The Woman Scientist: Communal Goals as Predictors for Women’s Interest in STEM

Statistically, women are under-represented in science, technology, engineer, and mathematics (STEM), a fact that has attracted much focus in psychological research pertaining to its farreaching implications in our workforce.According to previous research based on the measurement of the collaborative aspect of communality, or the work process, a possible explanation for this gender gap is that STEM careers do not afford a person communal goals (Diekman, Clark, Johnston, Brown & Steinberg, 2011).However, the purpose of one's job, the work product, is an aspect of communality that has not been measured.We measured communality along the aspects of work process and work product.Previous research has also shown that role models influence women's interest in STEM careers (Dasgupta, 2011), so we included the variable of target gender in our research.Measuring all three variables revealed that the work process aspect of communality shifts women's perceptions of a person in a STEM career and the job they perform.We also found that women are more interested in STEM careers after being exposed to a male target as opposed to a female target.