Colloquium: Ralf Minor

Despite their overall educational success, women are still underrepresented in STEM fields, a phenomenon commonly explained by the metaphor of a 'leaky STEM pipeline'. This talk revisits this narrative, focusing on the episodes between secondary education and entry into higher education, using longitudinal evidence from Germany. Rather than tracing attrition throughout life, the talk concentrates on how STEM aspirations emerge and how gendered pathways into STEM fields are structured. The findings challenge the assumption of systematic female dropout in STEM subjects, showing rather weak evidence of a leaky pipeline in mathematics and natural sciences or engineering and technology. Instead, the presentation highlights how the design of empirical studies and analytical perspectives can influence the visibility of a 'pipeline'.