International Journal of Educational Research Open 3 (2022) 100171

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International Journal of Educational Research Open

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijedro

Investigation on gender and area of study stereotypes among Irish third

level students
Anna V. Chatzi a, *, Catriona Murphy b
a
Department of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland
b
Faculty of Business and Humanities, Technological University of the Shannon, TUS MidWest, Limerick, Ireland

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Gender stereotypes are identified as a significant contributor to persistent inequality and in an educational arena,
Gender it has far reaching effects. As third level students select their area of study, their stereotypes can influence the
Stereotypes degree of integration or exclusion in a particular area of study. Over the years, this has resulted to multiple
Irish students
research studies in the investigation of gender stereotypes with particular emphasis in the relationship between
Third level education
Science
gender stereotypes and selected areas of study (Sciences and Liberal Arts) among men and women. In this study
the implicit stereotypes of participants were targeted as they are indicative of their delicate mental associations.
A quantitative survey was conducted to investigate the extent of gender-area of study stereotypes among Irish
third level students. Results indicated that participants felt that, even though both genders devote time to their
work equally, it is men that spend more time away from their families, are frequent achievers of high levels on
performance and show more natural interest in Science, Technology, Engineering or Maths. Especially among
female participants, males scored higher as high achievers in Mathematics and were declared to have more
‘natural’ interest in Science. Comparison between this study and another international big scale study was
deemed reliable and comparable.

Introduction It is the implicit gender bias (unconscious) that impacts the drive for
people’s behaviour as the explicit gender bias (conscious) can be influ­
It is well known that as adults, the cultural stereotypes dictate our enced, formed and expressed accordingly in order to conform with
personal perceptions and our attitude towards others (Bodenhausen, society’s norms (Corbett & Hill, 2015; Drake et al., 2018; Ebert et al.,
1990; Hellriegel et al., 1989). While researchers continue to explore the 2014; Shin et al., 2019). This behaviour, the implicit gender bias, is
reasons behind stereotyping and its effects, the mechanisms that allow further projected to people’s activities within their community’s social
stereotyping to take place is still under investigation (Chaxel, 2015). structure and affect it (Handelsman & Sakraney, 2015) as cited by
Gender is a huge area dictated by stereotypical thinking, where gender is Blackburn (2017).
defined as the features that are personally perceived and socially According to current trends in gender studies, the underrepresenta­
accepted and agreed upon (World Health Organisation, 2022). When tion of women in the science related areas can be partially explained by
dealing with genders’ place into society, at some point people’s image of considering existing gender stereotypes (Drake et al., 2018). Such ste­
the gender roles become unclear or split. For example one might feel reotypes have created an image of women who do not appear to be
positive towards women working outside home but may not be open to interested in and have lower standards and abilities in the sciences,
women dominating in occupations traditionally dominated by men while they appear to be more interested and capable in the area of liberal
(Hochschild & Machung, 1989; Perkins & DeMeis, 1996). Especially arts (Drake et al., 2018; Infante-Perea et al., 2019; Zitelny et al., 2017).
since the industrial revolution, we have witnessed the slow but steady These stereotypical images of women not only have an impact on per­
change of the female identity from housewives raising their children, ceptions held by others but also have an impact on how women perceive
doing the housework, and nurturing their husbands to highly educated themselves into society (Drake et al., 2018; Infante-Perea et al., 2019;
and professional individuals (Carvalho et al., 2019; Hochschild & Zitelny et al., 2017).
Machung, 1989). An extensive study undertaken in a ten-year period with 8,000

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: [email protected] (A.V. Chatzi).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedro.2022.100171
Received 16 February 2022; Received in revised form 27 April 2022; Accepted 28 April 2022
Available online 13 May 2022
2666-3740/© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-
nc-nd/4.0/).
A.V. Chatzi and C. Murphy International Journal of Educational Research Open 3 (2022) 100171

