Counteracting gender stereotypes in STEM with a female role model intervention
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1
Department of Psychological Science, School of Health and Human Sciences, Southern Cross University, Australia
Aim: The continuing under representation of females in STEM has raised important questions as to the impact of gender stereotypes on women's career aspirations in these fields. Common mechanisms of gender stereotyping include everyday language in which gender-neutral occupation nouns are widely assumed to refer to either a male or a female. This type of gender bias explains why people assume an engineer is male and a beautician is female. The aim of the present study is to investigate the effect of a female role model intervention as a strategy to counteract gender stereotypes when a male biased STEM occupation noun is read. Method: The experiment consisted of a judgement task (Yes/No) in which 30 participants were asked to decide whether or not a role noun paired with a kinship term could refer to the same person. Critical stimuli consisted of gender congruent (engineer/father, nurse/mother), gender incongruent (engineer/mother, nurse/father) and neutral (shopkeeper/mother, shopkeeper/father) word pairs. Between the two blocks of experimental trials participants were presented with a female (experimental) counter-stereotype intervention or a male (control) stereotype-reinforcing intervention consisting of a photo and text describing the achievements of eight role models in STEM. Results: For participants exposed to the female counter stereotype intervention, it is expected that reaction times to stereotype incongruent word pairs will be significantly shorter and accuracy of judgements will significantly improve in the second block of trials as compared with the control group. Conclusion: Exposure to information presenting the achievements of successful female role models in STEM careers may be effective as a short-term strategy in counteracting gender stereotypes and male biases in these careers.
Keywords:
role models,
stereotypes,
gender,
intervention,
Reduction
Conference:
15th Annual Psychology Honours Research Conference , Coffs Harbour, Australia, 4 Oct - 5 Oct, 2018.
Presentation Type:
Research
Topic:
Abstract for 15th Annual Psychology Honours Research Conference
Citation:
Florance
KJ and
Winskel
H
(2019). Counteracting gender stereotypes in STEM with a female role model intervention.
Front. Psychol.
Conference Abstract:
15th Annual Psychology Honours Research Conference .
doi: 10.3389/conf.fpsyg.2018.74.00012
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Received:
18 Sep 2018;
Published Online:
27 Sep 2019.
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Correspondence:
Ms. Keryn J Florance, Department of Psychological Science, School of Health and Human Sciences, Southern Cross University, Coffs Harbour, Australia, k.florance.10@student.scu.edu.au