Sense of Belonging: An Analysis of the Underrepresentation of Women in STEM

Abstract

Despite countless efforts and initiatives, women continue to remain underrepresented compared to their male counterparts in STEM fields, especially in computer science and engineering. Literature suggests that stereotype threat and its many implications could be one of the major mechanisms that drives this gap. After conducting a preliminary analysis on the 2018 Stack Overflow Developer Survey results, I distributed my own survey to Princeton students to assess how accepted, welcomed, and competent students feel in their departments to get a measure of their sense of belonging within their field. By making comparison between male and female students in B.S.E. programs and additional comparisons between A.B. female students and B.S.E. female students, I found that female B.S.E. students tended to display a lower sense of belonging. I hope that my results will offer further insights into the gender gap discussion in order to make more progress towards equality.