FACTORS THAT HAVE A NEGATIVE IMPACT ON THE GENDER GAP IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND MATHEMATICS (STEM): A SUBJECT FIELD REVIEW

Gender disparity is a concept of growing relevance in the 21st century, but the gender gap in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) seems to be not studied extensively. To explore this area, a subject field literature review was conducted in Web of Science, Scopus, and ScienceDirect. Using inclusion and exclusion criteria, 34 articles were selected and included in the review. The thematic synthesis of the papers on the topic of women's underrepresentation in STEM resulted in the integration framework of major factors that were identified in this article. These main factors are individual (biological differences, family background, self-confidence, stereotypes, and lifestyle preferences) and socio-cultural (discrimination and gender filters, social pressure, and education). Very few articles explicitly and comprehensively explored the causes of the gender issue in STEM fields, and the review identified a lack of attention to how child development affects the future career and math aptitudes, and also a lack of attention to man-woman relations in the context of hiring discrimination. The results of this review can be used by the specialists in gender studies.