participants in Ireland, revealed that teachers and parents appeared to preferences may even be associated with hiring and promotion de­
have a gender stereotypical behaviour towards female pupils in regard cisions. Therefore, a scale to measure the implicit stereotypes of the
to their progress in Mathematics at school (O’Brien, 2020). Primary gender-science relationship is significant in enabling researchers to
school teachers and parents, especially mothers, underestimate girls’ predict people’s behaviour. Such scales (e.g. the Implicit Association
Mathematical performance to boys’ performance. Teachers rate girls less Test (IAT) and similar) (Greenwald et al., 1998) are computer-based
frequently with an excellent grade than boys (O’Brien, 2020). Such tests, which measure the strength of association between different
teachers and parents’ biases are very important to the pupils’ further concepts i.e., use the participants’ linkage among areas of study and
studies and career choices, as Mathematics is considered to be a pillar gender symbols to reveal their implicit stereotypical views. A large-scale
module to a degree and career within a scientific area (O’Brien, 2020). investigation, using the IAT among 628,295 participants internationally,
This aspect can lead girls to choose an area that aligns with the gender since 2003, revealed that the majority of the people associate science
stereotypical perspective of their environment, but can be more stressful with men while one third associated science equally with men and
and less paid. Unsurprisingly it is observable in Ireland that less than women. However, Zitelny et al. (2017) research revealed that their
25% of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) research questionnaire themes or items relating to self-reported associ­
workers are women. The female students who find their way into STEM ations, self-reported preference and self-reported importance of science
higher education have overcome the gender biases by developing and were found to have a stronger association with the IAT, compared to the
implementing special coping mechanisms to achieve these positive re­ self-reported beliefs. For this reason, these same themes were selected to
sults in an unfamiliar and not that welcoming study area (O’Brien, inform the research tool of the current study, and to investigate the
2020). respondents’ implicit stereotypes regarding their self-reported associa­
Critiquing third level education in Ireland, the 2020 report compiled tions, preferences, and importance attributed to the different areas of
by the Irish Higher Education Authority (HEA) indicate that female study. Therefore, the following two research questions were formed:
students perform better in their studies than their male counterparts, yet
it is mainly male students that achieve the higher distinction results 1 Is there a difference in the stereotypes in studying science, among
overall. In general, for both genders, the higher the Leaving Certificate the Irish third level students?
points, the higher the possibility to complete a degree. Notably, Math­ 2 Is there a difference in the stereotypes in studying liberal arts,
ematics are the stronger predictor of students’ performance in third level among the Irish third level students?
education and consequently, the higher the Mathematics score in the
Leaving Cert the stronger the association with successful performance at Material and method
the third level education (Devereux, 2020).
Instrument
Purpose statement
The Gender Stereotypes Questionnaire is a tool that was adapted
The objective of this study is to explore the relationship between from the self-reported measures of the Implicit Association Test (IAT)
female students’ gender stereotypes (variable) and male students’ previously employed by Zitelny et al., (2017). For their study, Zitelny,
gender stereotypes (variable) regarding the Science and Liberal arts Shalom and Bar-Anan, used data (N=478,550) collected over a period of
study areas in the Irish third level education (illustrated schematically in 11 years from 2003 to 2013 (Nosek et al., 2014). IAT tests are widely
Fig. 1). used when researchers strive to identify the implicit stereotypes with
The existing stereotypes, which dictate the modern notion of the those of indirect methods, especially when the aim is to unveil delicate
women’s role within society, represent women as uninterested, with less mental associations (Zitelny et al., 2017). This 26-item questionnaire
abilities and skills in the sciences (Corbett & Hill, 2015; Drake et al., has been an efficient tool not only to extract the participants’ beliefs, but
2018; Ebert et al., 2014). These stereotypes form the opinion not only of also their personal preferences, importance and self-reported measures
others towards women but also cultivate women’s own perception about and associations. Zitelny at al.’s work indicated that the self-reported
themselves. These perceptions then, in turn, affect people’s behaviours measures showed a high correlation to the IAT. For this reason, these
and actions accordingly, even when, consciously, they may present a 26 items were selected to expose Irish third level students’ beliefs to­
different attitude (for example when stating in general that females are wards gendered stereotypical attitudes regarding Science and Liberal
as good as males in Mathematics but in their own personal life act arts study areas. Therefore, the quantitative approach was selected over
differently (Corbett & Hill, 2015; Drake et al., 2018; Ebert et al., 2014). a qualitative or a mixed methods for this study, not only for the effi­
This may be due to their exposure to such stereotypes which may have ciency of the subject matter tool, but also for the comparison of the
unconsciously affected their judgement. Extended research in the field results of this study to the results of the Project Implicit (Nosek et al.,
revealed that people can experience different implicit (unconscious) and 2014).
explicit (conscious) stereotypical views. These research studies found The original content of the Gender Stereotypes Questionnaire, as
that exploring explicit and implicit gender stereotypes can reveal used in the Zitelny et al. study, is presented in Appendix A. The first half
interesting and many times unanticipated results (Farrell & McHugh, of the new Gender Stereotypes Questionnaire included items on par­
2017; Mascret & Cury, 2015; Smeding, 2012; Wang & Redmiles, 2019; ticipants’ beliefs and preferences while the second half included de­
Zitelny et al., 2017). mographic items mainly related to the participants’ background. The
The fact that the measures of the implicit stereotypes can be original items, used for the Zitelny et al. research project, were adjusted
completely different from the measures of the explicit stereotypes and adapted for the Irish educational system and context. Also, the
extend our understanding that it is the implicit stereotypical views that items’ sequence was altered to create a more appealing and easier to
dictate our judgement and behaviour. This infers that those implicit navigate tool. This was deemed necessary to augment participation in

