The More Gender Equality, the Fewer Women in STEM

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/02/the-more...

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.

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.

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.

USSR was also technically communist. There seems to be a lot of those when looking back :)

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.

Multiple generations of men were lost in WW2 in USSR. Higher education was one of very few ways to legally move to cities. On top of that, USSR had quite harsh maternity policies. Sustaining family on a single salary was not an option. Thus women had no choice but work.

In Eastern Europe lots of engineers are women still, especially in CS.

In Western Europe, where I live now, you need to look hard to find women on engineering campuses, and when you do, they're usually from abroad.

In Romania when you go and apply for engineering usually is like this. Computer Science is like 66% of a class is girls, then Electronics is like 50/50, Electrical Engineer is like 25% girls and Mechanics is like under 10%. So the most prestigious of them all is still girl dominated. And is not like the boys don't want CS, it's because they can't get in there. The fight for a place is like 25 students per place, and girls beat boys hands down. Also usually they are very beautiful too, so if you made it to CS, you're drowning in both beauty and smart. Good times.

> Also usually they are very beautiful too

Irrelevant