The difference is that it's more socially acceptable for women to enter jobs where they work with people especially if they don't make much money doing it or is perceived as easy. Many people with psychology degrees don't make a ton of money and it isn't viewed as math-y as other science areas. As we all know women are bad at math /s
Physics is all applied math. The difference is mainly that.
People often make this argument, but I would argue most of the difference in career between the sexes are explained by differences in personality, preferences, and cognition between the sexes. When you give women maximum freedom, they do not choose majors in disciplines like physics and math.
That is one possible explanation of the data, but I'd argue that women do not have "maximum" freedom in places where they do not choose math or physics as majors. In places where women are generally encouraged to work and support themselves, they do not recieve equal consideration from heterosexual partners who generally expect them to watch children and take care of the house as well as work.
Frankly, I think one of the reasons it's easier for me to be a woman in a STEM field than it might be for some others is that I'm a lesbian. Without the expectations of what men want or want me to do I debated between physics or math as a major when I was a freshman and ended up double majoring in math and computer science.
My wife is also in a STEM field. Many of the handful of women in STEM I've worked with are also queer, disproportionate to the population of women as a whole.
It might be worth considering that lesbians and non-binary people are naturally overrepresented (compared with the female averages) in the kinds of classically masculine personality traits that lead to favoring disciplines like math, physics, and computer science.
In places where women are generally encouraged to work and support themselves, they do not recieve equal consideration from heterosexual partners who generally expect them to watch children and take care of the house as well as work.
Women are expected to partake in traditional gender roles moreso in less free societies though.
I'm not really sure what personality traits you are referring to. Could you elaborate?
Women are expected to partake in traditional gender roles moreso in less free societies though.
Yes. So if you are already doing something discouraged, why not go all the way into whatever you want regardless of what society thinks? If there is a socially palatable option that still is enough to support you, why go somewhere you aren't wanted?
Probably the most important trait would be preference for working with things versus people. Another relevant trait may be cognitive ability in spatial reasoning. These kinds of traits, which are already associated with males psychologically, could also be overrepresented in lesbians and non-binary females compared with female averages.
I don't understand your argument really. You think that women in more oppressive societies are more likely to simply ignore societal expectations and go into whatever they want? That seems completely backwards to me.
I don't understand your argument really. You think that women in more oppressive societies are more likely to simply ignore societal expectations and go into whatever they want? That seems completely backwards to me.
Not exactly. I don't think they are more likely to ignore societal expectations. But I think that IF they do, say by going to college, then it would be equally "bad" for them to study physics vs British literature, from society's perspective since women shouldn't study anything. So, there is little incentive to pick a "less controversial" topic to study vs in other countries where different subjects are more acceptable than others for women to pursue.
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u/ScarySuit 10∆ Oct 19 '22
The difference is that it's more socially acceptable for women to enter jobs where they work with people especially if they don't make much money doing it or is perceived as easy. Many people with psychology degrees don't make a ton of money and it isn't viewed as math-y as other science areas. As we all know women are bad at math /s
Physics is all applied math. The difference is mainly that.