Removing the barriers that prevent women from accessing the science, research, and technology sectors will be key to changing the current academic orientation, which is essential for combating new forms of gender inequality ( Shapiro et al., 2011). The proportion of women with degrees in mathematics is even lower than it used to be (36.6% in 2019–2020 vs. In Spain ( Ministerio de Educación y Formación Profesional (MEFP), 2019), women are severely underrepresented in physical science (25.3%), electrical engineering (20.5%), electronics engineering (15.2%), computer science (12.0%), civil engineering (28.3%), industrial engineering (24.7%) and aeronautical engineering (23.5%), and they are overrepresented in fields oriented to biology and health, such as medicine (66.4%), biomedical engineering (59.1%), biology (61.8%), and chemistry (54.2%). Advances already achieved are now in jeopardy with the digital transformation of the labor market, which might increase the economic gender gap produced by the underrepresentation of women in emerging professions. The labor participation of women is also lagging behind that of men (68.8% versus 78.9%). Despite of being reported as one of the countries with greater improvement in the most-recent edition of the Global Gender Gap Report (entering the top 10 from the previous edition’s 29th position out of 153 counties in 2019), establishing itself as a champion against gender discrimination ( World Economic Forum, 2020), large gender gaps in wages remain, income, and the presence of women in managerial positions. Spain provides a paradigmatic picture of this situation. Indeed, women in OECD countries account for only 19% of entrants into tertiary level in these programs ( Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 2018c).

This labor gender gap is especially acute in professions that tend to be male dominated, with a high technological and mathematical component (i.e., fields known by the acronym STEM, for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) ( Kahn and Ginther, 2017). However, gender equality in the workplace is far from being achieved. The proportion of women university students has increased from 46% in 1985 to 56% in 2017, and this has helped to improve their presence in the labor market, which on average means growth from 50.8% in 1985 to 52.5% in 2017 in countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ( Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 2018a, b, c). These results are discussed regarding their implications for long-term STEM engagement. The results show that the higher the counterstereotypical character of the sessions, the higher the relationship between expectations of success in math and the choice of STEM. Finally, the moderation role of the counterstereotypical content of the role-model sessions is tested. Additionally, the female role-model sessions significantly increase the positive impact of expectations of success on STEM choices. The results of multigroup structural equation modeling analysis show that on average, the role-model intervention has a positive and significant effect on mathematics enjoyment, importance attached to math, expectations of success in math, and girls’ aspirations in STEM, and a negative effect on gender stereotypes. An adaptation of the expectancy–value theory of achievement motivation is used to test the extent to which this role-model intervention improves girls’ beliefs that they can be successful in STEM fields and increases their likelihood of choosing a STEM career. The study was conducted with 304 girls, from 12 years old (sixth primary grade) to 16 years old (fourth secondary grade), both before and after the role-model sessions. This paper evaluates a role-model intervention in which female volunteers working in STEM go into schools to talk to girls about their careers. The goal of the present study is to demonstrate how female role models influence girls’ preferences for STEM studies. Women are underrepresented in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) careers, and this poses new challenges at the dawn of the era of digital transformation. 2Internet Interdisciplinary Institute, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), Barcelona, Spain.

1Department of Business Economics, School of Business & Economics, Universidad CEU San Pablo, Madrid, Spain.Susana González-Pérez 1, Ruth Mateos de Cabo 1* and Milagros Sáinz 2

Models female