The Journal of Educational Research, 107:167–176, 2014CopyrightCTaylor & Francis Group, LLCISSN: 0022-0671 print / 1940-0675 onlineDOI:10.1080/00220671.2013.788989Majoring in STEM—What Accountsfor Women’s Career Decision Making?A Mixed Methods StudyCHRISTINE BIERI BUSCHORSIMONE BERWEGERANDREA KECK FREICHRISTA KAPPLERZurich University of Teacher EducationABSTRACT. The aim of this longitudinal, mixed methodsstudy was to gain an understanding of whether female aca-demic high school students who intended to study science,technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) actuallyenrolled in such studies 2 years later, and how these womenperceived this process retrospectively. The results revealed ahigh persistence of students’ intentions to pursue a career inSTEM areas. In comparison with students who entered thesocial sciences or humanities, STEM students demonstratedhigher competencies in mathematics and placed more impor-tance on pursuing investigative activities. Qualitative analysisrevealed that learning experiences, parental s upport, and rolemodels were decisive in terms of the female students’ choiceof studies. Since their childhood, these students have devel-oped a sense of identity as scientists. The authors discussthe implications of their findings for teaching and learning inK–12 classrooms.Keywords: career decision making, competence in mathemat-ics, gender stereotypes, mixed methods, STEM major, womenThe globalization of markets has led to a great world-wide demand for qualified employees in state-of-the-art technologies. This stands in contrast to thestagnating number of students entering science, technology,engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in various Europeancountries (Organization for Economic Cooperation and De-velopment [OECD], 2008). During the past decades, manyschool and university programs have been established withthe particular aim of supporting women in choosing science-oriented majors. Despite these efforts, career decision mak-ing is still strongly gender stereotyped. It has been shownthat women are underrepresented in STEM studies (Nagyet al., 2008), for example, engineering is still seen as a male-dominated field. In Switzerland, the gender imbalance iseven more pronounced than in other Organization for Eco-nomic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries(OECD, 2009). One reason for the relatively small num-ber of Swiss students enrolling in STEM studies lies in thehighly selective Swiss educational system. Only 20% of stu-dents acquire an academic high school diploma, qualifyingthem for university admission, whereas 70% undertake vo-cational education (Swiss Federal Statistical Office [SFO],2012). In this study, we focused only on the career decisionmaking of female students with an academic high schooldiploma.International research has provided a wealth of knowl-edge on career development and vocational decision mak-ing. This includes findings on the importance of factorsthat determine the choice of STEM studies. Such fac-tors include interest, ability, participation in high-levelmathematics courses, competence beliefs, self-efficacy, per-ceived difficulty and expectations of success in mathemat-ics, values, attitudes toward science-related domains, gen-der stereotypes, and background characteristics includingsocioeconomic status, gender, and ethnicity (Eccles, 2005;Holland, 1997; Lent et al., 2005; Watt, 2006; Watt & Eccles,2008). Although competence in mathematics has alwaysbeen regarded as a critical filter limiting l ater educationaland occupational aspirations, gender gaps in vocational de-cision making cannot be explained by gender differencesin mathematics abilities (Hyde, Fennema, & Lamon, 1990;Watt & Eccles, 2008). The focus, therefore, has shifted tothe question of why students with high abilities and inter-est in STEM do not choose STEM studies (Buccheri, AbtG¨urber, & Br¨uhwiler, 2011; Korpershoek, Kuyper, van derWerf, & Bosker, 2010; van Langen & Dekkers, 2005). Re-search on the extent to which female high school seniorsintending to choose a STEM major actually carry out theirintention to completion and how they perceive this pro-cess retrospectively remains scarce. In the present study weaimed to gain an insight into the circumstances influencingAddress correspondence to Christine Bieri Buschor, Research Depart-ment, Zurich University of Teacher Education, Lagerstrasse 2, 8090Zurich, Switzerland. (E-mail: [email protected])168 The Journal of Educational Researchacademic high school students in their decision to choosea science-oriented university major. Combining quantita-tive and qualitative approaches, we followed women’s tran-sition from academic high school to university over a 3-yearperiod. The results of our study allow us to draw implicationsfor teaching and learning in K–12 classrooms.Mathematics and Interest in STEMThere is a body of knowledge highlighting the strongcorrelation between attending advanced mathematics andscience courses and the subsequent choice of a univer-sity major in STEM (Nagy, Trautwein, Baumert, K¨oller, &Garrett, 2006; Watt, 2006). Young women select courses inhigh school which they view as important for majoring inthe subject that is linked to their career aspirations. Often,these choices are based on inaccurate information, and leadto a premature elimination of science-related career options(Bargel, Multrus, & Schreiber, 2008; Eccles, 2005; Poglia &Molo, 2007). Mathematics has often been considered as oneof the reasons for the disproportionate ratio of men to womenin science-related majors and occupations (Meece, Wigfield,& Eccles, 1990; Shapka, Domene, & Keating, 2006). How-ever, present international studies on school achievementreveal that there are hardly any significant gender differ-ences in terms of mathematics and science abilities (Mullis,Martin, & Foy, 2008). Despite high-level abilities in math-ematics and science, many gifted young women seem tobe more attracted to majors such as biology, medicine orpsychology, which lead to helping occupations, than tophysics, mathematics, or engineering (Buccheri et al., 2011;Eccles, 2009; Gilbert, 2003). What seems to be decisivein women’s choice of mathematics and science-orientedcourses is their early interest in science (Packard & Nguyen,2003).Identity and Mathematics–Gender StereotypesEnrolment in advanced mathematics courses is stronglycorrelated with mathematics performance and self-concept(Marsh & Yeung, 1997; Nagy