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Original Article

Seeing Is Believing

The Presence and Impact of Ambient Sexism Toward Collegiate Women in STEM

Published Online:February 20, 2024https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-9335/a000535

Abstract

Abstract: We investigate how visual cues in universities discourage women from pursuing STEM. We extend research on ambient sexism (i.e., witnessing sexist mistreatment of others) to include environmental cues that women do not belong. Men were pictured in STEM buildings (Pilot Study 1) and described in university-sponsored STEM news articles (Pilot Study 2) twice as often as women. In an experiment, undergraduate women who read about male scientists reported less positive STEM attitudes relative to men who read about male scientists and women who read about female scientists. Women who read about and saw images of female scientists reported more positive STEM attitudes than women who simply read about female scientists. Depicting predominantly male scientists in universities negatively impacts female students.

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