Fig. 1. Schematic representation of the relationship between female students’ gender stereotypes (variable) and male students’ gender stereotypes (variable)

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A.V. Chatzi and C. Murphy International Journal of Educational Research Open 3 (2022) 100171

this research study. • Please rate your attitude towards science, technology, engineering,
Following this adaptation, an experts’ evaluation process was con­ or Mathematics. (5-point Likert scale from strongly dislike to
ducted to examine the appropriateness of adaptations (modifications). strongly like)
This additional stage was performed to suit the context of this study, test
the content validity of scores and check if any necessary further Personal importance: These questions referred to the participants’
improvement in posing the questions (Creswell, 2014). For this purpose, answers on how important they considered their knowledge about Sci­
two academics were selected. Their background included many years of ence and Liberal arts. An example of the GSQ questions that corresponds
experience in the Irish tertiary education. Their recommendations for to this group is:
the improvement of the questions were thoroughly assessed and
implemented in the questionnaire, as they were found to be • Rate the following personal-goal-statements on their importance to
constructive. you:
In Zitelny et al. study the seven different question categories of the
questionnaire were reviewed. These categories, and the items from the b. Being knowledgeable about Mathematics. (5-point Likert scale from
Gender Stereotypes Questionnaire that correspond to each one of these not at all important to extremely important)
categories are identified below: Demographic questions: To maximise the response rate, the de­
Self-report measures: These questions referred to the participants’ mographic questions were placed at the end of the questionnaire. An
answers relating to their own attitudes and beliefs towards the two example of the GSQ questions that corresponds to this group is:
genders’ differences regarding Science and Liberal arts. An example of
the GSQ questions that corresponds to this group is: • Which of the following options best describes your gender? Multiple
choice answers
• In your opinion whether intentionally or not, boys and girls tend to
receive different levels of encouragement for developing scientific This strategy engaged participants with the questionnaire’s items
interest? (5-point Likert scale from disagree to agree) before allowing them to include their own personal information in the
demographic items at the end. The remaining demographic questions
Self-reported associations: These questions referred to the partici­ were placed at the end of the questionnaire. These questions were
pants’ answers relating to their views on the association among the two created to gather information on the participants age, nationality, sec­
genders and Science and Liberal arts. An example of the GSQ questions ondary and third level institution attended, subjects taught and exam­
that corresponds to this group is: ined at etc. Such questions will be very useful in separating the sample
into different groups and enable the study to statistically analyse
• Please rate the extent to which you associate the following areas of different responses by comparing and assessing the associations, if any,
study with males or females: among these different groups.

