Caroline Schalk is 19 years old and has just graduated from high school with the highest possible grades in physics and math. Her parents both work in engineering, and Caroline Schalk had known for a long time that she also wanted to become an engineer. That is, until she began to become intimidated by the degree course, developing what she called an “irrational fear”. She suddenly had the feeling that others were ahead of her, and she no longer had the confidence to pursue the subject. So she moved further and further away from her original plans, researched business administration courses and ultimately pictured herself in a lecture hall for “International Business”.
Where did this sudden fear come from? Why did Caroline, who had good grades in science subjects, clear hopes for a technical career and her parents as role models, lose her nerve? Caroline says she thought that others – especially boys – were much further ahead than she was. They might have started programming, developing and building things themselves years ago, while she herself had no idea about any of that. Even with her mother as a role model, she had the feeling that technical degree courses were still “a man’s world” and that many around her unconsciously assumed that “men are simply more suited to it than women”.
Caroline Schalk’s thoughts are not only reflected in the student numbers at German universities and colleges, but they are also in line with research that has already asked numerous questions about why young women decide against STEM subjects, even though they have excellent grades in the relevant school subjects. Electrical engineering, together with computer science and mechanical engineering, are the least popular courses of study for women, who consistently make up well below 20 percent of the numbers.
Self-confidence is not innate, but is shaped by the environment
A VDE study on the image of electrical engineering also identified reasons that deter young women from studying electrical engineering. Some of the girls interviewed said that electrical engineering is a male domain, and also that they were afraid of not measuring up in this subject. They imagine that this profession would not be good for them personally, and that they could mess something up. Study leader Dr. Maya Götz writes: “People’s own beliefs that ‘the female mind is weaker’ and ‘men have more self-confidence and potential for aggression’ develop into aversion factors that deter them from this field of study.”
Psychologist and psychological psychotherapist Alina Zinn knows all about self-doubt. Her practice is often visited by women whose insecurities hold them back in their professional lives; she has developed a self-confidence booster program to support women in this. It is important to understand, says Zinn, that self-confidence – like self-doubt – is not innate, so it has nothing to do with gender. “Depending on how we grow up, how we are socialized and the people around us, we develop certain patterns in our thinking, feeling and behavior.” A great deal depends on the reinforcement and confirmation we receive from our personal environment. This strongly influences whether someone feels capable and empowered to achieve something – or thinks that others are better. According to Zinn, especially overprotected children whose parents do not expect too much from them, could later come to assume that they always need help. And that applies to boys just as much as girls.