to be less likely to feel they belong and to be less motivated to pursue STEM.
Yet, many of our participants identified their extra effort as a badge of honor. For example, a Black male mathematics major explained “I have the drive to try to prove others wrong and I’m here in this field and I’m successful in this field so far and I’m just going against the stereotype and against the statistics.”