What do STEM Clubs do? The effect of college club participation on career confidence and modern sexism

Abstract

Literature on STEM’s “chilly climate” shows that women and underrepresented minorities attrite from the STEM labor force faster than white and Asian men. Demand side theories posit that this lack of diversity is the result of unwelcoming work environments relative to opportunities outside of STEM, while supply side theories argue that women in particular lack confidence to persist in STEM coursework and in the STEM labor force. We hold that educational experiences may profoundly shape who pursues a STEM career. We show that STEM college clubs are important sites of cultural capital development associated with both students’ confidence in their own career success and their attitudes towards women’s inclusion in the workforce. Using data from two U.S. universities, we find that involvement in Honorific clubs, or clubs that resemble honorific societies, and Affinity clubs, that largely host students based on common identities or interests, are associated with a decrease in sexist attitudes for most groups. Our intersectional analysis reveals that the association between club involvement and sexist attitudes differs by the type of club, and by respondents’ race, gender, and field of study, revealing subgroups of men for whom club involvement is associated with increased levels of hostile sexism. We find that club involvement has no effect on confidence in crafting a successful career, showing that STEM clubs cannot reduce gender disparities in career confidence. This research opens future inquiry into the links between socialization in STEM training and the often-chilly climate in STEM workplaces.