Furthermore, negative stereotypes may lead to unconscious bias in faculty members. Studies have found that faculty – both men and women – tend to favor men in STEM fields by, for example, being more likely to select them for research positions (Moss-Racusin, 2012). Science faculty have also been found to use different language to describe female versus male students in letters of recommendation, focusing more on ability and using more effective language for male than for female students (Schmader, Whitehead and Wysocki, 2007). A number of other manifestations of unconscious bias in academia have been well documented, such as a tendency to hold women to higher standards and judge them more harshly for opportunities for advancement (Easterly and Ricard, 2011).

Source: MIT Women in Math

Mathematics majors at Group 1 Private Institutions were asked: “On a scale of 1 to 5, how much would you say your parents/guardians emphasized STEM education in your upbringing? 1 corresponds to did not emphasize STEM and 5 to highly emphasized STEM.” 

At the five institutions, female mathematics respondents had an average above 3.5 indicating parental STEM emphasis of moderate to high degree. This level of emphasis indicates that female mathematics majors/concentrators had at least a medium amount of parental STEM emphasis in their upbringing. At each of these universities except Princeton, female mathematics majors/concentrators had a higher degree of parental encouragement (and lower standard deviation in responses) than their male counterparts.

Source: MIT Women in Math