b. Liberal arts (non-science e.g., finance, business, linguistic studies, Sample

psychology, social and political sciences, humanities etc.) (7-point Likert
scale from strongly female to strongly male) The survey respondents were Irish tertiary education students
Beliefs about natural ability: These questions referred to the partici­ (postgraduates and undergraduates). For this study, snowball sampling
pants’ answers relating to whether the two genders have different per­ was used, as participants were selected both randomly and from an
formance abilities in Science and Liberal arts. The GSQ question that initial circle of colleagues and associates. Participants were subse­
correspond to this group is: quently requested to propose additional participants from their wider
circle of colleagues and associates. Also, the simple random sampling
• In your opinion, who most frequently achieve higher levels of per­ technique was employed as contacts at the Technological Higher Edu­
formance in Mathematics? 3 multiple choice answers cation Association in Ireland (THEA) were accessed for the distribution
of the questionnaire to the Irish 3rd level technological Institutions.
Beliefs about natural interest: These questions referred to the partici­ These sampling techniques were necessary to be used as a means to
pants’ answers on whether the two genders have different natural in­ make certain that participants were third level students in Ireland, to
terest in Science and Liberal arts. The GSQ question that correspond to gain institutional approval and access to the participants and to maxi­
this group is: mise participation, as respondents were more willing to answer ques­
tionnaires when contacted by institutional figures. Other sampling
• In your opinion, who has more natural interest in science, technol­ techniques were not deemed helpful in these three axes. Of 387 ques­
ogy, engineering, or Mathematics? Multiple choice answers tionnaires distributed, 202 were fully answered and were used in SPSS
for analysis.
Beliefs about prevalence: These questions referred to the participants’
answers on the proportion of two genders that have studied Science and Data analysis
Liberal arts. An example of the GSQ questions that corresponds to this
group is: Quantitative analysis of responses to the questionnaire was con­
ducted using SPSS Statistics 27.0.0. In this research study a correlational
• Suppose that 10, Sixth Year (Leaving Certificate) female students research design was used to investigate the relationship of the gendered
were selected at random from a typical Irish secondary school. How stereotypical views on the Science and non-Science areas of study
many would you predict will complete at least one higher level (Fraenkel & Wallen, 2003). Following data screening to address any
Mathematics subject before finishing secondary school? anomalies, the reliability of each construct was measured using the
Cronbach’s alpha. This was followed by descriptive statistics and t-tests.
Personal preferences: These questions referred to the participants’
answers on their own preference of Science and Liberal arts. An example
of the GSQ questions that corresponds to this group is:

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A.V. Chatzi and C. Murphy International Journal of Educational Research Open 3 (2022) 100171

Results

Descriptive statistics

All respondents were attending an Irish Institute of Technology. The

respondents were mostly female (60%) while 37% were male and 3%
non-binary (Fig. 2). The majority of respondents attended mixed, or Co-
education secondary school (70%) followed by a 22% who attended an
all-girls secondary school and 8% who attended all boys’ secondary
school. Of the total sample, 33% answered that they currently study at a
Science programme while 67% at a Liberal arts programme. The ma­
jority of students were studying at undergraduate level (83%) with, 33%
of the sample identified as mature students, and 67% aged 17 to 22.
The Cronbach’s alpha values were measured on same category items
of the questionnaire. All these Cronbach’s alpha values ranged between
0.50 and 0.84. Since each measured category comprised of a small
number of items (2 to 4) these results were deemed reliable and there­
fore acceptable for this research project.

