New research from Wharton’s Tiantian Yang shows how rejection dampens job-seeking persistence for women in male-dominated fields.
2 min. read
A new study from Wharton management professor Tiantian Yang finds that when women are rejected for contract jobs in male-dominated fields, specifically IT and computer programming, they are far less likely than men to continue looking for work in those industries. Post-rejection, women are also far more likely than men to seek jobs outside tech, and many stop looking for work altogether. The paper, “Approaching or Avoiding? Gender Asymmetry in Reactions to Prior Job Search Outcomes by Gig Workers in Female- vs. Male-typed Job Domains,” appears in the journal Social Forces.
The loss is contributing to the “leaky pipeline” in STEM, where women and minorities enter those careers only to leave at some point, their ambition crushed by experiences of discrimination, isolation, or lack of opportunity. Although women have risen in STEM over the last few decades, the gender gap persists; women account for only 28% of the global STEM workforce.
“We often see young women initially choose STEM majors, only to switch to other fields after having negative experiences,” Yang says. “This contributes to lower numbers of women in STEM over time. Staying in these fields is challenging for many women, not only because of limited opportunities, but also because of self-perception. Gendered expectations can also make it especially difficult to persist in the job search after facing repeated rejections.”
Griffin Pitt, right, works with two other student researchers to test the conductivity, total dissolved solids, salinity, and temperature of water below a sand dam in Kenya.
Griffin Pitt’s upbringing made her passionate about water access and pollution, and Penn has given her the opportunity to explore these issues back home in North Carolina and abroad.
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From framework to actions: Provost John L. Jackson Jr. talks Penn Forward
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