Girls tend to make different career choices than boys, study finds

Silicon Valley’s public hand-wringing over the lack of women in science and technology has focused on the workforce, which is 80 percent male.

Perhaps the male culture in technology is a turnoff to women or maybe it actively prevents women from entering the field, the thinking goes.

But a new study published in the February issue of the journal Psychological Science suggests corporate culture probably has little to do with women’s choices.

Girls who live in nations with less gender equality are the ones more likely to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), the study found.

Meanwhile, girls who live in nations with greater equality choose the arts, law or psychology, the study found.

The study analyzed data from half a million teens from 67 countries who participated in the world’s largest educational survey, the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). Researchers found that girls and boys had equal competence in STEM in 60 percent of the PISA countries. In almost every country, girls displayed the ability to pursue STEM studies at college.

On closer examination, researchers found that female students had higher reading scores than boys, reports the Wall Street Journal. This differed from boys whose strengths tended to stay focused on STEM.

Girls from countries like Sweden and Switzerland that have stronger social safety nets and more equality, felt freer to pursue careers in other fields, say the researchers. Girls from places like Algeria and Tunisia, with weaker legal protections for women, have the highest representation of women in STEM.

Researchers concluded that girls had a wider range of choices in more gender-equal countries and thus made decisions based on their interests.