Research questions testing Fig. 3. Means of preference and attitude towards, Science and Mathematics for
female, male and non-binary groups.
Fig. 3 represents the Means of preference and attitude towards,
Science and Mathematics for female, male and non-binary groups. The
graphs indicate that male students showed a greater preference and
stronger attitude towards Science and Mathematics areas (M=3.96
M=3.66 N=75) from their female counterparts (M=3.52 M=3.25
N=121). Non-binary group of students was very small, the error bar for
this group was large and statistical measures were not reported due to
the significantly small size of the group.
Fig. 4 represents the Means of preference and attitude towards Lib­
eral arts for female, male and non-binary groups. The graphs indicate
that male students showed a slightly higher preference towards the
Liberal arts areas of study (M=3.57 N=75) from their female counter­
parts (M=3.46 N=121). Regarding respondents’ attitude towards Lib­
eral arts, male students showed a slightly lower preference towards the
Liberal arts areas of study (M=3.23 N=75) from their female counter­
parts (M=3.40 N=121).
An independent samples t-test was conducted to examine the dif­
ferences in the Means of preference and attitude as well as the impor­ Fig. 4. Means of preference and attitude towards Liberal Arts for female, male,
tance attributed to being knowledgeable about Science, Mathematics and non-binary groups.
and Liberal arts for female and male students (Figs. 3 and 4). The in­
dependent samples t-test showed a statistically significant difference in
females and males can be generalised within the total population. The
the Means for the preference, attitude and importance attributed to
conducted t-tests did not indicate statistically significant difference for
being knowledgeable in Science and Mathematics among female and
the Means of preference, attitude, and the importance on being knowl­
male students (Table 1). This proposes that observed differences among
edgeable towards liberal arts among the same sample (Table 1). This
indicates that the observed differences happened by chance and cannot
be generalised to the total population.
In Figs. 5 and 6, the graphs indicate that male respondents show a
slightly higher opinion (M=5.70 N=75) from the female respondents
(M=5.43 N=121) that more female secondary and third level students
are to be expected to complete a Science/ Mathematics subject/ course.
Interestingly, female respondents show a slightly higher opinion
(M=6.45 N=121) from the male respondents (M=6.11 N=75) that more
male secondary and third level students are to be expected to complete a
Science/Mathematics subject/course (Fig. 6). Comparing the two sets of
Means, for female and male participants, the opinion on the higher ex­
pectations on completion of Science/Mathematics subjects/courses by
male secondary and third level students resulted in greater Means by all
groups of respondents.
An independent samples t-test was conducted to examine the dif­
ferences in the Means of respondents’ opinion on the percentage of fe­
male and male secondary and third level students anticipated to
complete a science and/or Mathematics course for male, female, and
non-binary participants (Figs. 5 and 6). The conducted t-tests did not
Fig. 2. Pie-chart on the respondents’ gender indicate statistically significant difference for the examined Means

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A.V. Chatzi and C. Murphy International Journal of Educational Research Open 3 (2022) 100171

Table 1
T- tests for preference and attitude towards, Science and Mathematics, and Liberal Arts for female and male groups.
Traits Groups N Mean St. Deviation t df p

Preference and attitude towards Science and Mathematics Female 121 3.52 1.08 -2.77 194 0.006*
Male 75 3.96 0.90
Importance on being knowledgeable about Science and Mathematics Female 121 3.25 1.01 -2.98 194 0.003*
Male 75 3.66 0.82
Preference and attitude towards Liberal arts Female 121 3.46 0.73 -1.04 194 0.301
Male 75 3.57 0.78
Importance on being knowledgeable about Liberal arts Female 121 3.40 1.08 1.06 194 0.291
Male 75 3.23 1.12
*
Significantly different

Fig. 5. Means of respondents’ opinion on the percentage of female secondary and third level students anticipated to complete a Science and/or Mathematics course
for female, male and non-binary groups.

Fig. 6. Means of respondents’ opinion on the percentage of male secondary and third level students anticipated to complete a science and/or Mathematics course for
female, male and non-binary groups.

Table 2
T- tests for respondents’ opinion on the percentage of female and male secondary and third level students anticipated to complete a science and/or Mathematics course
for female and male groups.
Traits Groups N Mean St. t df p
Deviation

Respondents’ opinion on the percentage of female secondary and third level students anticipated to complete a Female 121 5.43 1.62 -1.11 194 0.269
science and/or Mathematics course Male 75 5.70 1.65
Respondents’ opinion on the percentage of male secondary and third level students anticipated to complete a Female 121 6.45 1.50 1.55 194 0.337
science and/or Mathematics course Male 75 6.11 1.45

(Table 2). while 6% indicated women to do so. With regard to the question on the
Regarding the four items presented in Fig. 7, the descriptive statistics frequent achiever of high levels on performance in Mathematics, 39%
suggest that most respondents (60%) shared the opinion that there is no answered men, 14% women and 47% no difference between the two
difference in the time both genders devote to their work. The remainder genders. The answers to the question on who shows more natural in­
40% of the respondents chose equally men and women. 71% of the re­ terest is Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics yielded that
spondents answered that men spend more time away from their families, 51% men and 2% women have more natural interest in STEM with 47%
23% answered that there is no difference between men and women indicating no difference between genders.

