What about the boys?

DIVA has thoroughly examined how gender-based stereotypes affect girls in STEM. But the picture is incomplete without the other side: how the same biases affect boys. The inequities that create barriers for girls also shape boys’ experiences in STEM, and in school and work more broadly.

The stereotypes that hold girls back can also constrain boys, though in different ways. McGuire et al. (2020) surveyed 997 children and teenagers at science centres in the UK and US. Across all ages, boys were more likely than girls to say that boys should be good at STEM. In middle childhood, boys also more often said that boys are usually good at it. Most answers, especially among older participants, were that both boys and girls can succeed. Even so, this in-group bias gives boys a built-in advantage and can damage girls’ journeys in STEM.

It may also place a burden on boys. The authors note that the pressure to conform to gender roles intensifies in early adolescence, especially among boys. A boy who feels he must fit a STEM-focused image to belong may drift away from interests that don’t fit it. He may also lose the chance to enjoy a wider range of subjects. The pressure to belong can estrange him from both the group and his own interests.

Society also frames STEM as emotionless logic and the humanities as pure emotion. This is a false dichotomy, because the two are interdependent. Any useful invention needs technical logic and an ethical understanding of the human context. Healthcare shows this clearly, relying on bioethics and health narrative analysis to produce the best treatment for patients. Treating the two as separate worlds also decides who is expected to belong in each.

Narrow ideas of masculinity widen this divide. They encourage conformity and discourage emotion, and they label the humanities as “feminine”. Boys who would enjoy interdisciplinary study may avoid it as a result. The effect is to separate boys and girls in STEM and to discourage creative thinking across STEM and the humanities.

So how does this pattern show up in schools? It starts early. A University of Houston and University of Washington study surveyed about 2,500 students from grades 1 to 12. It found that the idea that STEM is “for boys” appears around age 6, and that 63% of students believed girls were less interested in engineering than boys (ABC13, 2021). From a young age, then, children’s educational paths are shaped by external stereotypes. These stereotypes limit self-determination and how far students feel free to follow their real interests and strengths.

Attitudes to effort tell a similar story. Napp (2026) analysed data from about 750,000 teenagers in 61 countries. In almost every country, boys valued working hard at school less than girls did, and the gap was largest in the most developed countries. That gap was linked to weaker academic performance and lower participation in higher education. Napp ties it partly to the stereotype that boys are naturally talented and need not work hard to succeed. Boys also reported less parental support for their academic efforts. Interestingly, she finds that this pattern does not extend to STEM. The belief in boys’ natural brilliance may therefore protect their place in STEM while undermining their effort elsewhere.

What children learn in school inevitably follows them into work. School is where they learn how to interact with others, build executive functioning skills, and discover their strengths and weaknesses. When those lessons carry an undertone of bias, it shows up in the workforce. McGuire et al. point out that women make up only 22% of the STEM workforce in the UK and 24% in the US. Stereotypes formed in childhood persist into adult working life.

So what does this mean for the future? As artificial intelligence and other technologies shape tomorrow’s societies, STEM fields matter more than ever, and so do the disparities within them. We’ve already seen how expectations about STEM and education shape people of every gender. Awareness of how these expectations affect both boys and girls is the first step toward changing them and levelling the playing field.