GENDER DIFFERENCES IN CHOICE OF CAREERS IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND MATHEMATICS (STEM): CASE OF TURKEY

Abstract

Even though for some women in Turkey can rarely find the opportunities to study at the university, most of whom have canalized to the majors which are not related to the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics majors. However, there are important studies, which clearly show that even though the women have the ability in STEM areas, they do not like to choose these fields. In their choices, there are different reasons, which strong have effected in their career path. In order to understand the Turkish women's hidden reasons of not choosing the STEM areas, a well rounded research had conducted in Istanbul, the most developed city in Turkey, in which two different universities STEM departments had chosen together with non STEP departments in order to compare the reasons. Firstly, by using Strategic Talent Management and Career Decision (STMCD) Assessment, the competences, potential, strengths, and weaknesses of the young people between 18 and 24 had checked and analyzed The results showed that there were not any significant differences between the male and female students in the competences, potential, strengths, and weaknesses. Most (96%) had mentioned that they had chosen their career path with the effects of their social environments.