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WOMEN’S ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN STEM 713

the distribution across fields. Self-employed men in in terms of their undergraduate fields is more pro-
STEM are almost twice as likely to be in computer/ nounced among the self-employed in STEM.
mathematical occupations and almost three times as The lower prevalence of undergraduate STEM
likely to be in architecture/engineering occupations education among self-employed women in STEM
relative to self-employed women in STEM. On the relative to men may reflect different pathways that
other hand, they have a smaller representation in women may take into STEM entrepreneurship. For
health occupations (52.6%) relative to women who example, self-employed women in STEM who study
are self-employed in STEM fields (77.8%). a non-STEM-related field in college may be more
likely than men to receive graduate degrees in STEM
THE ROLE OF STEM EDUCATION AND fields. Among examples of moving from a non-STEM
TRAINING undergraduate field to a STEM graduate field are indi-
Central to understanding the gender dynamics of viduals who earn undergraduate degrees in literature
entrepreneurship and commercialization in STEM or history who go on to medical school or earn other
fields are factors motivating participation, including graduate degrees in health care. Alternatively, women
STEM education and training. To better understand who do not receive a formal education in STEM
the relationship between STEM education and STEM may be more likely than men to build their STEM
entrepreneurship, this report presents an examination expertise through informal or on-the-job training
of fields that people employed in STEM occupa- prior to starting their businesses. Our finding of
tions studied during undergraduate education. The lower prevalence of undergraduate STEM educa-
undergraduate degree fields are classified into the tion among self-employed women in STEM relative
following seven groups based on Siebens and Ryan to men suggests that these alternative paths may be
(2012): science and engineering, science- and engi- more prevalent for female entrepreneurs relative to
neering-related, social sciences, business, education, male entrepreneurs. Further empirical research is
arts/humanities, and other. Science and engineer- needed to determine the extent to which these alter-
ing fields include computer science; computer and native explanations hold.
information systems; mathematics and statistics; bio- Second, self-employed women in STEM are less
logical, agricultural, and environmental sciences; likely to have a science, engineering, or related degree
physical and related sciences; social sciences; and compared to women STEM wage/salary workers
engineering (14). Science- and engineering-related (63% vs. 69.2%). This finding underscores the relative
fields include, for example, nursing, architecture, and importance of graduate degrees or informal STEM
mathematics teacher education. training among self-employed women compared to
The analysis findings reveal several key features of women in wage/salary employment. Furthermore,
the relationship between STEM education and STEM compared to self-employed women in STEM, women
entrepreneurship. First, the majority of self-employed working in STEM wage/salary employment have
men and women in STEM with at least a bachelor’s a lower frequency of receiving a science and engi-
degree have received a bachelor’s degree in science, neering degree and a higher frequency of receiving
engineering, or related fields (Table 4). However, rel- a science- and engineering-related degree.
ative to men, self-employed women in STEM are less A review of the literature reveals that, in general,
likely to have received a bachelor’s degree in science, women are underrepresented among students pur-
engineering, or related fields in their undergraduate suing STEM educations. This gender-based gap has
education (31.5% + 31.5% = 63% vs. 58.7% + 14.3% been identified consistently in primary and second-
= 73%). Therefore, a larger share of self-employed ary education and documented by programs targeting
women in STEM, relative to similar men, consists of girls’ K-12 involvement (2). However, this gap is most
individuals with undergraduate degrees that are not often identified at the undergraduate level, where
related to science or engineering. A similar pattern data on majors and course selection is collected more
is also evident among wage/salary workers in STEM; systematically and students pursue distinct degrees
however, the difference between men and women by subject (15). Furthermore, women who pursue