Women and girls are underrepresented in many, though not all, STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields around the world. In this Review, we describe four key factors that help explain the continued underrepresentation of women in STEM. In many parts of the world, women lack access to education and job opportunities, preventing them from pursuing STEM. In places where women do have educational and professional opportunities, masculine cultures - shaped by both masculine defaults and differential treatment - can hinder entry and retention of women in STEM fields. Addressing masculine cultures is important to increase the representation of women, and research has identified multiple promising avenues for intervention. When masculine cultures remain, gender disparities can be reduced by increasing the positive experiences of women and girls in STEM. Finally, choices made by men to enter some STEM fields also contribute to the underrepresentation of women in these fields. We conclude by reviewing promising future directions for research on gender disparities in STEM, including examining the intersections of these factors, sociopolitical and economic contexts, and the experiences of trans and non-binary individuals and people with multiple marginalized identities in STEM. Women remain underrepresented in some STEM fields throughout much of the world. In this Review, Cheryan and colleagues discuss four factors that might explain this underrepresentation - access to education and employment, masculine cultures, insufficient positive experiences, and men's choices - and interventions that might help reduce these disparities.

Motivating girls to enroll in computer science (CS) courses is critically important. Stereotypes that girls are less interested than boys in CS may deter girls. Three preregistered experimental studies (N = 1,053) examined causal links between gender-interest stereotypes and middle school students' CS motivation. Experiment 1 showed that stereotypes reduced girls' motivation to enroll, mediated by a lower sense of belonging. Experiment 2 showed that underrepresentation is a cue to stereotypes. Experiment 3 demonstrated that providing information about other girls' interest countered stereotypes and promoted motivation. Directly addressing stereotypes may be instrumental in promoting equity for all in CS.

Women may experience lower rates of entry and success into certain academic and professional spaces because of their observations that their work contributions are less valued than men's. We introduce sense of mattering as a mechanism that may help explain women's underrepresentation in male-dominated fields and leadership roles, distinguish it from related constructs, and advance a theoretical framework for how sense of mattering may shape gender disparities. Women's professional contributions are often undervalued, and women perceive and anticipate this unfair disadvantage, which may in turn limit their success, retention, and representation in stereotypically masculine spaces and roles. Attending to sense of mattering has the potential to improve upon past attempts to reduce gender disparities by emphasizing the importance of increasing the extent to which women's contributions are recognized and valued.

Learning coding during early childhood is an effective way for children to practice computational thinking. As-pects of children's motivation can increase the likelihood that children approach computational thinking activities with enthusiasm and deep engagement. Gender inequities may interfere with children's readiness to take advan-tage of opportunities to build computational thinking skills through activities such as coding. Societal stereotypes can reduce young girls' motivation to engage with computer science, preventing them from gaining benefits from coding activities designed to support computational thinking. This study examined children's gender stereotypes as well as children's own motivation for computer coding in 363 first-through third-grade children. We assessed gender differences in both stereotypes and motivation, as well as links between the stereotypes that individual children held and their own motivation. Children generally endorsed stereotypes about interest and ability for computer coding that favored their own-gender group, although third-grade girls reported gender-egalitarian beliefs about interest in coding. There were no gender differences in children's motivation for computer cod-ing in terms of their own interest, sense of belonging, or ability self-concepts. Children's stereotypes about their own-gender group were significantly positively correlated with their own motivation for computer coding. These findings suggest that early childhood represents an excellent age for children to begin building computational thinking skills, before girls endorse negative stereotypes about their gender's interest in computer science.

Five preregistered studies (N = 1934) demonstrate that the prevalent U.S. ideology to follow your passions perpetuates academic and occupational gender disparities compared to some other cultural ideologies. Study 1 shows that the follow-your-passions ideology is commonly used by U.S. students in making academic choices. Studies 2-5 find that making the follow-your-passions ideology salient causes greater academic and occupational gender disparities compared to the resources ideology (i.e., the idea that one should pursue a field that leads to high income and job security). In Study 4, the follow-your-passions ideology causes greater gender disparities even when compared to a cultural ideology that aligns more with the female gender role (i.e., communal ideology). In Study 5, a moderated mediation analysis supports the hypothesis that gender disparities are explained by women's versus men's greater tendency to draw upon female role-congruent selves when the follow-your-passions ideology is salient compared to when the resources ideology is salient. Drawing upon female role-congruent selves remains a significant mediator even when accounting for alternative mediators (e.g., appropriateness of ideology for one's gender). The follow-your-passions ideology may not seem explicitly gendered, but it causes greater academic and occupational gender disparities compared to some other cultural ideologies.

[No abstract available]

Four leaders of groups dedicated to women in technology share their stories and tips for better allyship. © 2022, Springer Nature Limited.

Psychological science is at an inflection point: The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated inequalities that stem from our historically closed and exclusive culture. Meanwhile, reform efforts to change the future of our science are too narrow in focus to fully succeed. In this article, we call on psychological scientists—focusing specifically on those who use quantitative methods in the United States as one context for such conversations—to begin reimagining our discipline as fundamentally open and inclusive. First, we discuss whom our discipline was designed to serve and how this history produced the inequitable reward and support systems we see today. Second, we highlight how current institutional responses to address worsening inequalities are inadequate, as well as how our disciplinary perspective may both help and hinder our ability to craft effective solutions. Third, we take a hard look in the mirror at the disconnect between what we ostensibly value as a field and what we actually practice. Fourth and finally, we lead readers through a roadmap for reimagining psychological science in whatever roles and spaces they occupy, from an informal discussion group in a department to a formal strategic planning retreat at a scientific society.

Societal stereotypes depict girls as less interested than boys in computer science and engineering. We demonstrate the existence of these stereotypes among children and adolescents from first to 12th grade and their potential negative consequences for girls' subsequent participation in these fields. Studies 1 and 2 (n = 2,277; one preregistered) reveal that children as young as age six (first grade) and adolescents across multiple racial/ethnic and gender intersections (Black, Latinx, Asian, and White girls and boys) endorse stereotypes that girls are less interested than boys in computer science and engineering. The more that individual girls endorse genderinterest stereotypes favoring boys in computer science and engineering, the lower their own interest and sense of belonging in these fields. These gender-interest stereotypes are endorsed even more strongly than gender stereotypes about computer science and engineering abilities. Studies 3 and 4 (n = 172; both preregistered) experimentally demonstrate that 8- to 9-y-old girls are significantly less interested in an activity marked with a gender stereotype (girls are less interested in this activity than boys) compared to an activity with no such stereotype (girls and boys are equally interested in this activity). Taken together, both ecologically valid real-world studies (Studies 1 and 2) and controlled preregistered laboratory experiments (Studies 3 and 4) reveal that stereotypes that girls are less interested than boys in computer science and engineering emerge early and may contribute to gender disparities.