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A.V. Chatzi and C. Murphy International Journal of Educational Research Open 3 (2022) 100171

Fig. 7. Means of respondents’ opinion on which gender devotes more time to their work, spends more time away from family, performs better in Mathematics and
has more natural interest in Science etc. for female, male, and non-binary groups.

Looking more closely at the group of these four items, the p value is she regretted not to have chosen at her secondary school, she replied:
slightly higher from 0.05 as it is measured at 0.075 (Table 3). For this “Physics, engineering, technical drawing - Were available but didn’t take
reason, investigating the p values for each one of these items indicates them subjects as they were seen as "the boys" subjects. We will encourage our
that respondents’ opinions on which gender devotes more time to their daughters to take any subjects they are interested in”. Such responses give
work and which gender spends more time away from family are statis­ researchers the motivation to understand and explore further the rea­
tically different (p=0.002 and p=0.027 respectively). The other two sons behind the persistence of such stereotypes and even discover effi­
items, relating to respondents’ opinion on which gender performs better cient ways to enable everyone to pursue the right studies/career without
in Mathematics and has more natural interest in Science, the results any stereotype bias. To enable research to reach this stage, it is very
were not deemed statistically significant (p=0.649 and 0.835 important to investigate first whether such stereotypes exist, and at
respectively). which extend. This present study focused in unveiling the implicit ste­
The results of the respondents’ association of Science, Technology, reotypical views of the participants in an attempt to follow the global
Engineering or Mathematics and non-Science (Liberal arts) areas of trends and produce reliable and comparable results.
study with males and females, were compared to the retrospective re­ Literature suggests that the implicit Science-gender stereotype pro­
sults of the Project Implicit (may 2021), (Nosek et al., 2014), which are vide better outcomes. This research study attempts to measure the im­
still being collected since 2003 (Fig. 8). The comparison of the two plicit measures of the Irish third level students’ stereotypes regarding
projects was conducted in an attempt to map this study’s results to the gender and areas of study. Focusing on the survey’s items of self-
larger and well discussed project Implicit’ s sample. This comparison reported associations, preferences, and importance associated with the
would provide more insight on this study sample’s results. Both study different areas of study, this research aimed to reveal whether there are
samples agree there is a weak association between females and Science differences between the gender-study stereotypes of male and female
and between males and Liberal arts (2% to 3% in both studies) while third level students in Ireland.
both lines follow similar paths, showing the two projects’ agreement This research project’s sample is comprised of third level students in
(26% to 29% for both studies) regarding the level of association of the Ireland (87% of Irish nationality), with more females than males and the
opposite pairings (females with Liberal Arts and Males with Science). majority of the respondents studying at a Liberal arts rather than a
Compared to the project Implicit, greater percentage of this paper’s Science programme. For graphical comparison, the results of this study
respondents do not associate any area of study with a specific gender. were initially placed on a line-chart with the retrospective results of the
However, more Implicit Project’s participants than this paper’s partici­ Project Implicit (Nosek et al., 2014). Even though, this study’s sample
pants feel that there is a stronger association of males with Science and was significantly smaller (N=202) than the May 2021 participants of
females with Liberal arts. Project Implicit (N= 628,295), this paper’s sample closely corresponds,
The line-chart below (Fig. 9) reveals the similarities of both graphs with similar trends, to the Project Implicit’ s results (Fig. 9). This
for both samples (Irish third level students in Ireland and international agreement of this study’s results with the results of an international
sample of the Project Implicit.) study, such as the Project Implicit, provides further indication that the
Irish third level students follow similar stereotypical patterns in
Discussion moderately and strongly associating females with Science and males
with Liberal Arts, and in slightly associating males with Science and
One of the study’s female participants, when asked on the subjects females with Liberal arts.

