A big part in the efforts against gender inequality isn’t to do with getting people the same wage for the same job (although there is of course that too),  but is actually to do with getting girls more interested in careers where the earning potential is generally higher than other careers. In the case of STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering and mathematics’ studies – girls have for a long time been unengaged and uninterested in studying these subjects and pursuing them at higher levels.

Before we can discuss how to get girls more interested in these subjects, to the point that entries into careers which require qualifications in them are more gender-equal, we first need to understand the dynamics involved in why girls react in the way they do. Most studies point towards a few different factors for why this is the case:

• A lack of role models – Most famous people who’ve become famous due to scientific, pioneering work, have been male. The fact that, historically, scientific discovery has been so unequal in terms of gender is discouraging for many; it is a big part of how people form expectations of what they can achieve and what others expect from them.
• Male dominated industry – Starting to work in an industry, for a company that is dominated by males, both in positions of authority and among their peers, is something that people can find intimidating. This principle works both ways; men working in female dominated industries often encounter a bit of a barrier between themselves and everyone else.
• A lack of encouragement from authority figures – In the same way that a lack of role models influences women negatively in terms of their interest in STEM subjects, the principle behind this also influences those in authority figures, both consciously and subconsciously; the whole world overtly and subliminally reinforces stereotypes in everyone of us, and whether you consciously or subconsciously observe these stereotypes, they can impact the behaviour you encourage and discourage, and the lack of understanding of this principle among many authority figures can also be a factor in the uptake of STEM subjects.

Once you understand what these mean regarding the international efforts by school boards to encourage girls to take on STEM subjects, it becomes clear that, in order to buck the trend, creating a positive view will require the teaching community and parents generally to enforce positive views on STEM. In practice, this will require teachers to make a conscious attempt to react positively to young girls’ interests in the sciences, and to try to maintain that positivity throughout their academic life.

Implementing these changes could potentially be a problem. It can be difficult to change how an entire society functions, particularly when many people expect it to change overnight, but everything needs to start somewhere. It looks like the best place to start trying to get people and young girls in particular to change their views on STEM subjects is to make sure that teachers treat their students equally, regardless of their gender.