The puzzling relationship between international development and gender equity: The case of STEM postsecondary education in Cambodia

Gender inequality persists in certain science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) postsecondary fields. Notably, cross-national evidence suggests the STEM gender gap is smaller, not wider, in less developed nations. This is the first known case study to examine this gap within a developing country: Cambodia. This study investigates the following question: how does development – specifically socioeconomic and gender equity indicators – affect women’s share of enrollment in specific STEM and STEM-related fields? Merging two sources of national data, we leverage provincial census figures and institutional administrative data to estimate women's enrollment share in STEM as well as in specific fields (i.e., accounting, information technology, and health). Findings show women’s share of STEM and information technology majors is larger outside the capital. Further, socioeconomic development and urbanization indicators distinctly predict women’s share of health and information technology majors. These fields also have an inverse relationship between women’s share and gender egalitarian characteristics. We discuss potential explanations and implications for gender and inequality in higher education, within and between nations, in the context of larger theoretical debates on the nature of sex segregation.