Gender and STEM: academic over-selection and stratified university entry

Abstract

Background Gender disparities in STEM participation remain one of the most persistent forms of horizontal segregation in higher education. While prior research has predominantly emphasised individual-level determinants such as interests, self-efficacy or vocational orientations, less attention has been devoted to how gendered participation is embedded within structurally differentiated entry contexts.Purpose This study examines how educational trajectories, academic positioning, social origin and life-course conditions combine into structured configurations at the point of university entry, and how STEM subfields are positioned within this entry structure.Sample The study uses administrative register data on 36,075 university entrants to the Catalan Higher Education System in the 2024–25 academic year.Design and methods Multiple Correspondence Analysis followed by cluster analysis was used to identify the principal dimensions structuring access to higher education and distinct student entry profiles. Degree subfields were projected as illustrative variables to assess their position within this multidimensional structure.Results The analysis reveals a highly stratified entry space organised along a continuum contrasting early academic trajectories with vocational pathways. Women’s participation in technical, experimental and biological STEM subfields is concentrated in the most academically advantaged profiles, whereas men access STEM from a broader range of entry contexts.Conclusions Gendered participation in STEM is embedded within stratified university-entry contexts, indicating a pattern of academic over-selection in women’s access to technical, experimental and biological STEM fields.