Is there a Correlation between Gender and the Choice of a College Major?

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Have you ever wondered whether or not there was any correlation between gender and college major? We conducted a survey consisting of 105 people (51 males and 54 females) and of those people, 34.3% (17 males and 19 females) did not think that there was a direct correlation between the two. Our goal was to see if gender did in fact influence one’s choice of major, or if it had no influence at all. After proper surveying and thorough analysis of literature, we found that both female and male students generally have college majors concentrated in certain areas and industries.
Literature Review
Females:
Through survey analysis and exploration of literature, we found that there was a correlation between females and college major choice. Our survey results signified that the majority of participants believe Textiles and Psychology are the most popular majors for females. The majority of participants reported that they believe the most popular major for males is Engineering. This indicates that people are aware of the gender gap between majors. We found that out of our sample of 105 participants, only one female was in Engineering, and one of the most popular majors for females was Textiles.
We found literature that supported our survey results. The article, “Inequality quantified: Mind the gender gap,” shows that an established gender gap amongst college majors may have started years ago. In the 1970s, Lynne Kiorpes was one of the few females at Northeastern University who was an Engineering major. Her professor discriminated against her and the other few women in the class by saying that they have no business being in his class, and that he was going to fail them just because they are females. Kiorpes then left the engineering program...

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...e Major Choice. Retrieved from: http://ann.sagepub.com.prox.lib.ncsu.edu/content/627/1/108.full.pdf+html
Kivel, P. (1984). The Act-Like-A-Man Box. Boys Will Be Men. 14-16. Retrieved from: https://moodle1314-courses.wolfware.ncsu.edu/pluginfile.php/695912/mod_resource/content/1/Act Like a Man - Kivel.pdf
Marsden, J. (2006, April 27). Gender gap in majors persists. Yale Daily News. Retrieved March 2, 2014 from: http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2006/04/27/gender-gap-in-majors-persists/
Shen, H. (2013, March 6). Inequality quantified: Mind the gender gap. Nature News and Comment. Retrieved March 30, 2014 from: http://www.nature.com/news/inequality-quantified-mind-the-gender-gap-1.12550
Zafar, B. (2013). College major choice and the gender gap. Journal of Human Resources, 48(3), 545-595. Retrieved from http://jhr.uwpress.org.prox.lib.ncsu.edu/content/48/3/545.full.pdf+html

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