In the STEM disciplines, as in many other areas of society, a strong gender inequality persists. It cannot leave us indifferent and should prompt us to ask: what are the causes? What are the effects? What are the solutions to promote a more equitable and inclusive environment?

Notwithstanding significant progress in recent decades, we cannot consider them sufficient to ensure full gender equality in terms of representation, access, and opportunities in scientific studies. In this context, the cultural survival of gender bias plays a crucial role, leading girls to believe they are not "suited" to study scientific subjects. To defeat this inequality, which could result in future wage disparities, it is essential to eradicate stereotypes from the early years of education. This is the goal that the comprehensive institute of Laives has set with its educational activities, including a Coding workshop.

This workshop was organized in vertical continuity between primary and secondary education, using the "job shadowing" model. A secondary school teacher, an expert in educational robotics, worked alongside a primary school teacher and a group of students from a 5^th grade class, in order to prepare the pupils for educational robotics competitions scheduled by Lego League in May.

The teachers provided all students with the same opportunities and methodological strategies, encouraging them to work together to build an effective team and bring out their natural leadership and problem-solving skills.

Initially, a sense of inadequacy emerged among the girls and the teachers worked to uncover the underlying causes. Through thematic work, the students understood that this feeling did not stem from a correct self-assessment of their abilities but from prejudices internalized in their family environments. After having overcome this bias, the students learned to step up and compete for a spot on the team, working hardly with their classmates to create a stimulating and effective environment, that led them to achieve their goal.

During the workshop, the boys expressed greater skills in building competition robots, while the girls focused on writing the programming code, collaborating to find an effective solution. Through mentoring from female teachers experienced in STEAM subjects, they found motivation and proposed meaningful solutions. At the end of the process, working on overcoming gender stereotypes had positive effects on the entire group involved in the project.

This result prompted reflection on how to positively impact women's involvement in STEM to enhance the learning and motivation of class groups, addressing the increasingly complex challenges of contemporary society.

This work examines how proficiency in mathematics and Italian language tests in high school is associated with university enrollment decisions in Italy. Specifically, it focuses on two key academic outcomes: the choice to enrol at university and the choice to enroll in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) or non-STEM programs. Additionally, the aim is to uncover any gender differences in enrollment choices among students who excel in both mathematics and Italian language tests (Contini et al., 2023). We distinguish between students attending two types of Italian high school curricula: humanistic and scientific lyceums. Within the scientific lyceums, there are two distinct tracks: traditional scientific and applied sciences. The latter involves more hours devoted to mathematics-related subjects and does not include any hours devoted to the Latin language (Priulla et al. 2023).

Data are sourced from two administrative Italian databases: Anagrafe Nazionale Studenti and INVALSI. These longitudinal micro-data provide crucial detail on the school-to-university transition of the entire population of high school students in Italy (MOBYSU, 2016).

The research methodology employs gradient boosting, known for its robustness in capturing complex and non-linear relationships within data (Friedman et al., 2000; Friedman, 2001, 2002). In the modelling procedure, we control for variables related to students' sociodemographic characteristics and previous educational attainment.

The study reveals gender differences in enrolment patterns, with male students excelling in both subjects showing a greater inclination toward STEM programs compared to their female counterparts with similar performance. Moreover, the insights into high school backgrounds shed light on the importance of tailoring educational pathways to individual strengths and interests. The findings underscore the intricate interplay between academic proficiency, gender, and high school background in shaping university choices, emphasizing the importance of an intersectional approach in understanding educational data (Tefera et al., 2018; Priulla et al., 2023).

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge financial support under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Mission 4, Component 2, Investiment 1.1, Call for tender No. 104 published on 2.2.2022 by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR), funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU– Project Title Stem in Higher Education & Women INequalitieS [SHE WINS], CUP I53D23004810006, Grant Assignment Decree No. 1060 adopted on 07/17/2023 by the Italian Ministry of Ministry of University and Research (MUR).

The research work of Alessandro Albano has been partially supported by the European Union - NextGenerationEU - National Sustainable Mobility Center CN00000023, Italian Ministry of University and Research Decree n. 1033— 17/06/2022, Spoke 2, CUP B73C2200076000.

The research work of Nicoletta D'Angelo was supported by European Union - NextGenerationEU, in the framework of the GRINS -Growing Resilient, INclusive and Sustainable project (GRINS PE00000018 – CUP C93C22005270001). The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union, nor can the European Union be held responsible for them.

“Reducing the wage disparity between women and men, at all levels of employment, down to a 1% difference” is one of the main goals of Italy’s Strategic Sustainability Plan for 2024-2026.

The wage disparity, also known as gender pay gap (GPG) encompasses more than just pay discrimination, reflecting broader issues like sectoral segregation, the unequal distribution of paid and unpaid work, the glass ceiling effect, and direct pay discrimination [1].

The GPG in the EU stands at 10.7% in 2022, with 69.3 % of women across the EU being employed compared to 80% of men [3].

The gender overall earnings gap, which considers hourly earnings, hours worked, and employment rates, is a more comprehensive measure of the pay gap and it was a staggering 36.7% in 2018 [4].

In Italy, the GPG is just around 5%, below both the OECD and European average [5].

However, a more in-depth analysis by the Observatory on Private Sector Employees of the INPS (Italian National Institute of Social Security) showed a stark annual disparity of almost €8,000 between genders in the private sector in 2022 [6].

