Conflicts between Graduate Study in Science and Family Life

The underrepresentation of women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields is magnified as the level of degree attainment increases creating a STEM workforce that is lacking in female leadership. This study focuses on the experiences that scientists have during graduate school and beyond in order to identify factors that may add difficulty to obtaining and maintaining a career in science and the role gender plays in this journey. Interview data with scientists and science graduate students was analyzed for the interaction between family life and professional life for scientists. The results of the analysis indicate a conflict between family and science work. A gender differential is supported by the analysis. Possible explanations for the results are explored in terms of theory offered in the literature and themes that emerged during analysis.  In section two of a 2002 amendment on the Undergraduate Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology Education Improvement Act, congress stated "A workforce that is highly trained in science ... is crucial to generating the innovation that drives economic growth ..." (Committee on Science, 2002). Given the growth in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers and the exodus of aging and highly skilled workers from these fields as projected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2005), fulfilling this order is likely to be challenging, with nearly 2.5 million STEM job openings forecast by 2014. Despite this looming deficit, growth in the participation of STEM field has remained relatively stagnant. Some STEM fields in the United States are actually graduating fewer bachelor's degree students than at various times in the last 40 years (NSF, 2006). In 2006, 68,227 students earned engineering bachelor degrees compared to the all-time high of 77,572 in 1985. Bachelor's degrees in Physical sciences totaled 16,024 in 2006, which is down from the high of 18,505 degrees in 1969. However, the total number of women earning baccalaureate degrees has steadily increased over the past 40 years, with women accounting for 50.5% of all SE Davis, K., 1999; Monhardt, R., Tillotson, J., and Veronesi, P., 1999; Sears, A., 2003; Sonnert, G. and Holton, G., 1995), and given the increasing proportion of women in the STEM workforce, gender is given great consideration in this study.  Tracking science degrees over the past 40 years reveals some interesting trends regarding the participation of women. Data published by the National Science Foundation (NSF) shows that, women's participation in science continues to increase across disciplines and degree level with few exceptions . While the bachelor's degrees earned by women declined slightly between 1988 and 1990 and then again from 2000 to 2001, the overall trend has been an increase in degrees earned by women in the STEM fields. Recent data show that when participation across genders is compared, men still dominate the degree count in all levels of the Physical sciences with the exception of the attainment of bachelor's degrees in Chemistry, where the numbers are approaching parity. …

Field of study: Education