Why Female Pupils Lose Interest in Stem Fields in High School with an Emphasis on Computer Science?

Identifying the reasons why girls lose interest in STEM fields during high school has long been of interest to researchers and educators. Significant gender differences exist in the choice of STEM-related careers, particularly in fields like informatics and computer science. To explore this issue, we analyzed the competitors’ lists from high school informatics competitions over the past five years. In addition, we studied first-and second-year gifted mathematicians from the Mathematical Grammar School. Despite extensive exposure to STEM subjects in this specialized high school, only a small number of female students choose to participate in STEM competitions. We present the reasons these female students give for not participating, even though they possess equal knowledge. Based on these findings, we recommend encouraging more female students to engage in STEM competitions. We believe this study offers valuable insights that can help balance the participation of male and female students in STEM competitions.