Table 3
T- tests for respondents’ opinion on which gender devotes more time to their work, spends more time away from family, performs better in Mathematics and has more
natural interest in Science etc. for female and male groups.
Traits Groups N Mean St. t df p
Deviation

Respondents’ opinion on which gender devotes more time to their work, spends more time away from family, Female 121 2.04 0.55 1.79 194 0.075
performs better in Mathematics and has more natural interest in Science etc. Male 75 1.90 0.59

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A.V. Chatzi and C. Murphy International Journal of Educational Research Open 3 (2022) 100171

Fig. 8. Bar-chart with percentages of this research project and the Project Implicit’ s May 2021 results on the female and male’s association with Science and
Liberal arts

35%

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

0%
Strong Moderate Slight Little to no Slight Moderate Strong
automatic automatic automatic automatic automatic automatic automatic
association of association of association of preference association of association of association of
Male with Male with Male with between Female with Female with Female with
Science and Science and Science and gender and Science and Science and Science and
Female with Female with Female with academic Male with Male with Male with
Liberal Arts Liberal Arts Liberal Arts domain Liberal Arts Liberal Arts Liberal Arts

Project Implicit (harvard.edu)(Nosek et al., 2014) This paper's research project

Fig. 9. Line-chart with percentages of this research project and the Project Implicit’ s results on the female and male’s association with Science and Liberal arts

Results on the participants’ scores regarding Science and Mathe­ male secondary and third level students anticipated to complete a Sci­
matics areas of study were found to have statistically significant differ­ ence and/or Mathematics related programme, the results are again
ences. The statistical analysis of the two groups (female and male) on interesting. Notably, each gender anticipated the opposite gender to
their personal preference and attitude towards Science and Mathematics perform better in Science and/or Mathematics (Figs. 5 and 6).
areas of study indicate that males score higher than females on both Furthermore, female respondents (M=6.45 N=121) showed a slightly
traits (Fig. 3). Also, males scored higher than females on the importance higher opinion on more male secondary and third level students to be
attached to being knowledgeable about Science and Mathematics expected to complete a Science/Maths subject/course from the study’s
(Fig. 3). Corresponding to the trends of the previous findings, where male respondents (M=6.11 N=75) (Fig. 6). These results align with the
respondents were asked about their specific views on the topic, both previous results which indicate males as scoring higher and the gender
genders (females and males) agreed that men perform better in Mathe­ having a more personal preference, positive attitude and associated
matics and have more natural interest in Science (Fig. 7). However, the more importance to being knowledgeable in Science and Mathematics,
two genders do not share similar views on the role of the two genders in performed better at Mathematics and having a more natural interest in
the family life (Fig. 7) with 60% of both groups indicating that there is Science.
no difference between genders on the time they devote to work, while From these results it is shown that the gender / area of study ste­
71% share the opinion that men spend more time away from their reotypes, in favour to men, are significant, especially within the female
families. group of participants as they believe that more male than female stu­
Regarding the respondents’ opinions of the percentage of female and dents are expected to complete a Science/Maths subject/course. On the

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A.V. Chatzi and C. Murphy International Journal of Educational Research Open 3 (2022) 100171

