<i>”Sexism is surely a problem, but it may not be the main problem. There’s growing evidence that girls and women aren’t pursuing STEM careers because they’d simply prefer not to. That is, that sex differences in the STEM workforce may largely be a product of sex differences in interests and priorities.
This is a controversial claim, but there’s abundant research to support it. First, if discrimination were preventing women from entering STEM fields, then women in countries with less gender equity, such as in the Middle East and South Asia, would surely be less likely to pursue STEM careers than women in countries with greater gender equity, such as in Scandinavia. After all, there must be more barriers for women who want to be scientists in Algeria than in Finland. In fact, we see the opposite: Women make up over 40% of the STEM graduates in Algeria and only 20% in Finland. This pattern can be seen around the world.”</i>