Understanding gender imbalances in STEM fields in Rwanda: A survey of secondary school students in Kayonza District, Rwanda (2022)

This report outlines the main results from a research project investigating gender gaps in secondary school students’ perceptions of STEM in Rwanda. A survey of secondary school students was conducted in Kayonza District in the Eastern province of Rwanda in June 2021. A total of 915 students in grades S1, S3, S6 from twenty schools in Kayonza District were randomly selected. The students completed a survey questionnaire.

The survey revealed gender gaps in STEM interests, competency self-beliefs and attitudes. But in many respects, male and female secondary school students’ experiences, beliefs and attitudes were found to be rather similar. 

• More male than female students showed an interest to pursue STEM fields. The field of life and health sciences attracts large numbers of both gender groups, and more female than male students.
• Gender gaps in preferences regarding fields of study may widen and narrow across grade levels, possibly reflecting that students at different ages have a different understanding of the content of, and the accessibility into, these fields of study, as well as different interests.
• Male students tend be more confident about course contents and tasks in (but not only in) the STEM domain, and especially in the domain of solving concrete and mechanical problems. Male and female students hold similarly high self-beliefs about tasks in the domain of personal and helping situations. 
• Male students ranked learning about ICT as somewhat more importance to find a good job and get ahead in life than did female students. Female students ranked learning English as somewhat more important than did male students. 
• Male students (more than female students) asserted male superiority in math, ICT, and language competence. Female students (more than male students) endorsed traditional gender roles in terms of childcare responsibility. 
• Male and female secondary students strongly value (higher) education in general, for themselves and for others of both gender groups.
• Female students are no less eager than male students to join the formal sector workforce upon completing their education, but are less certain about their future job prospects when taking into account childcare responsibilities. 
• Male and female students reported similar education experiences in terms of teacher interaction, feelings of safety at school, and parental involvement in education. 
• Teacher interaction in the classroom appears to encourage both male and female students’ aspirations and STEM interests. Parents’ or guardians’ interest in school affairs, on the other hand, seems to discourage female students to pursue STEM fields of study. 

That some gender gaps in students’ perceptions of STEM are not as problematically large as they could have been does not mean that teachers and parents or guardians do not have their proper roles to play. The strength of gender stereotypes and the differences in selfbeliefs in particular are important challenges for the educational system. It is up to teachers to ensure that gender stereotypes are not perpetuated, and to encourage girls as well as boys to challenge themselves and pursue “hard” fields of study within the STEM domain.