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Acontroversial study published in Psychological Science in 2018 claimed that a “gender-equality paradox” exists in countries that have greater overall gender equality but an underrepresentation of girls and women in STEM fields. This week, Psychological Sciences published two commentaries—one from the authors and one from outside researchers—that have intensified the debate over the role of sex differences and social conditioning in educational and career choices.
In the original paper, coauthors Gijsbert Stoet, a psychologist at the University of Essex, and David Geary, a psychologist at the University of Missouri, state that Finland is a country that “excels in gender equality,” with girls outperforming boys in science, reports Inside Higher Ed. As such, Finland should have less of a gender gap in STEM fields, they argue, yet the opposite is true: Finland has one of the lowest proportions of women earning STEM degrees, along with Norway and ...
