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Navigating a male-dominated domain: experiences of female STEM students in higher education in Ireland
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Date
2025
Authors
Slattery, Orla
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University College Cork
Published Version
Abstract
This study explores the STEM gender gap through the lived experiences of female students who are studying mathematics-intensive STEM programmes of study in Higher Education (HE) in Ireland. The research aims to provide fresh insight into the STEM gender gap by interpreting it through the perspectives of female students who have chosen STEM. The voices of female students who have made a STEM choice are among those least heard in existing discourse on the STEM gender gap. I posit that a deeper understanding of female STEM students’ lived experiences is needed before structural and cultural changes needed to tackle the gender gap can be effected.
The research adopts a situated expectancy value theoretical lens which proposes that gender-related choices are governed by expectation of success combined with subjective task values. The Research Questions consider why female students choose STEM, the experiences of female STEM students in HE in Ireland, and the factors that sustain STEM persistence. A qualitative constructivist research methodology was chosen, and the study involved in-depth, one-to-one, semi-structured interviews with 21 female students studying STEM in two universities in the south of Ireland. Data analysis was undertaken using Reflexive Thematic Analysis to identify patterns of shared meanings in the data.
This research study found that STEM choice is determined by the co-existence of three necessary conditions: students want to do STEM, they believe they can do STEM, and they view STEM as a field in which they would belong. The sociocultural and psychological factors contributing to female STEM students’ attitudes and beliefs are analysed. The study found that awareness of the opportunities offered by STEM careers is a key determinant of STEM choice and even brief encounters with STEM experiences can be effective for female students who already hold high STEM interests and academic self-concept. While all research participants entered college enthused and excited by having made a STEM choice, this study found that unconscious bias and stereotypical beliefs prevalent within the HE environment threatened participants’ beliefs. Measures intended to alleviate the underrepresentation of women in STEM were found to have unintended consequences which created tensions within the university environment and undermined participants’ confidence. However, despite the challenges experienced in university, all participants reported that they would choose the same, or similar, STEM programme of study if starting university again. The factors that sustained this STEM persistence are interrogated. A potential link between sports participation and STEM choice was a novel and exciting finding of this study. Potential mechanisms for this correlation are proposed. Equally, the study identified an apparent anomaly between students’ having high academic self-concept while at the same time presenting as lacking confidence in their mathematical abilities. This finding is indicative of lack of confidence being the most insidious of factors in the STEM gender gap. The research findings are used to propose recommendations for policy and practice and to inform avenues for further research.
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Keywords
STEM gender gap , Lived experience , Situated expectancy value theory , Cultural norms , Unconscious bias , Academic self-concept , Subjective task values , Identity and belonging
Citation
Slattery, O. 2025. Navigating a male-dominated domain: experiences of female STEM students in higher education in Ireland. PhD Thesis, University College Cork.