In the United States, women are more likely than men to enter and complete college, but they remain underrepresented among baccalaureates in science-related majors. We show that in a cohort of college entrants who graduated from high school in 2004, men were more than twice as likely as women to complete baccalaureate degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, including premed fields, and more likely to persist in STEM/biomed after entering these majors by sophomore year. Conversely, women were more than twice as likely as men to earn baccalaureates in a health field, although persistence in health was low for both genders. We show that gender gaps in high school academic achievement, self-assessed math ability, and family-work orientation are only weakly associated with gender gaps in STEM completion and persistence. Gender differences in occupational plans, by contrast, are strongly associated with gender gaps in STEM outcomes, even in models that assume plans are endogenous to academic achievement, self-assessed math ability, and family-work orientation. These results can inform efforts to mitigate gender gaps in STEM attainment.

在美国，女性比男性更有可能进入大学并完成大学，但是在与科学相关的专业的学士学位中，妇女的人数仍然不足。我们显示，在一组2004年高中毕业的大学入学者中，男性完成科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）领域（包括预科领域）的学士学位的可能性是女性的两倍以上。二年级进入这些专业后，很可能会继续从事STEM /生物医学。相反，在卫生领域，妇女获得学士学位的可能性是男性的两倍以上，尽管男女的健康持久性均很低。我们证明了高中学习成绩，自我评估的数学能力，和家庭工作导向与STEM完成和坚持中的性别差距仅存在微弱的关联。相比之下，职业计划中的性别差异与STEM结果中的性别差距密切相关，即使在假设计划是内在的学业成就，自我评估的数学能力和家庭工作取向是内生的模型中也是如此。这些结果可以为减轻STEM成就中的性别差距提供帮助。