Graduates' wages further confirm gender disparity, with men earning about 12.9% more than women five years post-graduation [3]. A significant factor contributing to the GPG is the underrepresentation of women in STEM fields, which are among the most lucrative [2]. This underrepresentation is linked to various factors, including gender differences in math and spatial abilities, women’s undervaluation of their skills, and differences in career preferences [8].

In this paper, we want to single out the effect of gender on the wage considering the influence of the unbalance gender composition in the most remunerative STEM fields.

Our hypothesis is that participation in STEM fields can act as a mediator in the relationship between gender and wages. The rationale for considering STEM as a mediating variable is that men might earn more, on average, than women because they are more likely to work in STEM fields, which tend to pay higher wages. Thus, the GPG is not solely a direct effect of discrimination or other gender-based factors but is also mediated by the choice of or access to high-paying STEM careers.

To explore this, we use AlmaLaurea data on University of Palermo graduates as a case-study.

The role of STEM as a hypothesized mediator that could be affected by the “treatment”, the gender, and could subsequently affect the outcome, the salary, will be assessed decomposing the total effect of the treatment into two components: an ‘‘indirect effect’’ that channels the gender effect through the STEM mediator and a ‘‘direct effect’’ that works directly.

Acknowledgment

We acknowledge financial support under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Mission 4, Component 2, Investiment 1.1, Call for tender No. 104 published on 2.2.2022 by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR), funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU– Project Title Stem in Higher Education & Women INequalitieS [SHE WINS], CUP I53D23004810006, Grant Assignment Decree No. 1060 adopted on 07/17/2023 by the MUR.

This paper is part of a larger review about the effective pedagogical strategies aiming at developing Computational Thinking (CT) in primary school (K-5). Within this research, we focus here on those studies who specifically focus, directly or indirectly, on gender equity. It is well-known that gender is an important factor in programming education (Noh & Lee, 2019), as boys are traditionally more familiar with computers and have therefore a better attitude towards them. Girls are thus a category of students considered to be underrepresented, and policies aiming at developing CT in primary school promote gender equity (National Academy of Sciences et al., 2007), implying this topic to be addressed by research.

In our review, we selected journal articles and proceedings papers, in 10 well-known databases, from 2006 to 2022, with the following inclusion criteria: explicit reference to CT in title and/or abstract and/or keywords; english language; the typical form of a scientific full paper; focus on CT in K-5 school; a sound methodology, with at least a pre- and post- assessment and at least one assessment tool of CT, valid and reliable to some extent, which considers CT as a thought process (i.e. not only as an acquisition of Computer Science knowledge). 31 studies met those criteria. Among them, 12 papers dealt with gender equity to some extent: 7 of them mentionned “gender”, “girls”, “equity” either in the title or in the keywords, the other adopted the gender difference among the criteria of analysis.

As a general result, all the papers, although proposing different pedagogical approaches, don’t detect a significant difference of CT development between girls and boys. Nonetheless, we can find some interesting information about this topic: for instance, Wei et al. (2021), show significant differences when pairing boys and girls in pair-programming activities; Angeli & Valanides (2020) show that boys and girls in Kindergarten prefer a different scaffolding technique in Educational Robotics activities; Del Olmo-Munoz et al. (2020), found that unplugged activities benefit girls in terms of motivation. These results can give further directions to research and educational practices on how to properly structure educational activities aiming to develop CT in primay school able to promote gender equity.

Scholars consistently emphasize the existence of gender inequalities in scientific careers, referring to a gradual decrease in the number of women as they ascend the academic or professional hierarchy. The term 'leaky pipeline' is commonly used to characterize gender disparities in scientific careers, especially in fields like science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), where women face greater challenges in being selected, promoted, and retained, leading to underrepresentation at senior levels such as the professoriate. This metaphor has encapsulated the journey from a bachelor's degree to a Ph.D. in STEM fields in the U.S. since the 1970s (see e.g. Amon 2017, Kulis, Sicotte, and Collins 2002; Severiens and Ten Dam 2012, Swafford and Anderson 2020). While various explanations have been proposed to clarify the relatively low proportion of women in STEM over the years, some US researchers lately argue that gender gaps have, in fact, closed (e.g., Miller and Wai 2015).

To explore the gendered nature of scientific careers across Europe, this paper relies on unique survey data collected among (N=5,479) recipients of Europe’s most competitive and prestigious fellowships. Representing STEM researchers from over 30 nations, the sample provides a fresh perspective on individual educational trajectories and experiences of career progression across the life course. The study employs a mixed-method design, where the analysis of survey data is complemented by thematic analysis of written text provided by respondents in response to open questions about experiences of discrimination at work.

The 'quantitative part' of the paper offers a detailed exploration of STEM scientists’ motivations for pursuing a PhD, their satisfaction with studies, and subsequent career progression. This section confirms the existence of gendered gaps in salary expectations, job search methods, and perceived chances of promotion, with women expressing less optimism and confidence about career progression. The statistical evidence is further corroborated by a thematic analysis of respondents’ answers to open-ended questions. In total, 380 women reported some form of gender discrimination at work, which I categorized as 'ability questioning,' 'mansplaining,' 'intimidation,' 'withdrawal of support,' 'exclusion,' and 'humiliation.' According to the data, an interesting pattern has emerged, with women tending to downplay the sexist behavior of their colleagues, using terms such as ‘casual,’ ‘everyday,’ ‘low grade,’ ‘minor,’ etc., while men expressed discontent over practices of positive discrimination.