THE LOSS OF WOMEN FROM SCIENCE, MATHEMATICS, AND ENGINEERING UNDERGRADUATE MAJORS - AN EXPLANATORY ACCOUNT

The reasons for the loss of high ability women from science, mathemati cs, and engineering undergraduate majors are not well understood. Howe ver, investigators have, consistently, found an early loss of confiden ce in their ability to ''do science'' among such women. In seeking to explain why the vulnerability of women to leaving science majors great ly exceeds that of men, the author draws upon the findings of a 3-year , ethnographic study of factors contributing to high undergraduate att rition rates among men and women of different ethnicities on seven cam puses of different type. The explanatory focus is upon the consequence s of a misfit between the learned expectations of women entering colle ge mathematics and science classes, and those of faculty and male peer s, about the purpose and nature of the undergraduate experience in the se majors. (C) 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.