other hand, in the area of Liberal arts, the scenery appears to be slightly Bodenhausen, G. V. (1990). Stereotypes as Judgmental Heuristics: Evidence of Circadian
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different. More female than male participants expressed their appreci­
j.1467-9280.1990.tb00226.x
ation in being knowledgeable about Liberal arts while their difference in Carvalho, I., Costa, C., & Torres, A. (2019). Gender Awareness and Women Managers in
expressing their general preference and appreciation for this area of Tourism: Perceptions of Inequality and What Could Be Done. Handbook of Research
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cation students and is not necessarily a representative sample of the total Corbett, C., & Hill, C. (2015). Solving the equation: The variables for women’s success in
engineering and computing. American Association of University Women.
of the population. Also, there were small numbers of non-binary par­ Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods
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as well. Therefore, it is suggested that further research is necessary Devereux, P. J. (2020). Determinants of Degree Quality in Ireland, Report to the Higher
Education Authority (HEA). School of Economics and Geary Institute, University
before any results can be generalised for Ireland. College Dublin. https://hea.ie/assets/uploads/2020/05/Determinants-of-Degree-
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Conclusions Drake, C. E., Primeaux, S., & Thomas, J. (2018). Comparing Implicit Gender Stereotypes
Between Women and Men with the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure. Gender
Issues, 35(1), 3–20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12147-017-9189-6
Investigating the gender-area of study stereotypes among Irish third Ebert, I. D., Steffens, M. C., & Kroth, A. (2014). Warm, but Maybe Not So Competent?-
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of great significance. In appreciating that the Irish student cohort do not Farrell, L., & McHugh, L. (2017). Examining gender-STEM bias among STEM and non-
fall far from the opinions of the international study, this project’s re­ STEM students using the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP). Journal of
searchers have confidence in the use of the specific survey tool and its Contextual Behavioral Science, 6(1), 80–90. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
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results. However, even though we have come so far, as a society, given
Fraenkel, J. R., & Wallen, N. E. (2003). How to Design and Evaluate Research in Education
the female dramatic shift of roles, the results of this study, which align (Fifth edition). McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
with the current international trends, indicate that the gender-area of Greenwald, A. G., McGhee, D. E., & Schwartz, J. L. K. (1998). Measuring individual
differences in implicit cognition: An implicit association test. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol., 74
study stereotype in favour of men still exists. This is especially notable
(6), 1464–1480.
within the female group of participants. Since it is well accepted within Handelsman, J., & Sakraney, N. (2015). Implicit bias. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.
the Social Sciences that stereotypes do dictate our attitudes, investi­ gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/bias_9-14-15_final.pdf.
gating further how exactly these stereotypes have influenced the re­ Hellriegel, D., Slocum, J. W., & Woodman, R. W. (1989). Organizational behavior (5th ed).
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spondents’ choices of academic studies and career anticipations (Corbett Hochschild, A., & Machung, A. (1989). The second shift (1st ed.). Penguin Group.
& Hill, 2015) is highly anticipated. Infante-Perea, M., Román-Onsalo, M., & Navarro-Astor, E. (2019). Relationship between
Gender Segregation and Students’ Occupational Preferences in Building Engineering.
J. Prof. Issues Eng. Educ. Pract., 145(4). https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)EI.1943-
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Mascret, N., & Cury, F. (2015). “I’m not scientifically gifted, I’m a girl”: Implicit
Ethics approval has been obtained and there were no ethical con­ measures of gender-Science stereotypes – preliminary evidence. Educational Studies,
41(4), 462–465. https://doi.org/10.1080/03055698.2015.1043979
siderations for this study. This research project’s data are available upon Nosek, B. A., Bar-Anan, Y., Sriram, N., Axt, J., & Greenwald, A. G. (2014). Understanding
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Declaration of Competing Interest O’Brien, C. (2020). Girls’ Maths ability underestimated due to stereotypes, study finds.
October 9. The Irish Times https://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/girls-Math
s-ability-underestimated-due-to-stereotypes-study-finds-1.4376105.
None Perkins, H. W., & DeMeis, D. K. (1996). Gender and Family Effects on the ‘Second-Shift’
Domestic Activity of College-Educated Young Adults. Gender and Society, 10(1),
78–93. http://www.jstor.org/stable/189554.
Acknowledgement
Shin, Y.-J., Lee, E. S., & Seo, Y. (2019). Does Traditional Stereotyping of Career as Male
Affect College Women’s, but Not College Men’s, Career Decision Self-Efficacy and
This research project was funded from the Limerick Institute of Ultimately Their Career Adaptability? Sex Roles, 81(1–2), 74–86. https://doi.org/
Technology’s Research Postgraduate Scholarship Scheme. 10.1007/s11199-018-0976-7
Smeding, A. (2012). Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
(STEM): An Investigation of Their Implicit Gender Stereotypes and Stereotypes’
Supplementary materials Connectedness to Math Performance. Sex Roles, 67(11–12), 617–629. https://doi.
org/10.1007/s11199-012-0209-4
Wang, Y., & Redmiles, D. (2019). Implicit gender biases in professional software
Supplementary material associated with this article can be found, in development: An empirical study. In Proceedings - 2019 IEEE/ACM 41st International
the online version, at doi:10.1016/j.ijedro.2022.100171. Conference on Software Engineering: Software Engineering in Society, ICSE-SEIS 2019
(pp. 1–10). https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSE-SEIS.2019.00009
World Health Organisation (2022). Gender and Healthhttps://www.who.int/health
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