DOI: 10.21064/WinRS.2018.4.7
The article, through the prism of the gender approach, analyzes the reasons due to which women with STEM-education leave their profession. The study is based on unstructured biographical interviews with working age women who have changed their occupation under influence of various life circumstances. The data show that reasons for such a change are complex and interweaving and it is impossible to single out any one model of the life behavior of participants. However, some typical reasons are identified and include: dissatisfaction with a particular place of work, incompatibility of professional and family strategies, dependence (economic and moral) on significant others, low social status of engineering profession. The study was limited by difficulties in access to the field and by the fact that the subject seems to be relatively empirically under researched as the authors failed to find similar studies. However, the results obtained allow for at least two main conclusions. First, stereotyped ideas about “male” and “female” professions and careers continue to be obstacles to the balanced positioning of women in the modern labor market. And although there is a certain erosion of gender stereotypes, especially “at the entrance” of women into STEM-professions, labor market still remains unfriendly towards them. Secondly, the state and employers fail to propose active measures to stimulate women’s employment in high-tech and engineering, including mechanisms to allow STEM-educated women to return to their original profession.
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