Reuters – Liz Weston
“Encouraging more women to pursue careers in science, technology, education and math – the so-called STEM fields – is a worthy goal, given the potential payoff for our economy and for women who get jobs in these higher-paying fields. One surprising way to make it happen: Suffer through a recession. New research has found that increased unemployment leads both genders to move toward fields associated with better earnings and job prospects, and that women are more likely to shift their majors in that direction than men. The switch to more math-intensive majors suggests that there is a large pool of students who are capable of succeeding in these fields even if they might choose other areas of study in better economic times, according to a paper published by Institute for the Study of Labor, a German research center. This behavior contradicts the tiresome argument that women are less capable of success in STEM fields.”(more)