The study found that the female students had an aversion to subjects that required analytical thinking and did not require much social and emotional skills in everyday working life.
Keystone / Gaetan Bally
Women are less likely than men to pursue maths-related subjects due to preconceived notions about these fields, despite having comparable mathematical aptitude to men, according to a sociological study by the University of Zurich (UZH).
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The study, conducted by UZH sociologist Benita Combet, presented 1,500 female and male high school students with various fictitious fields of study with distinct characteristics. Combet found that the female students had an aversion to subjects that required analytical thinking and did not require much social and emotional skills in everyday working life. The female students also preferred occupational fields with the possibility of part-time work.
The results also show that women have higher risk and competition aversion than men, and they tend to avoid competitive situations, even if their performance does not differ from their male counterpart. In addition, the social norms that expect women to behave communally and present themselves in a self-deprecating way undermine their odds in competitive and bargaining situations, resulting in them avoiding competitive fields for fear of being penalised for violating these norms.
However, the ability to think logically is a basic prerequisite for almost every course of study. There is a necessity to better inform young women about the subjects they study, and demonstrate the importance of interpersonal and creative skills in engineering studies.
Combet explained that strong gender-specific stereotypes about logical thinking style and technical skills significantly influence the decision of female high school students and called for these stereotypes to be challenged.
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