In a new survey conducted by the Institute for Family Studies, it has been determined that in 80 different countries around the world, women are far less likely to choose careers in the STEM fields than men are.
The Daily Caller reports that the study, released in late January, revealed that women prefer “people-oriented” professions along the lines of being a nurse or a teacher; meanwhile, men are five times more likely to prefer “things-oriented” jobs such as STEM, blue-collar jobs, and other occupations. One of the researchers behind the study, David Geary, found that the results, based on data collected in 2018, almost perfectly matched the results of a similar study conducted 100 years earlier in 1918.
“The sex differences in interest in people and things is not only found throughout the world today, as we and others have found, but stretches back at least a century,” Geary wrote in the study.
Geary further expanded on how the study determined that the discrepancy is not due to any form of discrimination, but instead due to inherent differences between the two genders that directly impact their job preferences. He noted that if certain social factors or arbitrary limitations were factored in, such as “gender equity” initiatives, then the gender gap would shrink.
But in some of the wealthiest countries with the greatest educational opportunities, such as Norway and Sweden, the gender gap is larger than ever, Geary noted.
“A focus on such external forces … robs girls and women of personal agency and fails to consider that the interests, motivations, and strengths of girls and boys may differ for reasons that are not due to stereotypes, socialization, implicit bias, sexism, or a host of other factors,” Geary concluded.