Bridging the Gender Gap in STEM Education: Analyzing the Role of Mentorship, Curriculum Design, and Policy Interventions in Encouraging Female Participation

Abstract

Under-representation of women science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) is a contemporary phenomenon of great concerns in every part of the globe despite the availability and subsequent acquisition of education. The paper goes further to elaborate how the gender gap in learning STEM can be bridged through mentorship, curriculum and policy interventions. With the data of other world systems, policy conversation, the discoveries told that girls tend to remain longer and construct their identity via organized mentorship programmes as opposed to bold curriculum models, particularly project based, practical application models that make girls more fascinated with, excel high in the school institution and more determined. Examples of gain of participation have been illustrated by giving benefits under participation learning through structural accountability in Title IX in the United States, Athena SWAN in the United Kingdom and Horizon 2020 in Europe, though it is found to have variable under different disciplines with engineering and computer science showing the most significant gaps. In addition to that, the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the discrepancies, which correlate much with the fact that the proportion of women graduate among students was rising significantly in low middle-income and developing nations. The outcomes underline that the gains in the field of the eradication of the gender gap must be brought about by the multi-level strategies utilizing psychosocial supports, education reform, and responsibility concerning the policy. In so doing, there will be no guarantee that they are not just recruited to do STEM but also counseled and enabled to persevere and conquer the key domains.