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The More Gender Equality, the Fewer Women in STEM https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/02/the-more-gender-equality-the-fewer-women-in-stem/553592/

• jasonwatkinspdx 6y ago
  While this is a real and interesting current effect, it doesn't explain things in the USSR at that time. The sibling comment about how nearly an entire generation of young men was lost in WW2 is closer to the mark.
  • mantas 6y ago
    While USSR technically had gender equality, reality was very different. For example, how much of The Party elite was women? Virtually none :) Sexism was through the roof too. IIRC the "less equality = more women engineers" example was India. And USSR was somewhat similar to modern India. On paper women were on par (= purely technocratic acceptance to universities) but day-to-day life was different. "Pursue your passion" was not an option. So if a girl was smart in maths, engineering it is. Fatherland needed engineers, not people in BS studies who'd work in Starbucks afterwards.
    • jasonwatkinspdx 6y ago
      Yes, exactly right about USSR. The more equality less STEM effect is seen in more than India. Sweden is the example I see talked about most. It's interesting and still heavily debated. I don't fully understand the current state of debate.
    • me_me_me 6y ago
      USSR was also technically communist. There seems to be a lot of those when looking back :)
      • mantas 6y ago
        Technically socialist on the way to communism, managed by communist party. Officially communism was on the roadmap, but not reached by the time the regime was dissolved.