FEMALE FACULTY IN STEM FIELDS EFFECT ON STUDENTS’ IMPLICIT ASSOCIATION

Abstract

This paper considers whether having female professors in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields effects students’ implicit associations about women in STEM. This is important because STEM jobs are expected to increase more than other fields in the coming years, yet the number of female STEM majors has been decreasing. The main reason for the decrease is gender stereotypes facing women in STEM. To see if there was a relationship, I administered a survey to 754 undergraduate students where they completed an Implicit Association Test (IAT), answered demographic questions, completed an explicit bias exercise, and answered questions about their experience in STEM. This study found that there was no meaningful relationship between the number of female STEM professor a student has and their implicit associations.