This article is being featured in Special Feature: Strength in Diversity

Women remain underrepresented in Science Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) industries worldwide, forming just a third of researchers worldwide. A 2019 UNESCO study also found that while more than half of men earning a degree in Information Technology (IT) ended up working in digital jobs, only one quarter of IT-trained women found employment in the sector. As Industry 4.0 unfolds and the demand for workers with these skill sets rises across the world, there are urgent calls for this imbalance to be corrected. 
 

Cheng Chi-Ying, Associate Professor of Psychology at the Singapore Management University (SMU), has been investigating this problem in her recent work and offers new insights to understanding women’s hesitance to enter and remain in male-dominated fields like STEM. Using a psychological construct known as Gender-Professional Identity Integration (G-PII), her study breaks new ground in explaining the academic and career decision-making of both genders, and predicts their performance in these fields. 

What is G-PII? 

Gender-Professional Identity Integration (G-PII) refers to the degree to which individuals see their gender identity and professional identity as compatible or conflicting with one another. This psychological construct is most visible in gendered professions, as in the case of a female worker in engineering (i.e. a male-dominated field), or a male worker in nursing (i.e. a female-dominated field). A female with high G-PII is more likely to pursue and remain in a STEM profession due to their ability to find peace and integrate her two identities, while another female with low G-PII is less likely to pursue and remain in the field due to the perceived conflict between these two identities. 

G-PII’s influence on career prospects and academic performance

Assoc Prof Cheng and her co-investigators, Dr Cheng Shih-Fen, Mr Lee Yeow Leong and Ms Vandana Ramachandra Rao conducted a first-of-its-kind longitudinal study that followed 211 Information Systems major students (110 males and 101 females) across 3 school terms in 2021 and 2022. 

Their findings revealed that the G-PII construct was applicable to both male and female participants, but its impact varied for each gender. Male students’ confidence in their professional domain (Information Systems) and their career prospects in the field increased over the one year period, while the female students remained unchanged in both regards. 

The study showed that G-PII can predict professional confidence and career prospects, and that these associations were stronger among female students than their male counterparts. 

Assoc Prof Cheng says, “Our findings suggest that when young men, and especially women join these Information Systems programmes, they have already formed ideas about their gender and professional identity, as well as how compatible those identities would be. Therefore, any chance of shaping their G-PII must be done earlier than the college age”.

The study also revealed the role of G-PII in influencing both male and female professional performance. She shares, “In psychology, self-efficacy is key to predicting a person’s performance”. It was found that G-PII predicts both male and female students’ perceived self-efficacy in the Information System domain, as was similarly reflected in the students’ academic scores. 

Sparking creativity through their femininity 

As part of the study, participants also underwent a simulated hackathon and were tasked with generating new functions for various online shopping platforms (Grab, Shopee and Lazada) for both male and female users. It was found that female students with higher G-PII were able to generate better and more creative ideas for female users. Assoc Prof Cheng explains, “by successfully integrating their female and professional identities, these students were able to activate both identity knowledge sets and this allowed them to make smart recombinations of seemingly irrelevant ideas, a fundamental cognitive process for creativity”.

She notes that while this was the case for the female participants, no such effect was seen in male participants. She attributes this to the frequent need of women to reconcile potential conflicts coming out of their gender and professional identities, calling it a form of ‘mental exercise’ that ultimately sharpens their ability to integrate ideas from different identity domains. 

Helping more girls enter and thrive in STEM

To encourage more girls to pursue careers in STEM industries, Assoc Prof Cheng says that both early exposure and positive experiences are critical. Caregivers and early-life educators can help young girls develop a higher G-PII by introducing to them female role models who are successful in STEM industries, while exposing them to STEM-related tasks and providing them with the tools and guidance to master them. 

Assoc Prof Cheng believes that higher education educators also have a role in encouraging girls to pursue and more importantly, persist in these male-dominated spaces. She says, “My findings suggest that personal connections and engagements with female students can help girls feel less alone, and less prone to stereotype threats. These educators should also take proactive steps to empower female students and help them feel more capable of themselves, by giving them the perceived efficacy needed to perform as well as their male counterparts”.

The role of Women-in-STEM networks

In 2021, the Asia Foundation created a Women-in-Stem network mapping, and identified over 70 networks that were working to help women enter and advance their STEM careers in Asia. The list, while not exhaustive, was intended to be a useful resource for women in STEM industries, and to encourage companies, governments and civil society to support and collaborate with these networks.   

Assoc Prof Cheng sees merit in resources like these, sharing that such networks offer young female professionals access to the types of positive role models they need to develop a higher G-PII. She shares that visibility is another value that networks offer, as having more peers with the same needs and concerns would give these women the confidence needed to create a more equitable STEM landscape. 

She says, “We need more women in STEM domains to fulfil the needs of the market. When it comes to designing (products and services) for female users, I think female professionals, being able to relate better to them, may do a better job than male professionals. So, it is important for us to facilitate the population of females in STEM. One major thing we need to address is the gender stereotypes that are endorsed from a young age. This cannot be done by a single individual. The social structure (i.e parents, caregivers, educators, and employers) plays a decisive role in helping women and girls enter and thrive in STEM”.