To address the seven guiding questions posed for authors of articles in this special issue, we begin by discussing the development (in the late 1970s-early 1980s) of Eccles' expectancy-value theory of achievement choice (EEVT), a theory developed to explain the cultural phenomenon of why girls were less likely to participate in STEM courses and…

Intersectionality refers to the simultaneous and interacting effects of multiple group categorization on individuals with minoritized status, often leading to being perceived in a manner inconsistent with the additive contributions of those categories. For Black women, a number of findings have contributed to the idea that Black women have a…

Implicit stereotypes about gender and STEM may unconsciously shape students' academic choices and contribute to gender gaps in major choice, but there is limited economic evidence on this channel. To study this relationship, we administer a gender-science Implicit Association Test (IAT) to a sample of primarily first-semester undergraduates, and…

The Impostor Phenomenon (IP) refers to the psychological experience of individuals mistakenly perceiving themselves as incompetent, despite external evidence of their success. Research has highlighted the prevalence of impostor feelings within academic settings, particularly among women. To better understand the gender gap in academia, our…

Gender-math stereotypes are thought to be a threat for women's mathematical performance, however, the mechanism of gender stereotype affecting mathematics achievement is not clear. The current study aimed to explore the different role of attitude towards mathematics and math self-concept in the relationship between gender-math stereotypes and…

The aim was to explore predictors of employment during the school year in adolescents aged 13. We report on a population-based sample of children followed-up from 5 months to this day. Parents and children answered questions on family, school, health, and work. A multinomial logistic regression was used to identify the predictors of informal and…

In response to COVID-19, educators rapidly pivoted to new and innovative ways of delivering lecture material. The ability to host synchronous lectures on platforms like Zoom gave students continued access to classroom material in the face of an ongoing pandemic. The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences in exam scores between…

Substantial gender equity gaps in postsecondary degree completion persist within many science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines, and these disparities have not narrowed during the 21st century. Various explanations of this phenomenon have been offered; one possibility that has received limited attention is that the…

This study focused on the issue that women are underrepresented in higher education executive and senior leadership roles at four-year colleges and universities in the United States (Dominici et al., 2009; Ginsberg et al., 2019; Gomez, 2020; Hannum et al., 2015; O'Conner, 2019; Smith, D., 2017; Teague 2015). A theoretical framework of…

Background: Women remain under-represented in high-paying STEM majors. This study seeks to advance understanding of the factors related to students' decisions to choose STEM majors, with particular attention to gender differences. Prior research has largely examined high school students' perceptions of math interest and math utility in relation to…

Motivated by the underrepresentation of women in math-related majors and occupations, the present dissertation explored the possibility that disparities in frequency of classroom participation--a measure of engagement prone to gender differences--could be partially responsible for gender differences in belonging and identity in math contexts. Via…

Using the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study Data (TIMSS) 2015 dataset, this study examines 30 different contextual indicators to determine significant predictors of girls' mathematics achievement globally. The study design employs three nested levels in the hierarchical linear model (individual, classroom, and nation) to…

Using linked high school and college records for a national sample of students, I document the first college math courses that students take and examine how they compare with high school coursework. Detailed 12th-grade math assessment data and variation in college math course-taking allow me to estimate the extent of redundant college math…

In contrast to the experience of other professional fields, the percentage of women in computer science has decreased substantially in recent decades. This phenomenon is a significant and growing problem in a society where new technologies impact nearly every facet of life, including criminal justice and health care. This study examines whether…

Societal stereotypes and biases about who belongs in physics and who can excel in it can impact the physics beliefs, including their self-efficacy, interest, and identity, e.g., of women in physics courses. Exploring these beliefs longitudinally and analyzing how different beliefs predict students' physics identity are important for developing a…